A 28nm CMOS Almost All-Digital 0.5 to 4.0 GHz Ultra-Wideband Ground Penetrating Radar for Lunar Surface Exploration

This paper presents a nearly all-digital ultra-wideband (UWB) ground penetrating radar (GPR) for locating and surveying ice on the lunar surface in support of future human exploration missions. The digital nature of the radar allows it to operate at the low temperatures expected in the permanently shaded regions (PSRs) of the lunar surface where ice deposits are prevalent. The radar uses a SAR ADC with only two analog components combined with an all-digital transmitter implemented in a 28nm CMOS. The radar operates at 0.5 to 4.0 GHz (antenna limited), was tested to -50ºC and shown to provide resolution of 3 cm while consuming only 620mW of DC power.