/Waveform Design for mm-wave MIMO-OFDM Radar

Waveform Design for mm-wave MIMO-OFDM Radar

Leuven | More than two weeks ago

Architecting OFDM waveforms for best-in-class ADAS systems
Millimeter-wave radars are now established as indispensable sensors for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. The majority of automotive radars in use today use a mix of frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) and multiple-input, multiple output (MIMO) techniques. However, during the last years, IMEC has pioneered on the waveform side by proposing to use digital modulations such as phase-modulated continuous wave and, more recently, orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM). This latter waveform is ubiquitous in wireless communications but is not yet thoroughly studied for radar applications.

The OFDM waveform has both advantages and drawbacks in radar applications. On the positive side, OFDM has a very well-defined, nearly rectangular spectrum and lends itself easily to frequency-domain multiplexing through sub-carrier allocation. On the negative side, OFDM has a high peak-to-average power ratio, is sensitive to hardware non-idealities and requires some trade-offs in signal generation (guard bands, oversampling, baseband filtering).

The goal of this Master Thesis is to design and optimize the waveform of an automotive MIMO-OFDM radar to minimize the mentioned drawbacks. The work will also require proposing signal processing solutions to generate clean, sharp range-Doppler profiles, free of ghosts or undesired sidelobes. It is likely that the best OFDM waveform will be obtained through optimization of cleverly defined objective functions. The work will leverage an existing simulation environment, developed by IMEC, in which the waveform and signal processing solutions can be integrated, tested and compared.

The successful candidate must show a sound understanding of signal processing, linear algebra and optimization. Proficiency with Matlab and/or Python is a must. Some knowledge of radar concepts is a bonus.


Type of project: Thesis, Combination of internship and thesis

Duration: 6 months

Required degree: Master of Engineering Technology, Master of Engineering Science

Required background: Electrotechnics/Electrical Engineering

Supervising scientist(s): For further information or for application, please contact: Andre Bourdoux (Andre.Bourdoux@imec.be)

Imec allowance will be provided for students studying at a non-Belgian university.

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