Journal of Millimeterwave Communication, Optimization and Modelling v.

1 (1)

Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) Design Suitable for

2.4 GHz Radar Applications
İbrahim Ethem Yilmaz Necmi Serkan Tezel
Electrical and Electronics Engineering Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Karabuk University Karabuk University
Karabuk, Turkey Karabuk, Turkey
ibrahimethemyilmaz@karabuk.edu.tr nstezel@karabuk.edu.tr

Abstract——In radar systems and WLAN applications, These two parameters are closely related to the dynamic
receiver and transmitter circuits are used for information range and the sensitivity of the transmitter and receiver
exchange and LNA (Low noise amplifier) circuits are used to circuits as previously mentioned in this paper. Besides being
ease the detection of the signal transmitted from the radar. To low in noise factor, reducing the power dissipation while
reduce the power consumption of LNA circuits, a more feeding the amplifier is a desired feature for low-noise
efficient, lower noise circuit design is required, but in which amplifier design as well [1],[2],[8]. In low-noise amplifier
the gain is at the forefront while reducing the Noise Figure designs, it is aimed to increase the signal level by the
(NF). While the design provides these, attention should also be amplifier gain, but while this signal is amplified, the DC
paid to parameters such as significant gain, dynamic range,
power to be consumed for the active element must be
stability and return loss. In this study, an LNA design that can
be used in accordance with the Doppler radar operating
reduced. In addition to these parameters, appropriate
principle, in which the consumed power is reduced, the gain is impedance values should be selected by analyzing at the
significantly high, and the noise is reduced to tolerable levels stability circles of transistor to prevent the active element
has been made. The designed LNA circuit has a structure that from oscillating. The oscillation state must be considered
can also be used in WLAN applications. At operating when optimizing the return loss values of the low-noise
frequency, NF and gain obtained 1.014 dB and 19.85 dB, amplifier circuit.
respectively. By using a 2V 10mA biasing model in DC power,
Doppler radar circuits are a type of radar that uses the
the operation of the active elements is ensured.
Doppler effect in receiving the echo signal. The purpose of
Keywords—LNA, doppler radar, noise figure, impedance Doppler radars is to distinguish between moving and non-
matching, series feedback moving objects, and if they are moving, to detect their speed
[9]. In radar systems, low-noise amplifier circuits are used to
amplify the signal level.
I. INTRODUCTION
In this study, two-stage low-noise amplifier design,
Low-noise amplifiers are used as a key element for
which is in the initial stages of radar transceiver circuits, in
amplifying low-level signals at the inputs of many
which the speed of motion can be detected by Doppler effect,
communication systems [1]–[3]. Low-noise amplifiers are
was made using micro-strip transmission lines. Simulation
important and widely used elements in the receiver and
was carried out by paying attention to parameters such as
transmitter circuits of radar systems, WLAN applications,
gain, noise factor, dissipated power, stability, return loss in a
mobile radio systems [4], [5]. In such applications, low-noise
doppler radar circuit with a frequency of 2.4 GHz. The
amplifiers determine the dynamic range because they act on
values obtained because of the simulation highly meet the
a certain frequency or frequency band [6], [7].
targets determined before the simulation. A two-stage circuit
Low-noise amplifiers in receiver and transmitter circuits, was used to increase the gain, and serial feedback technique
which are encountered in applications such as radar, WLAN, was used to reduce the noise factor, and values were
mobile radio systems, are the circuit units in which the low obtained showing that it was suitable for our design goals by
amplitude signals coming from the receiving antennas are simulation. As a result of the simulation of the circuit, gain
processed first, to speak on behalf of the receiver circuit [3]. 19.85 dB, NF 1.014 dB, return loss as -10.02 dB for input
The low noise of the amplifier used here plays an effective and -19.7 dB for output obtained at 2.4 GHz frequency.
role in obtaining the desired message or, more accurately, the
information without distortion or with the least distortion II. LOW NOISE AMPLIFIER DESIGN
after the incoming signal exits the amplifier. On the other
hand, noise has an important place in low-noise amplifier A. Structure of the Amplifier
designs, since the less the amplifier internal noise affects the
information to be transmitted on behalf of the transmitter The elements and topologies of the proposed low-noise
circuits, the cleaner information signal will be obtained. This amplifier circuit consist of the input matching circuit,
noise can be caused by the active element in low-noise transistors as our active elements, transistor serial feedbacks,
amplifier circuits and the effect of environmental factors and output matching circuit. The low-noise amplifier
such as heat. The fact that the noise factor has little effect on topology is shown in Figure 1. Microstrip transmission lines
the signal is a sought-after feature in low-noise amplifier are used in the design of low-noise amplifier circuit elements
circuits, in the same way, the gain of the amplifier is one of modeled in Figure 1. Low-noise amplifier design was carried
the key points to be considered together with the noise [8]. out by using FR4 material simulation parameters as the
The processes for reducing the noise should be optimized in substrate surface in the microstrip transmission line. FR4
such a way as to affect the amplifier gain as little as possible. was preferred due to cost and ease of access.

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Journal of Millimeterwave Communication, Optimization and Modelling v.1 (1)
The DC supply part of the transistor shown in Figure 1 is
simulated using the 2V 10mA linear model [10]. Transistor ()
selection was made by considering its stability, gain at
effective frequency, noise factor, and return loss as well as
DC supply. Input and output matching circuits were also
designed with microstrip transmission lines by determining ()
the optimization goals of noise, gain, return loss parameters.
The block diagram of the designed low-noise amplifier
circuit is shown in Figure 2.
()

Similarly, the gain parameter of the low-noise amplifier

in Table 1, S21, was optimized with transmission lines to be
above 15 dB to obtain a high gain. The lengths and widths of
the transmission lines were optimized using the following
formulas and with the AWR MWO optimizer tool in line
with the optimization goals. W, d specified in equation 5,
represents the width of the transmission lines and the
thickness, respectively. Ɛr is the dielectric constant and Ɛr,eff
is the effective value of it. The impedance Zo is 50 Ω.
Fig. 1. Low Noise Amplifier(LNA) topology

()

()

()
Fig. 2. Designed low noise amplifier(LNA) block diagram

While designing the circuit whose block diagram is

shown in Figure 2, the optimization parameters of the ()
transmission lines and the desired values of these parameters
in the design were determined. In line with these goals set
out in Table 1, adjustments were made on the transmission
lines through the optimize tool of the Cadence AWR DE ()
(Design Environment) MWO (Microwave Office) program.
The goals determined in Table 1 were optimized in the
1-6GHz range to include the operating frequency. In the two-port low-noise amplifier circuit, there are two
parameters for the return loss evaluation, S11 for the input
part and S22 for the output part. In the 2-3 GHz band, which
TABLE I. OPTIMIZATION GOALS
is the range of the operating frequency, it is determined as a
Noise Figure Gain Return Loss goal for these two parameters to be below -10 dB. The goal
NF S21 S11(Input) S22(Output) of wanting these two parameters to be low is to have low
reflection in the range where our amplifier circuit operates.
1-2GHz - - <0dB <0dB
To design a more efficient circuit, reducing the reflection is
2-3GHz <1.5dB >15dB <-10dB <-10dB the key point of it. In the remaining parts of the test
frequency range, 1-2 GHz and 3-6 GHz, the values of S11 and
3-6GHz - - <0dB <0dB
S22 are intended to be below 0 dB so that the transistor does
As shown in Table 1, the noise figure (NF) is aimed to not oscillate. As in S21, the goals were achieved by adjusting
remain below 1.5 dB in the 2-3 GHz range, which includes the length and width with the above equations.
the operating frequency, and its effect on the signal is
reduced. Here, while calculating the noise figure in the B. Designing the Part of the Amplifier
simulation, operations were carried out based on the
following formulas. In the following equations 1, 2, 3 and 4, While designing, first, the transistors in the transistor
SNRo is the signal-to-noise ratio at the output, SNRi is the block of the LNA circuit, which was created by drawing the
signal-to-noise ratio at the input, A is the gain of the designed block diagram in Figure 2 in the previous section, and the
amplifier, Ps is the signal power, PN is the noise power, PND is feedback of the transistors were designed in simulation.
the power of its own noise, F is the actual value of the noise. Selected ATF-55143 model GaAs FET transistors specified
S1 and S2, as seen in Figure 5, a two-stage circuit was
created to increase the gain by connecting the drain end of S1
transistor to the gate end of S2 transistor.
()

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Journal of Millimeterwave Communication, Optimization and Modelling v.1 (1)

Fig. 3. Input matching circuit schematic

Fig. 4. Output matching circuit schematic

pi matching section were designed with open circuit

termination. As seen in Figures 3 and 4, the pi matching
circuit facilitates the optimization by ensuring that the
transmission line specified by TL3 is properly connected
with the first port TL2, the second port TL5 and the third
port TL4. Like the TL3 transmission line, the TL6
transmission line also provides the appropriate connection by
connecting to its ports TL5, TL8, TL7 respectively. TL3*
and TL5* transmission lines, which perform the same
operation in the output matching circuit in Figure 5, are
designed as their counterparts in the input matching circuit.

III. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The structures proposed in Figure 2 for the low-noise
amplifier circuit are combined into a single topology. NF,
Fig. 5. Transistor circuit schematic gain and return loss measurements were made in the AWR
MWO environment. In Figure 6, the NF graph of the LNA
In order to facilitate the optimization of the NF value and circuit designed with transmission lines is obtained because
reduce the NF, the transmission lines expressed as Ze and Ze2 of simulation at 1-6 GHz frequency range. As indicated in
in the schematic in Figure 5 are fed back to the transistors in the graph in Figure 6, NF is seen as 1.014 dB at 2.4 GHz
series [3], [10]. operating frequency. It complies with the optimization goals
set for noise before the design.
Following the transistor schematic, suitable input and
output matching circuits were designed through optimization
of the transmission lines. While designing the input and
output matching circuits, the transmission lines specified in
Figure 3 and Figure 4 as TL1 and TL1* are set 50 Ω by
adjusting their width and length at 2.4GHz using the TXLine
tool of the AWR MWO program, to first comply with the
port impedance and thus avoid any loss when it comes to the
real time application of the designed circuit. Capacitors
specified as C1 in the input matching circuit and C2 in the
output matching circuit were used to prevent the DC supply
voltage from escaping to the ports when the real application
of the circuit is made in the future. To provide the
optimization parameters specified in Table 1 of the input and
output matching circuits in Figure 3 and Figure 4, the part
from TL2 and TL2* transmission lines to TL8 and TL8*
transmission lines was designed as pi matching circuit [11]. Fig. 6. NF graph of the designed circuit between 1-6 GHz
Transmission lines specified as TL4, TL4*, TL7, TL7* in the

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Journal of Millimeterwave Communication, Optimization and Modelling v.1 (1)
2.4 GHz frequency and simulated it using AWR MWO. We
used FR4 material for transmission lines due to its low cost
and ease of access. We used AWR MWO program, AWR
MWO optimize and TXLine tools for optimization,
simulation, and analysis. The analysis results of the proposed
LNA circuit are shown in Figure 6, Figure 7 and Figure 8.
The analysis results shown that the design is suitable for the
goals determined before the design. At 2.4 GHz, the NF
remains below 1.5 dB and is seen as 1.014 dB. Return loss
values for the same frequency are below -10 dB and S11 is
-10.02 dB and S22 -19.07 dB. The gain is seen as 19.85 dB at
a value higher than 15 dB.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Fig. 7. Return loss graph of the designed circuit between 1-6 GHz
We appreciate Karabuk University Library and Docu-
mentation Department for making digital library facilities
available. We also thank Mr. M. Yılmaz for his support.

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