Software-defined radar (SDR) developer Ancortek has released a SDR kit with digital phased-array beamforming and MIMO capabilities. The SDR-KIT 2400T2R4 was designed for direction of arrival measurement, radar interferometry, digital beamforming and MIMO radar. It has the capability to monitor human activity, sense occupancy and gestures and create 3D images.

The compact hardware contains a coherent transmitter-receiver with two transmit channels, four receive channels and integrated phase-locked loop. Using time-division multiplexing, the radar transmits FMCW, FSK or CW waveforms at K-Band, with an adjustable frequency from 24 to 26 GHz. The radar uses Infineon’s highly integrated transmit and receive RFICs, the BGT24MTR12 and BGT24MR2, which support a typical output power of 20 dBm, phase noise of −96 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset and 12 dB noise figure. All four receive channels provide I and Q data. Six female SMA connectors on the front panel enable easy connection to external antennas.

An FPGA-based processor module in the kit contains the microcontroller, signal processing and power management. Using an FPGA provides the user with flexibility and standard programmable logic. Four, 40 MSPS analog-to-digital converters process the four receive channels, and a high speed USB peripheral controller enables the raw sampled data to be streamed to a PC for processing. The PC-based graphical user interface enables users to easily select the center frequency and bandwidth, choose signal waveforms, sampling rates, filtering, display parameters and record or export the receive I/Q data.

The software-defined architecture provides flexibility and enables the hardware to be compact: 5.4 in. long, 4.1 in. wide and 1.2 in. high. Without modifying the hardware, the operating modes, waveforms, bandwidth and processing functions can be changed to tailor the system to handle multiple applications and scenarios. An embedded version of the kit is available, which adds battery power, a 7 in. touch screen display and Linux operating system.

Ancortek Inc.
Fairfax, Va.
www.ancortek.com