Published :4/6/2019 4:47:01 PM
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According to Yole's recently released "Automobile Radar Technology - 2018 Edition" report, although the annual sales growth of global autos is slow (about 3%) from 2017 to 2022, it is expected that the annual sales volume of automotive radar modules will increase rapidly. For 25%), the annual sales of radar chips are similar, with a growth rate of 22%.
Because the 77GHz millimeter wave radar scheme can be made smaller than the 24GHz radar scheme, it has become the mainstream choice for automotive forward detection radar, and gradually penetrates into the industrial and infrastructure application market. Currently, the mainstream suppliers are TI and NXP, and Chinese local manufacturers. Gartland Microelectronics has launched a new generation of 77GHz millimeter wave radar chip ALPS SoC. Chinese and foreign manufacturers compete in this mainstream market, and compile the 77GHz millimeter wave radar chip solution of mainstream manufacturers and compare performance.
TI AWR1642
The TI AWR series of millimeter-wave sensors are aimed at the automotive market. There are three products: AWR1243, AWR1443, and AWR1642. TI has made the industry's highest sensing accuracy and minimum size 77 GHz millimeter wave sensor portfolio, representing the AWR1642 and IWR1642 millimeter wave (mmWave) sensors.
First, the AWR1243 only integrates RF radio, mainly used to implement medium and long-range radar. The application scenarios include: emergency braking of vehicles, adaptive cruise control and automatic driving of highways.
Second, the AWR1443 integrates RF and MCU, mainly for proximity sensing, including occupant detection, body sensor, in-cab gesture recognition, and driver monitoring.
Third, AWR1642 integrates RF, MCU and DSP, mainly used to achieve ultra-short and short-range precision radar, application scenarios include: blind spot detection, anti-back collision/warning, lane change assistance, pedestrian/bicycle detection, anti-collision, intersection traffic alarm 360 degree viewing angle and parking assistance.
AWR1642 main advantages
In June 2018, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) announced that it will begin mass production of its highly integrated ultra-wideband AWR1642 and IWR1642 millimeter wave (mmWave) sensors.
These sensors support frequencies from 76 to 81 GHz and offer accurate sensing three times higher than competitors with minimal space.
Currently, the chip is used in automotive and industrial applications, including vehicle occupancy detection, building quantity calculations, machine and human interactions, and more. The car that used this sensor for the first time was on the road at the end of 2018. In addition to advanced driver assistance systems, engineers use the AWR1642 sensor certified for use in cars to measure the remaining space and obstacles around the door and body, vehicle load, intrusion alarms, and smarter automated parking.
Figure: TI's millimeter-wave sensor detects two passengers sitting in the back seat.
Figure: TI's millimeter-wave sensor detects possible intruders behind the vehicle
In addition to providing the industry's only publicly available CMOS single-chip sensor, TI also offers a common software development kit (SDK) and design resources to help shorten the development cycle. For example, in the use of the AWR1642 sensor to detect the number of people in the car, the vehicle number situation detection reference design provides a system level overview and software application examples. Applications include long-range, short-range and medium-range radars to help cars become smarter and safer. I just went to TI's website to find out that AWR1642 is in continuous supply.
Figure: AWR1642 application diagram
TI AWR1642 Performance and Process Technology
The AWR1642 device is an integrated single-chip FMCW radar sensor capable of operating in the 76 to 81 GHz band. The device is built using TI's low-power 45nm RFCMOS process and delivers unprecedented levels of integration in a tiny package. The AWR1642 is the ideal solution for low power, self-monitoring, ultra-precise radar systems in the automotive sector.
The AWR1642 device is a self-contained FMCW radar sensor single-chip solution that simplifies automotive radar sensor implementation in the 76 to 81 GHz band. Built on TI's low-power 45nm RFCMOS process, it implements a single-chip implementation of 2TX, 4RX systems with built-in PLLs and analog-to-digital converters. It integrates the DSP subsystem, which includes TI's high-performance C674x DSP for radar signal processing.
The device includes an ARM R4F-based processor subsystem that is responsible for radio configuration, control, and calibration. Simple programming model changes support a variety of sensor implementations (close, medium, and long range) and are capable of dynamic reconfiguration for multimode sensors. In addition, the device is available as a complete platform solution that includes hardware reference designs, software drivers, sample configurations, API guides, and user documentation.
NXP77GHz millimeter wave radar solution
On September 4, 2018, NXP officially released a new generation of automotive radar solutions at the "2018 NXP Future Technology Summit", which combines the S32R processor, RF transceiver and antenna design on a new reference platform to expand NXP's radar ecosystem.
Main advantages:
The NXP radar solution uses the S32R27 processor, TEF810x CMOS transceiver and FS8510 power management IC to provide customers with the hardware, software and tools to simplify radar implementation and lower the threshold for radar application development, thus helping customers accelerate the launch of radar applications.
• A new generation of millimeter-wave radar solutions that combines NXP's leading radar signal processor 1 with vehicle-grade radar software to provide users with a reference design. By leveraging the highly optimized radar accelerator integrated in the S32R27, customers will be more confident in implementing extremely complex automotive radar applications.
• As part of the NXP radar ecosystem, the solution provides car-level radar software and an easy-to-use hardware development platform for cumbersome radar development.
• Effectively shorten the development cycle of applications such as Adaptive Cruise (ACC) and Emergency Brake (AEB).
The radar design reference platform, called the RDK-S32R274, combines the NXP S32R27 processor, the TEF810 x CMOS transceiver, the FS8410 power management IC, and the radar software development kit. NXP has added expansion and antenna modules to create custom development platforms for specific customer applications. At the heart of this radar solution is the scalable Power Architecture-based family of processors, the S32R27 and S32R37, which Khouri calls "the first chip dedicated to processing radar algorithms."
Figure: NXP S32R structural framework
Main advantages:
As a new generation of the main products of the company, Alps has the characteristics of faster, more flexible, more friendly and more reliable. It will become the most competitive in the 77/79GHz millimeter wave radar market. Chip solution.
Ultra short-range radar integrated Soc chip
Aip: Antenna in Package antenna integrated package chip
No need for high frequency PCB version, ultra short-range radar hardware, zero development cost
Radar BOM cost is greatly reduced
Ultrasonic radar replacement
Gardner Microelectronics CEO Chen Jialu told reporters: "In the RF part, the Alps chip contains 4 transmit channels, 4 receive channels, a highly configurable waveform generator, and an analog-to-digital converter with up to 50Msps sampling rate. At the same time, it also integrates digital circuits such as signal processing systems. The complete and efficient radar signal processing baseband realizes the hardware fixed-line of the classical radar signal processing algorithm, which greatly saves development resources and has the advantages of low power consumption and high energy efficiency. The ARC EM6 CPU core provides users with a powerful data processing unit with a frequency of 300MHz to implement tracking algorithms, upper application algorithms and control software."
The 77GHz millimeter wave radar chip is mainly used for active control ADAS such as forward AEB/LKA. Compared with other early warning ADAS, 77GHz directly affects driving safety, and the OEM is more inclined to choose a radar enterprise with a preloaded case; The host produces a long test cycle for the domestic 77GHz millimeter wave radar. In 2019, the millimeter wave radar market will usher in more market opportunities and applications as the smart driving process advances. We will continue to pay attention to the application of major manufacturers into the application, and also wish Chinese local enterprises to compete in the market. With its own research and development strength, it has achieved good growth.
