Statistical Study of Hardware Impairments Effect on mmWave 77 GHz FMCW Automotive Radar

In this paper, we analyze the effects of hardware impairments on 77GHz FMCW automotive radar performance. Joint in-phase/quadrature imbalance (IQI) and phase noise effects on frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar transceiver front-end are modeled through statistical analysis of distortion and noise. We derive the signal to distortion plus noise ratio, constant false alarm rate, and range-Doppler sensitivity analysis for both the joint and the individual effects of impairments and validate the formulations with simulations. The represented modeling and analysis can be used in millimetre wave (mmWave) FMCW automotive radar signal processing algorithms for optimum transceiver design.