NXP pushes ahead in the radar market
China is not only the world’s largest market for cars, it also holds the record for market growth in automotive electronics. This is particularly true for radar technology as a key element in the field of sensors for automated driving. On a global average, the semiconductor manufacturer sees radar sensors growing by 20% annually – in China, the market is growing twice as fast at 40% per year. In view of these market opportunities, NXP wants to expand its standing in China. To this end, the Dutch chip manufacturer has now signed a strategic cooperation and investment agreement with Hawkeye Technology, one of the technology leaders in this market segment in China. The two companies intend to collaborate in the development of reference designs for the Chinese market. The aim is to support the Chinese Tier One companies in mastering the challenges of this complex technology through complete solutions and reference designs.
Radar technology is one of the supporting pillars of sensor equipment for higher levels of automation in vehicles. Nevertheless – or precisely because of this – a number of important changes and developments are being initiated in the field of radar sensor technology, which will shape this technology in the coming years. The focus of development in the future will be on the 77GHz frequency band, explained Steffen Spannagel, General Manager Product Line ADAS, Car Infotainment & Driver Assistance at NXP, in an interview with eeNews Europe. The 24GHz technology, which has already lost importance in recent years, will gradually be phased out.
At the same time, the development of radar sensors will become more differentiated in the future, Spannagel said. This has to do with the development of radar applications: originally developed for cruise control functions, blind spot detection was added later. Until then, “One Size fits All” applied. New applications are now emerging that require higher resolution for forward looking radar sensors. At the same time, blind spot detection is increasingly becoming the standard equipment in vehicles, even in the price-sensitive compact car class.
NXP sees another future application in the replacement of ultrasonic sensors for parking aids. This requires miniaturization of the components and the provision of low-cost radar sensors. In addition, the circuit technology will change. “We need cascading of the front-end devices,” says Spannagel. Single-chip solutions can be expected for the products developed for parking aids. Spannagel describes the development trend as follows: “The components are integrated into the RF building blocks. This also applies to combinations of RF unit and embedded microprocessors and is accompanied by a change at the level of semiconductor technology. Today, the RF unit is manufactured in SiGe technology, while the processors are manufactured in CMOS. In order to integrate these two units at chip level, it is necessary to switch to CMOS also for the RF circuitry.
Radar takes on increasingly complex tasks. (C) NXP
New use cases are created not only by new technologies, but also by the changing legal situation on the part of the EU. The monitoring of seat occupancy and the seating posture of drivers and passengers will soon create use cases for the use of radar technology in the vehicle interior, Spannagel explained. According to the NXP expert, these radar sensors could also be used for new user interfaces based on gesture control.
In the field of lidar technology as another mainstay of environmental sensor technology and thus of highly automated driving, NXP is reluctant to do so or leaves it to the operation of partial aspects. “Here we are active in signal processing, further activities in the lidar segment are not yet planned,” Spannagel explains. In this technology segment, the company uses its S32V processor family, which is optimized for such applications. The company also runs partnerships with lidar sensor specialists. However, NXP does not want to reveal their names. Incidentally, the company is working on improving the resolution of the radar sensors to such an extent that they reach the level of today’s lidar sensors.
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