[tt] [info] eurekalert: 7x7 array of radio emmitting-and-detecting on-a-chip

[Alejandro Dubrovsky]

(
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/uosc-sbo020108.php
)

Contact: Eric Mankin
mankin at usc.edu
213-821-1887
University of Southern California
Small bit of a CMOS chip holds 2-D through-the-walls radar imager
Applications for 49-pixel probe-and-camera system range from medical
imaging to emergency resecue

Two researchers from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering have created
a send/receive chip that functions as an active array, sending out a
matrix of 49 simultaneous ultrawideband radar probe beams and picking up
the returned beam reflections.

Professor Hossein Hashemi of the Viterbi School's Ming Hsieh Department
of Electrical Engineering and graduate student Ta-Shun Chu designed and
fabricated the device that will be presented February 4 at 2:30 p.m. at
the 2008 IEEE International Solid State Circuits Symposium (ISSCC) in
San Francisco.

According to Hashemi, "the chip benefits from a novel architecture that
allows for the integration of an entire 2D array in a small area of a
standard chip," processed by the familiar and economical CMOS process.

Creating the device on CMOS, says Hashemi, "reduces the cost by orders
of magnitude, while increasing the functionality. In effect, the chip is
a 49-pixel camera operating in the radio band.

"The chip can be used in various radar and imaging system to detect,
identify and locate multiple objects simultaneously in a complex
environment," Hashemi says. "Potential applications include
through-the-wall imaging, and search and rescue missions" (such as
finding earthquake victims buried in rubble, and distinguishing
survivors from the dead).

Other possible uses include biomedical imaging, security monitoring
devices and real-time collision avoidance systems for vehicles, both
safety devices for cars with drivers and application in autonomous
vehicles.

Last year the two researchers presented a CMOS chip that worked on the
same principles but produced only a single beam, offering only
single-point one-dimensional detection. The new version's 7x7 array of
beams, scanning in "offers many more degrees of freedom for
communication and imaging in complex environments," Hashemi said.

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