NXP launches single chip 28nm RFCMOS radar, signs Hella
NXP Semiconductors has launched a monolithic 28nm RFCMOS radar chip with Hella as a lead customer for L4 self driving vehicles.
NXP has already shipped a reference design for the SAF86xx, which integrates four radar transceivers, a multi-core radar processor and a MACsec hardware engine for secure data communication over Automotive Ethernet.
The chip contains four transmitters, four receivers, ADC conversion, phase rotator, low-phase-noise VCO, BBE32EP DSP, ARM Cortex M7 core and SRAM to support various use cases in short-range, medium-range and long-range automotive applications.
It provides pre-processed data, e.g. compressed or uncompressed Range-FFT over Gigabit Ethernet to a radar post-processing unit such as NXP’s S32 network processors for software defined vehicles.
- NXP SoC enables 360-degree surround sensing
- Reference design for first 28nm short range automotive radar
- High-performance processor enters series production
- ‘Single chip’ sensor for automotive satellite architectures
The highly integrated System-on-Chip is intended for streaming rich low-level radar sensor data at up to 1 Gbit/s, which puts it on a par with the recently announced front end from Texas Instruments for satellite architectures.
This helps carmakers optimize next-generation ADAS partitioning for software-defined vehicles, while providing for a smooth transition to new architectures. This allows OEMs to introduce new software-defined features during the lifetime of the vehicle through Over-the-Air (OTA) updates.
Like the TI radar the SAF86xx is developed in accordance to ISO 26262 Safety Element out of Context (SEooC) methodology supporting ASIL Level B, in accordance to ISO/SAE 21434 (as a component-out-of-context) and meets the latest security requirements through its HSE security engine.
The SAF86xx shares a common architecture with the SAF85xx introduced last year but moves to 28 nm RFCMOS performance for significantly improved sensor capabilities over the previous 40nm and 45nm devices.
NXP says this allows extended detection range beyond 300 m, along with more reliable detection of small objects like curb stones as well as vulnerable road users including cyclists and pedestrians.
Hella will use the chip as the foundation for its 7th generation radar portfolio, including variants for front, rear, corner, and side radar.
“After initiating our collaboration with NXP on the development of RFCMOS-based radar sensors approximately 10 years ago, we can now look back and confidently say that choosing this collaboration was the right decision,” said Dr. Dietmar Stapel, Vice President, Radar Program Management at Hella.
“Using NXP’s RFCMOS TEF81xx and TEF82xx automotive radar transceivers, we have become a leading provider of automotive 77/79 GHz corner radar sensors. With NXP’s radar SoC family, we are now prepared to expand our market position and offer radar solutions for all relevant radar-supported functions, up to level 4 automated driving.”
The single chip supports NCAP safety functions including emergency braking and blind-spot detection. It also supports advanced ADAS and autonomous driving applications, including advanced comfort features for SAE levels 2+ and 3 such as traffic jam assist, highway pilot and park assist, front and rear cross-traffic alerts, as well as lateral and rear collision avoidance.
“Using our new SAF86xx radar one-chip family, OEMs can quickly and easily migrate their current radar platforms to new software-defined vehicle architectures,” said Steffen Spannagel, SVP and GM, ADAS, NXP Semiconductors. “A network of connected radar sensors with software-defined functions on a dedicated S32R radar processor in a distributed architecture can enhance radar-based perception to support advancements in autonomous driving. That includes 360-degree sensing, more powerful AI-based algorithms and secure OTA software updates.”
The SAF86xx radar SoC family is sampling now for alpha customers.
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
