Photonic approach for on-board and ground radars in automotive applications

While automotive radars are driving the development of high-performance technologies for remote sensing, pushing radiofrequency systems to higher frequencies, photonics is gradually changing the approach to micro- and millimetre wave RF generation and distribution. With its unique features, photonics can extend the potential of radars, in particular for ground-based traffic surveillance and on-board automotive applications, enhancing traffic safety and enabling the deployment of smart driverless vehicles. In fact, microwave photonics offers unprecedented flexibility and stability, such as -113 dBc/Hz (at 100 kHz offset frequency) at 80 GHz, with the capability of generating an extremely broad range of carrier frequencies. Moreover, it can employ signals which span up to several GHz of bandwidth, thus allowing higher precision in target detection and discrimination. This study compares photonic and electronic technologies, and it demonstrates, through simulation results, the benefits of a multiple input, multiple output photonic radar when applied to automotive case-study scenarios.