Chip-Scale THz System for Single-Shot Angular Localization

In this article, we demonstrate a scalable chip-scale Terahertz system that can serve as a spectrum-to-space mapping source for single-shot angular localization. The source, by using frequency dispersive antennas emits different frequencies towards different locations in the space and therefore by utilizing this principle and the uniqueness of the received broadband spectrum at different locations, multiple nodes can simultaneously localize themselves in a single-shot manner. The chip-scale system includes two dual-port on-chip periodic leaky wave antennas (LWAs) for single dimension full hemispherical coverage along with two broadband transmitting and receiving chain operating within the frequency range of 360-400 GHz. The dual-port periodic LWAs have a spatial coverage capability of broadside to +40° and using two antennas fed from two opposite ports, we have a spatial coverage of ±40°. By cross correlation of the received power from an unknown angular location with the apriori determined calibration map, 1D angular estimation accuracy of less that 1° at the resolution bandwidth of 20 Hz is achieved. The chip in the transmitting mode consumes 138 mW while in the receiving mode, each of the chains consume 163 mW. The system is implemented on an industry-standard 65-nm CMOS process with a total occupied area of 3mm2.