A Digital-Intensive 1TX/2RX IEEE 802.15.4/4z-Compliant Joint-Radar-Communication-Location Transceiver SoC

This article introduces a digital-intensive 6–11 GHz 1TX/2RX IEEE 802.15.4/4z-Compliant joint-Radar-Communication-Location transceiver (TRX) SoC for indoor multi-sensor data fusion. The proposed transceiver utilizes the environment detection and awareness capabilities of the frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar to complement the shortcomings of ultra-wideband (UWB) systems in indoor positioning applications. Additionally, the communication capability of the UWB can be used to fuse FMCW radar signals from various sources to model complex, large indoor scenes, enhancing the practicality of the FMCW and UWB fused system. The proposed joint-radar-communication-location transceiver SoC is designed and implemented in 28 nm CMOS technology, supporting UWB and FMCW radar modes. The UWB mode is compatible with IEEE 802.15.4/4z, providing accurate distance measurement, location information, and communication capabilities. The FMCW radar mode actively detects and models indoor environments. The transceiver covers an RF range of 6–11 GHz, supporting various communication data rates of 0.85/6.81/27.24 Mb/s. The measured ranging accuracy is ±2 cm, and the measured angle accuracy is ±4°. In the FMCW radar mode, the measured chirp bandwidth exceeds 2 GHz, the received SNR within 10 m is greater than 20 dB, and the measured distance resolution is better than 10 cm. Additionally, the transceiver SoC incorporates a UWB communication-enabled FMCW radar imaging algorithm for the system-level demonstration.