Oscillator for Chirp LIDAR Detector

A project for ECE 547 "VLSI Design" - Fall Semester 2011
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Maine

Designed by: Joseph Grace

This project presents the design and simulation of a switched oscillator intended to be the first part of the front end of a Light Detection and Ranging (LADAR) system. A chirped frequency modulated (FM) LADAR system works by driving a laser beam modulated by a chirped FM signal. The chirp is a sinusoidal waveform that begins at a start frequency (fstart) and ramps up to an end frequency (fstop), forming sawtooth pattern with respect to the frequency of the sinusoid. By comparing the transmitted signal with the reflected signal, a distance to target may be determined. The goal of this particular integrated circuit (IC) is to form the FM chirp signal necessary to a LADAR system as a whole.

The project report contains a description of the project and details of the design and layout.