Simulative investigation of FMCW based optical photonic radar and its different configurations

Intelligent transportation is becoming integral part of future smart cities where driverless operations may provide hassle free conveyance. Photonic radar technology is one such contender to deliver attractive applications in autonomous vehicle sector. In this paper we have discussed the basic principle of frequency modulated continuous wave photonic radar and their possible advantages. Further the basic detection scheme that is direct detection and coherent detection is explained mathematically as well as numerical simulations to understand the working is also carried out. The obtained result concludes that direct detection scheme provides minimal complexity in its architecture and is sensitive to received signal strength at the cost of thermal noise and poor sensitivity. On the other hand, coherent detection offers higher target range estimation as well as velocity measurement at the expense of increased system complexity.