Thresholded samplers for UWB impulse radar

In this paper, we will present two novel methods for sampling the backscatter in an impulse radar system. We have called the two related methods for swept threshold and stochastic resonance sampling. The samplers are simple, mostly digital circuits which are not clocked, but instead utilize continuous-time signal processing. Since fine-pitch CMOS is not very good for analog processing, but instead has very fast digital logic, the samplers are well suited for this technology. An implementation in 90 nm CMOS is described and measurements which confirm a working 23 GHz sampler are shown.