Phase Noise Mitigation in FMCW Radar Systems
Summary
Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) radar systems are prized for their capacity to deliver precise range and velocity measurements in applications from automotive sensing to aerospace surveillance. However, the intrinsic instability of local oscillators generates phase noise, which manifests as unwanted frequency modulation and spectral broadening. This noise degrades range resolution, induces velocity ambiguity and decorrelates successive chirps, ultimately limiting detection sensitivity and measurement repeatability. Mitigation strategies span both hardware and software domains: on the hardware side, low-noise synthesiser design, optimised phase-locked loops and enhanced isolation between transmit and receive paths reduce spurious jitter; on the signal-processing side, advanced spectral estimation, adaptive filtering and model-based compensation rectify residual phase errors. Recent advances also include over-the-air characterisation techniques to measure phase noise in situ and sophisticated analytical models that account for coloured noise spectra rather than simplistic white-noise assumptions. Together these approaches enable FMCW radar systems to achieve higher precision, longer detection ranges and greater immunity to clutter, meeting the demands of emerging sectors such as autonomous transport, remote healthcare monitoring and high-resolution environmental mapping.
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Phase Noise Mitigation in FMCW Radar Systems publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in phase noise mitigation in fmcw radar systems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Phase noise: Random fluctuations in the phase of an oscillator’s output, expressed as spectral density, that broaden the transmitted signal and impair measurement precision.
FMCW radar: A coherent radar modality in which the transmit frequency is linearly modulated over time (the “chirp”), enabling simultaneous range and velocity estimation through beat-frequency analysis.
Power Spectral Density (PSD): A representation of signal power distributed over frequency, used to quantify the magnitude of phase noise as a function of offset from the carrier.
Phase-Locked Loop (PLL): An electronic control system that synchronises a voltage-controlled oscillator to a reference frequency, influencing the phase-noise profile of radar transmitters.
Range correlation: The statistical dependence of phase noise across consecutive range bins, affecting the radar’s ability to discriminate closely spaced targets.
References
- Impact of Phase Noise on Range Estimation Accuracy in Harmonic FMCW Radar Systems. IEEE Access (2025).
- Over-the-Air Phase Noise Spectral Density Measurement for FMCW Radar Sensors. IEEE Journal of Microwaves (2024).
- Detailed Analysis and Modeling of Phase Noise and Systematic Phase Distortions in FMCW Radar Systems. IEEE Journal of Microwaves (2022).
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