Method to embed a data-link on FMCW chirps for communication between cooperative 77-GHz radar stations

We present the realization of a cooperative radar system for ranging applications with integrated data-transmission capability. The simultaneous transmission is performed by the radar-hardware without the necessity of additional components or an auxiliary data-link. Therefore the data is directly embedded in the transmitted chirp of a frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar-sensor. A second station, acting as receiver, uses an identical, but unmodulated chirp for down-conversion. The resulting signal then is processed by a noncoherent demodulator setup, extracting the communication data. Measurement results from transmission of messages with different bit-rates are shown. By utilizing existing radar-hardware a transmission rate of up to 128 kbps is possible, without the need of a dedicated transceiver.