Abstract: For over a century, the unique benefits of the microwave and mm-wave spectrum have been exploited for high resolution radar sensing and imaging. These systems have traditionally involved large and high power equipment. However, there is a growing demand for chip-based low profile and low power radar nodes for various multi-node automotive, manufacturing, and surveillance applications.
In this talk, I will first overview and compare existing on-chip radar systems and will make the argument that traditional digital-based radar processing techniques face a fundamental resolution-power trade-off. As a result, to implement high-bandwidth/resolution radars without multi-Watt-level power consumption we have proposed a mixed-mode signal processing approach where the received signal is initially processed and compressed in the analog domain enabling further computation in a much more relaxed digital backend. I will discuss the idea, chip implementation and measurements showing how this approach enables Gb/s processing of the received signal with order-of-magnitude energy saving in the baseband. The talk concludes with the future steps we are taking toward low power MIMO radar systems.
Bio: Yahya Tousi received his Ph.D. degree in 2012 from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. In 2014 he joined the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center at Yorktown Heights, NY to develop the next generation of mm-wave phased array transceivers for wireless communication systems, and since 2017 he has been with the ECE Department at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
His current research interests are in high performance integrated circuits and novel architectures for mm-wave and terahertz systems with applications in communication, sensing, and healthcare. Dr. Tousi is the co-recipient of ISSCC Lewis Award for Outstanding Paper, and the Journal of Solid State Best Paper Award both in 2017, the DARPA Young Faculty Award in 2020 and the DARPA Director’s Fellowship Award in 2022.
