Investigations into frequency modulated continuous wave Lidar architectures and designs

Frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) lidar is emerging as a transformative technology in next-generation sensing applications, offering advantages in robustness, precision, and velocity measurement compared to the more commonly used pulsed lidar. Real-world implementations of FMCW lidar vary in terms of modulation methods, spectral usage, detection techniques, receiver architectures, and signal processing depending on the specific application and design requirements. The configurations resulting from combinations of these design elements have varying performance metrics such as range/velocity accuracy, resolution, and sensitivity as well as size, weight, power, cost and complexity differences. This paper presents a review and analysis of FMCW lidar system designs found in literature along with quantitative metrics describing their prevalence.