Breaking the Radar Ceiling: Coherent Fusion Enhances ADAS Capability

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NXP® Semiconductors and Zendar developed a Distributed Aperture Radar solution, a radar system that uses multiple sensors operated coherently to achieve higher resolution and accuracy.

Zendar increases radar resolution for enhanced ADAS performance. Zendar’s technology improves the range and resolutions of radars in ADAS systems by enabling large radar apertures with small, mainstream hardware components.

Challenge

For safe, reliable driving automation on the highway, vehicles need higher resolution and longer range than what automotive sensors provide today. Radar offers the longest range of available sensors but with limited resolution. Resolution is constrained by the aperture of the radar sensor. Though it is possible to place a large sensor on a vehicle to obtain a large aperture, it is not practical. The conventional approach for improving radar resolution is to increase the number of antenna channels. Each channel, however, adds cost, increased size and hardware complexity. Zendar and NXP began working together to develop an alternate approach, one that would drastically improve resolution at a lower cost.

Solution

In a Distributed Aperture Radar (DAR) system, multiple radar units are placed on a vehicle, synchronized, and operated coherently as a single unit. This enables large apertures to be created using simple medium-range radar sensors in a flexible system. Due to the larger aperture, angular resolution of 0.15o in azimuth and smaller than 1o in elevation is achieved. NXP has laid the foundation for networked radar architecture with its innovative semiconductor solutions. Running on a central or zonal processor, Zendar’s software enables the coherent fusion of the radar front-ends in real-time. The collaboration has produced a cost effective, software-defined high-resolution radar solution that improves ADAS capability significantly.

Outcome

Together, Zendar and NXP have created an automotive radar system that outperforms other high-resolution radars. DAR is unique in its ability to attain large apertures with small, inexpensive sensors, opening a new realm of possibility for radar in the automotive industry where sensor size is a design constraint. This system enables high resolution and accuracy using simple, medium-range radar front-ends as building blocks. These standard sensors are typically produced in high volume, consequently are very cost-efficient. For the next stage, Zendar is working with leading OEMs and Tier-1s to rigorously test the new technology and adapt the system for upcoming vehicle designs.

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our sincere thanks to Karthik Ramesh (NXP Semiconductors), Uwe Lüthin (Zendar), and Rafael Kracke (Zendar).

Contact for the project

Roberto Sampietro, Ventures Mobility

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STARTUP AUTOBAHN powered by Plug and Play

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