Miniature UWB Radar for Accurate Object Detection and Indoor Localisation

Abstract

The demand for precise location has increased throughout the years and is projected to continue to do so in the coming years. However, when it comes to indoor localization applications, satellite-based localisation approaches become more obsolete. Ultra-wideband (UWB) impulse radar is a technology for indoor localization that is model-based. However, the majority of research create the UWB radar's transmitter using discrete components or microwave integrated circuits. On the other hand, receivers are designed independently of the transmitter, with synchronisation between the two essential. In this paper, we present the design of a radar system with X2 Ultra-Wideband (UWB) transceiver system on chip (SoC) as its core. Together with X2, two UWB antennas and LNAs formed the analogue front end of the radar system. A Personal Computer (PC) software developed in VisualBasic.net is used to communicate to a microcontroller which is interfaced with the digital backend of X2. The system demonstrates ranging capability up to 3 meters. The result indicates that the designed UWB impulse radar successfully detected the object with a sufficient error margin. It can be used for a variety of applications, including vehicle counting, vehicle sensor, and human sensor, with appropriate calibration and fine tuning.