Front-End Architectures in Millimeter-Wave Systems: From Analogue to Digital Concepts

A survey on front-end architectures of radar sensors and receivers is given. Heterodyne or homodyne principles are used depending on the system application. The increase in processor speed together with recent advances in SiGeMMICs and with micromachined elements (MEMS) is proposed to be the technological platform for a future digital evolution of front-end architectures.