An efficient method of eliminating the range ambiguity for a low-cost FMCW radar using VCO tuning characteristics

This paper describes a simple method of eliminating the range ambiguity and the design approach for low-cost and small-size homodyne frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radars. The range measurement accuracy could be efficiently improved by proper time gating of the beat signal without any closed-loop linearity compensation circuitry for typical varactor-tuned voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs). The presented selectively gated fast Fourier transformation method is immune to the frequency shift of the VCOs. A W-band FMCW radar using a raw varactor-tuned VCO having the percent linearity of 7.16% was implemented, and achieved less than 2% ranging error of the target lying at 200 m. Owing to the simple structure and fast processing speed, this method is applicable to the various low-cost radar sensors for ranging and detection.