A continuous-wave (CW) radar sensor design based on a millimetre-wave six-port interferometer is proposed. A complete sensor prototype is conceived of, fabricated and measured at 77 GHz for short-range professional and industrial applications. This sensor is designed to measure distances and Doppler frequencies with high accuracy, at a reasonable cost. Accurate phase measurements are also performed using the six-port technology, which makes it a promising candidate for CW radar sensing applications. Advances in the performance and functionality of six-port sensors are surveyed to highlight recent progress in this area. These include improvements in design, low power consumption, high signal to noise ratio, compactness, robustness and simplicity in realization. Given the fact that they are easy to fabricate, due to the lack of active circuits and being highly accurate, it is expected that six-port sensors will significantly contribute to the development of human tracking devices and industrial sensors in the near future. The entire circuit prototype, including the transmitter, the receiver antenna, the six-port interferometer and the four power detectors have been integrated on a die. The circuit is fabricated using a hybrid integrated technology on a 127-μm ceramic substrate with a relative permittivity of εr=9.8. Calibrated tuning forks are used to assess the performance of the six-port sensor experimentally for various frequencies.
Keywords: Doppler radar; antenna array; coupler; millimetre wave; passive component; reflection coefficient; sensor; six-port interferometer.