Evaluation of high-speed FMCW signal generation and processing for optically-connected distributed-type millimeter-wave radar

The optically-connected distributed-type millimeter-wave radar system has been proposed and developed to detect small debris on the airport surface. The key concept of the radar system is the distributed architecture which consists of a single central unit and several antenna units, where both units are connected by radio-over-fiber technology. In this paper, the advantages of the architecture are experimentally evaluated using the prototype 96 GHz radar system. Firstly, a high-speed 12 GS/s arbitrary waveform generator-based frequency-modulated continuous wave signal generation is discussed. Then, the effects of the 10 kHz FM chirp rate is confirmed in a radar reflectors detection test at Sendai Airport.