Multichannel Backscatter Communication and Ranging for Distributed Sensing With an FMCW Radar

This paper considers the adaptation of frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radars for sensor data exfiltration in addition to their primary use in area surveillance. In particular, the application of wideband RF backscatter from semi-passive RF sensor nodes for simultaneous ranging and wireless telemetry uplink to an FMCW radar is examined. We present an upper bound on data communication rates for baseband-coded binary backscatter modulation given a particular sensor node density and radar parameters, as well as a method for line coding to mitigate stationary clutter. Proof-of-principle measurements using a brass-board S-band radar with center frequency of 2.45 GHz and 40-MHz bandwidth show the simultaneous ranging and demodulation of two sensor nodes at ranges of 15 and 33 m in a cluttered indoor environment. In this demonstration, a signaling rate of 10 kbit/s per sensor with a bit error rate below the measurable threshold of 4×10-3 is achieved.

[1]  Gang Li,et al.  Bandwidth dependence of CW ranging to UHF RFID tags in severe multipath environments , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Conference on RFID.

[2]  Brian Otis,et al.  SOCWISP: A 9 μA, Addressable Gen2 Sensor Tag for Biosignal Acquisition , 2013 .

[3]  Reid R. Harrison,et al.  A Battery-Free Multichannel Digital Neural/EMG Telemetry System for Flying Insects , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems.

[4]  Hoi-Jun Yoo,et al.  A 5.1-/spl mu/W UHF RFID tag chip integrated with sensors for wireless environmental monitoring , 2005, Proceedings of the 31st European Solid-State Circuits Conference, 2005. ESSCIRC 2005..

[5]  Matthew S. Reynolds,et al.  Modulated backscatter for ultra-low power uplinks from wearable and implantable devices , 2012, MedCOMM '12.

[6]  R. Hansen.  Relationships between antennas as scatterers and as radiators , 1989, Proc. IEEE.

[7]  C. Carlowitz,et al.  Precise ranging and simultaneous high speed data transfer using mm-wave regenerative active backscatter tags , 2013, 2013 IEEE International Conference on RFID (RFID).

[8]  L. Franks,et al.  Carrier and Bit Synchronization in Data Communication - A Tutorial Review , 1980, IEEE Transactions on Communications.

[9]  Martin Fischer,et al.  Fully integrated passive UHF RFID transponder IC with 16.7-μW minimum RF input power , 2003, IEEE J. Solid State Circuits.

[10]  J. Teizer,et al.  Quadrature Amplitude Modulated Backscatter in Passive and Semipassive UHF RFID Systems , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques.

[11]  Vijay Pillai,et al.  An Ultra-Low-Power Long Range Battery/Passive RFID Tag for UHF and Microwave Bands With a Current Consumption of 700 nA at 1.5 V , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers.

[12]  Pavel Nikitin,et al.  Differential RCS of RFID tag , 2007 .

[13]  H. Stockman,et al.  Communication by Means of Reflected Power , 1948, Proceedings of the IRE.

[14]  S. W. Depp,et al.  Short-range radio-telemetry for electronic identification, using modulated RF backscatter , 1975, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[15]  Mark A. Richards,et al.  Fundamentals of Radar Signal Processing , 2005 .

[16]  Alfred R. Koelle,et al.  Short-range radio-telemetry for electronic identification, using modulated RF backscatter , 1975 .

[17]  R. Green,et al.  The general theory of antenna scattering , 1963 .

[18]  Jeffrey L. Krolik,et al.  Multichannel radar backscatter communication and localization , 2014, 2014 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP).

[19]  Fan Zhang,et al.  A 9 $\mu$ A, Addressable Gen2 Sensor Tag for Biosignal Acquisition , 2010, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[20]  Catherine Dehollain,et al.  Design and Optimization of Passive UHF RFID Systems , 2006 .