PI: Buon Kiong Lau, Department of Electrical and Information Technology, Lund University
co-PI: Mats Viberg, Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola
LORAM addresses a central question for next-generation radar: can high-resolution spatial sensing be achieved with the information content of a phased array but with only one radio-frequency (RF) chain? The project proposes a new architecture in which a rapidly reconfigurable metasurface shifts part of the spatial signal processing from digital baseband to the electromagnetic domain. By sequentially switching optimized beampatterns within the channel coherence time, the system samples the environment in beamspace and maps the measurements to a virtual array suitable for low-complexity direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation. LORAM will deliver theory, algorithms, and an experimentally validated prototype that jointly combine metasurface synthesis, robust beamspace processing, and virtual-MIMO radar concepts. The expected result is a compact and energy-efficient radar technology for drones, Internet-of-Things nodes, and future communication devices with integrated sensing.
Project number: H4