Alphacore's Digital CMOS Impulse Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) Transceiver ASIC

January 13, 2025 -- Alphacore is developing a state-of-the-art ground-penetrating radar (GPR) transceiver. This application-specific IC (ASIC) comprises multiple leading-edge technologies, making it more capable for this important application than any preceding integrated circuit. The GPR ASIC is one of several ASIC programs at Alphacore that draw upon our capabilities across a range of applications for developing high-performance customized circuitry meeting stringent customer requirements.

If you are already familiar with GPR radar, you know that it has has many civil and military uses including;

• Assessing structural integrity of concrete and other structures
• Mapping features below the surface

• Locating pipes, cables, and other buried items
• Researching archaeological sites
• Detecting tunnels and unexploded mines
• Sensing intrusions

Alphacore’s GPR ASIC is the central component of a complete GPR system. It supports a wide bandwidth to help adapt to different conditions. It also includes a large on-chip digital signal processing (DSP) unit. This DSP is adept at data compression, which reduces the amount of data that needs to be transmitted for analysis and minimizes the impact of “noise” in the captured signals.

The ASIC include a sampling 12-bit ADC with programmable sampling frequencies, a buffer with SPI bus readout (with SPI I/O for readout control), a low noise amplifier (LNA), and other essential blocks. It is designed to consume minimal power to support extended battery life when deployed in a hand-held or mobile applications.

Alphacore is available to design and implement ASICs of similar utility and complexity for you. Please let us know how we can help.