RFSoC-based design and implementation of a

Direct RF FMCW radar altimeter

1st Victor Bursucianu 2nd Abdessamad Amrhar 3rd Jean-Marc Gagné
Electrical Engineering Department Electrical Engineering Department Electrical Engineering Department
LASSENA, (ETS) LASSENA, (ETS) LASSENA, (ETS)
Montreal, Canada Montreal, Canada Montreal, Canada
0000-0001-9394-2811 abdessamad.amrhar@lassena.etsmtl.ca jean-marc.gagne@lassena.etsmtl.ca

4th Rene.Jr Landry

Electrical Engineering Department
LASSENA, (ETS)
Montreal, Canada
renejr.landry@etsmtl.ca
2023 IEEE Radar Conference (RadarConf23) | 978-1-6654-3669-4/23/$31.00 ©2023 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/RADARCONF2351548.2023.10149605

Abstract—This paper presents the design and performance of Finally, the discussion and conclusion are outlined in the fifth
a Direct RF Sampling Radar Altimeter based on the RFSoC from section.
Xilinx. This architecture removes the mixing stage by sampling
directly from the RF band of interest. The laboratory tests, II. BACKGROUND
conducted with certified equipment (Alt-8000), demonstrate that
the proposed design meets the accuracy standards set by RTCA’s A. FMCW Radar Fundamentals
DO-155. In addition, this work highlights some challenges and
design consideration that comes with this technique. The radar altimeter works as any conventional radar. It
Index Terms—RFSoC, radar, altimeter, RadAlt, Direct RF, measures the time lag between the incident and reflected
software-defined radio, SDR, Bandpass-Sampling, FMCW signals. We can compute the range R (1) from this. Where
R is the range, c is the speed of light, and td is the time lag
in seconds [3].
I. I NTRODUCTION
c · td
The Radar altimeter (RadAlt) is one of the most critical R= (1)
2
pieces of equipment in an aircraft. Since it is the only
reliable method to get Above Ground Level (AGL) altitude,
it is required for CAT-II and CAT-III landings. Therefore,
RadAlt is usually installed in double or triple redundancy [1].
However, the reliability of RadAlt is being compromised by
the 5G signal interface [2]. This situation highlights the clear
need for futureproofing critical flight equipment. One potential
solution would take advantage of the inherent flexibility and
reconfigurability of Software Defined Radios (SDR). Until
recently, an SDR-based RadAlt was unfeasible due to the sam-
pling rate limitations from the Analog to Digital Converters
(ADC) and Digital to Analog Converters (DAC). Fortunately,
with the advent of modern high-speed ADCs, a fully digital
RadAlt that samples the signal directly from the antenna (i.e.
Direct RF Sampling or DRFS) is within reach. This work
proposes a potential implementation of a DRFS RadAlt using
a 3rd generation RF System-On-a-Chip (RFSoC) from Xilinx.
This paper will also evaluate the potential limitations and
challenges of this approach. The paper outlines the design
and laboratory test of the proposed design and is divided Fig. 1. Relationships of beat frequencies with FMCW signals
into five sections. After the introduction, the second section
describes the background of radar altimeters. The third section Low-Range radar altimeters use a Frequency-Modulated
describes the proposed design. The fourth section is dedicated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) triangular waveform (see Fig-
to laboratory test results and analysis of the proposed design. ure 1). With this modulation scheme, the time lag is directly

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proportional to the frequency difference between the incident
(fT x ) and reflected signals (fRx ). Mixing the transmitted and
received signal together generates a beat frequency signal di-
rectly proportional to the time delay for fixed radar parameters
[3]. These parameters are the bandwidth (B) and the sweep
time (Ts ). Equation (2) presents how the beat frequency can
be used to calculate the time delay and therefore measure the
range of a target.
B
fb = fRx − fT x = · td (2) Fig. 2. Architecture of a conventional FMCW radar altimeter
Ts
By combining (1) and (2), we get equation (3) when solving
for the range R. This equation is valid for a static target without III. P ROPOSED A RCHITECTURE
Doppler. A. System Architecture
c · Ts
R= · fb (3)
2·B
B. Doppler Effect
As expected, radars are susceptible to the Doppler effect
as it causes a frequency shift (fd ) proportional to the vertical
speed of the aircraft vr and the wavelength λ0 .
2 · vr
fd = fRx − fT x ≈ (4)
λ0
where:
Fig. 3. Proposed architecture of an RFSoC-based radar altimeter
c
λ0 = (5) The proposed radar altimeter is presented in Figure 3.
fc
This shift in frequency impacts the beat signal by creating Compared to a traditional FMCW radar, the RF front end
two different beat frequencies for the same range (see Fig- only filters and amplifies signals. Using the RFSoC Gen3 from
ure 1): Xilinx, mixers are no longer needed to up-convert or down-
convert the chirp since the ADC, and the DAC can sample
fbup = fb − fd (6) directly at 4.3GHz.
The selected development board chosen for implementing
fbdown = fb + fd (7) this architecture is the RFSoC 4x2. It is based on the Zynq
Ultrascale+ RFSoC Gen3 XCZU48DR-1FFVG1517E, which
Using those definitions, we can rewrite the equations to
has four 14-bit 5 GSps RF-ADC and two 14-bit 7.0 GSps RF-
calculate the range and vertical speed of the aircraft for an
DAC [5]. The sampling reference clock on this board is 491.52
FMCW triangular waveform radar altimeter.
MHz, allowing a maximum sampling rate of 4915.2 MHz for
c · Ts fbdown + fbup the ADC. Typically, sampling at this rate would be considered
R= · (8) under-sampling since the maximum signal frequency is less
2·B 2
λ0 fbdown − fbup than twice the sampling rate. But thanks to Nyquist folding, the
vr = · (9) desired signal can be received as long as the analog bandwidth
2 2
allows it [6]. In the end, only a bandpass filter, centred on
C. Traditional Radar Altimeter
4.3GHz, is needed to suppress all the unwanted images and
Figure 2 shows the architecture of a conventional radar recover the desired signal, as illustrated in Figure 5.
altimeter. The processing unit generates the incident FMCW
chirp and controls the sweep rate. This signal is then up- TABLE I
converted to the desired RF frequency, either using a frequency TABLE OF F REQUENCY A LIASES ( IN MH Z )
multiplier or a mixer and a local oscillator. Afterward, the
Symbol F1 F2 FS F3
signal is routed to the antenna while a fraction of its power is Frequency [MHz] 615.2 4300 4915.2 5530.4
fed to the one the mixer’s input through a directional coupler.
As for the reflected signal, it is mixed with coupled incident
signal once it is filtered. The resulting signal is then filtered B. Radalt Signal processing
to isolate the beat frequency signal. Finally, the altitude is Inside the Programmable Logic of the RFSoC, shown in
computed using either a frequency counter or digital spectral Figure 4, only four modules are required to perform the pri-
analysis [4]. mary function of a radar altimeter. First, the Chirp Generator

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 Fig. 4. Implemented Radalt Processing Architecture

In Equation (3), we can assume that fb is equivalent to fbdig

in a digital radar and we can rewrite the equation using (11)
and (10) as (12).

c · Ts fs · n
R= · (12)
2·B D·N
Finally, the range and relative speed for a digital radar can
be calculated using (13) and (14), respectively:
Fig. 5. Aliasing images caused by Sub-Nyquist Sampling
c · Ts fs ndown + nup
R= · · (13)
2·B D·N 2
creates a complex chirp with an AXI4 stream for I and Q. The
streams are duplicated using an AXI4-broadcast module, with λ0 fs ndown − nup
vr = · · (14)
one stream going to an interleaver and the other to the range 2 D·N 2
processing module. The interleaver is needed to interface with
The Radar controller, implemented in the processor, decides
the DAC of the RFSoC by merging the I and Q AXI4-Streams
what sweep time should be used depending on the altitude.
into a single stream with the samples interleaved. Finally,
Therefore, the equations (13) and (14) needs to be recalculated
the received samples are mixed with a copy of the transmit-
using the new Ts value as soon as it changes.
ted samples inside the complex downconverter module. The
resulting low-frequency beat signal is processed inside the
C. Implemented design
range processor module. Compared to traditional radars, the
beat frequency is synthesized digitally by complex multiplying The implemented design uses the RF-Data converter ca-
the received IQ samples with a copy of the transmitted IQ pability of hardware interpolation and decimation. Using a
samples. Performing an FFT on the decimated signal is needed sampling rate of 4915.2 MHz and a decimation/interpolation
to estimate the frequency value of the beat frequency. The of 16, the FPGA sampling in the baseband is 307.2 MHz.The
output of the FFT is a complex window of N samples. For RFSoC supports multiple samples per clock through Frames,
each sample of that FFT window, the magnitude is calculated reducing the timing requirements by lowering the FPGA
to facilitate the calculation of the bin number with the highest clock speed. The disadvantage of such a method is the more
value. Once the peak finder finds the maximum value, it significant surface usage inside the FPGA. In this design, a
returns the bin number assigned to the processor, where the frame of 8 samples can make the FPGA clock run at 38.4MHz.
range calculation is performed. To calculate the value of the Table II summarizes the used parameters of the design inside
beat frequency, the processor needs to know the frequency the RFSoC.
resolution of one FFT bin (δf ), given by (10), where D is the
decimation rate, and N is the size of the FFT. TABLE II
I MPLEMENTED RFS O C PARAMETERS
fs Description Value Units
δf = (10)
D·N RFSoc Sampling Rate 4915.2 MHz
RFSoC DDC/DUC Rate 16 -
Multiplying the bin number (n) by the FFT resolution gives FPGA Sampling Rate 307.2 MHz
us the digital beat frequency (11): Samples per Clock 8 -
FPGA Clock 38.4 MHz
Beat Signal Decimation 256 -
fbdig = δf · n (11) FFT Size 2048 -

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 For reference, Table III shows the resource utilization of
such design inside the programmable logic of the Xilinx
RFSoC XCZU48DR-1FFVG1517-2-E.

TABLE III
RFS O C PROGRAMMABLE LOGIC RESOURCE UTILIZATION SUMMARY

Resources Available Used Used(%)

LUT 425280 119067 27.99
LUTRAM 213600 2566 1.20
FF 850560 33335 3.92
BRAM 1080 34 3.14
DSP 4272 53 1.24

The proposed radalt architecture characteristics are de-

scribed in table IV.

TABLE IV Fig. 6. Chirp spectrum centered on 4.3GHz with 200MHz of bandwidth

I MPLEMENTED R ADAR A LTIMETER CHARACTERISTICS

Description Value Units

Center frequency 4300 MHz
Waveform type Triangular, Sawtooth
Waveform repetition frequency 30-550 Hz
3 dB emission bandwidth 198 MHz
20 dB emission bandwidth 199 MHz
40 dB emission bandwidth 200 MHz
Transmitted power (peak) 33 dBm
Rx sensitivity -101.3 dBm
Loop sensitivity 134 dB
Noise figure 9.55 dB
Cable length 2 x 7.62 m
Total cable loss 2 x 7.6 dB
Threshold receiver overload -40 dBm
Beat frequency bandwidth 0-1.2 MHz
Voltage requirements 28 V
Power requirements 130 W
Weight 11.25 Kg
Dimensions 43.18 x 54.61 x 15.24 cm

IV. T ESTS AND R ESULTS

A. Signal spectrum measurements
The spectrum plot, in figure 6, depicts the transmitted
200MHz chirp signal centred at 4.3GHz with a high spurious-
free dynamic range (SFDR) of 60dB. The direct RF architec-
ture of the RFSoC is likely responsible for the low distortion
and excellent spectral purity observed in the signal.
B. Test setup
An ALT-8000 test unit was used to test the radar altimeter
to validate the system’s performance before flight tests. The
ALT-8000 is the first flight line test set for FMCW, and
pulsed 4.3 GHz radar altimeters [7], [8]. The instrument
can be remotely controlled using SCPI commands (Standard
Commands for Programmable Instruments) over the Network
[9]. This feature is helpful for re-configuring the equipment
and logging the measurements performed by the ALT-8000.
The ability to sample the simulated altitude multiple times a
second enables the precise altitude error calculation of the unit
under test. The test software compares the simulated altitude
with the measured altitude of the radar altimeter to find the
error. Another handy feature of the ALT-8000 is that it can
Fig. 7. Hardware in the loop testing of the RFSoC-based radar altimeter
emulate the free space path loss. That way, sensitivity tests
can be performed in the laboratory.
The following table V gives the test parameters for mea-
suring the radar altimeter accuracy. The test setup is shown
in Figure 7, where the ALT-8000 is connected to the RF
Frontend using 25ft coaxial cables (PN: TEA80-T1S1F25).
The actual cable loss was not given to the ALT-8000 because
those parameters compensate for the cable loss of the ALT-
8000 when used with an antenna coupler on a radalt installed
on an aircraft. In this case, we are testing the system from
the antenna point of view, and the coaxial cables are part of
the system loss. A 30dB attenuator is used on the Rx port
in addition to setting this value in the ”Rx External Loss”
parameter of the ALT-8000. The external attenuator is needed
to increase the dynamic range of the test equipment [10]. An
altitude rate of 40 ft/min is used to sweep across all altitudes
slowly enough to measure the accuracy of the range without
any doppler. Additionally, using a slower altitude rate allows

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multiple samples of range measurement for every foot of the
simulation.

TABLE V
ALT8000 T EST S ETUP

Parameter Value Units

Altitude Start 0 ft
Altitude Stop 5500 ft
Altitude Rate 40 ft/min
Tx Cable Loss 0.0 dB
Rx Cable Loss 0.0 dB
Tx External Loss 0 dB
Rx External Loss 30 dB
RF Level Offset 0 dB
RF Level Mode AUTO

C. Ramp test measurements Fig. 9. Absolute Error from 0 to 100 ft

This subsection presents the results of the ramp test mea-
surement. The first plot (Figure 8) shows the received power
as a function of simulated altitude. The radar altimeter loses
track of the altitude sporadically at ranges above 3500 ft,
though it can regain track up to 5500 ft. However, to err on
the side of caution, we consider the maximum range to be
3500 ft, especially since the ALT-8000 simulator only models
free space propagation loss, not ground scattering loss.

Fig. 10. Relative Error from 0 to 3500 ft

Fig. 8. Altitude from 0 to 5500 ft

Typical scattering losses due to the type of ground and angle

of the aircraft range between +2 to -25dB [11]. Therefore, the
remaining sensitivity above 3500 ft is used as a buffer for
scattering losses, while the rest of the results only analyze the
error between 0 and 3500 ft. Alternatively, adding an LNA to
the RX path of the RF front end may be necessary to achieve
better results at higher altitudes.
At lower altitudes, the measured error varies between ± 1 ft
(displayed in figure 9). Due to technical issues with the ALT-
8000, the simulation starts at 10 ft instead of 0 ft.
At higher altitudes, the error remains under ± 1% (shown
in figure 10). It can be noted that the sweep rate changes
gradually during the simulation to adjust the dynamic range
of the measurement at the expanse of reducing the resolution Fig. 11. Error distribution from 0 to 3500 ft
and increasing the error.

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 The RTCA defines the MOPS of radar altimeter in the DO- 1 (615.2 MHz) and zone 3 (5530.4MHz) is required. As for
155 [12]. Table VI summarizes the accuracy requirements the reception, high selectivity filters are needed to avoid other
and measurement conditions. The claimed accuracy of two signals folding into the band of interest. However, due to the
commercially available radar altimeters is added to the table. advent of 5G and how it interferes with the radar altimeter, a
The results obtained with the ALT-8000 show that the error is high selectivity filter for all commercial RadAlt transceivers
equivalent to the Honeywell ALA-52B in the 0-100ft range. would likely be a general requirement. For this design, the
The error from 100 ft and up is better than the ± 2% current filters do not fully comply with the requirements
of commercial radar altimeters and the DO-155. However, mentioned above, which is one of the points that should be
finding any information on how those error measurements improved upon. Finally, this work shows the DRFS is a viable
were conducted is hard. For example, a flight test will give solution radar altimeter. The current positive result enables
different results based on the ground scattering and the terrain. this design to be flight tested after some adjustments to the
RF front end. In this way, the impact of the environment (RF
TABLE VI interference and the ground backscattering) could be evaluated.
R ADAR A LTIMETER ACCURACY MOPS
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Source 0-100 ft 100-500 ft 500 ft
DO-155 ± 3 ft ± 3% ± 5% The work presented in this paper is part of the NextGen
Honeywell(ALA-52B) ± 1.5 ft ± 2% ± 2% project at LASSENA, ÉTS. It is supported by the Natural Sci-
Thales (KVJAHV1600) ± 2.0 ft ± 2% ± 2%
ences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC),
the Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in
A more detailed numeric analysis of the obtained results Quebec (CRIAQ), and three main strategic partners, namely
can be found in table VII. Bombardier, Thales, and ACSS/L3Harris.
TABLE VII R EFERENCES
R ADAR ALTIMETER ERROR SUMMARY
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