Disruptive Technologies: Current Scenario and Future Adoption in Radar and Lidar in ADAS
In current scenario, the 24-29 GHz range is being used for the most short range Radar. Nevertheless, there are lots of rules and regulations regarding the power output at very lower frequencies, and this range is expected to be phased out completely in the future.
The 76-77 GHz band is used in long range Radar for applications like adaptive cruise control . Organizations like Europe’s ETSI, CEPT, Japan’s MPT, USA’s FCC and ITU, support use of the vehicular Radar in this defined frequency range. Other organizations are also looking forward to approve this range for vehicular communication. European Union project is going to approve the usage of 77-81GHz range for various automotive Radar application.
In the Silicon Radar IC space, Freescale/NXP, Infineon and ST are already in the market of 24-79GHz range with SiGe technology for certain time period. Silicon Radar and Omini Radar are the new-entries in the SiGe Short Range Radar IC space. NXP semiconductor has declared the CMOS-based 77 GHz Short Range Radar IC at CES 2016.
Currently, all the top end model of all the automotive manufacturers with adaptive cruise control system does have integrated Radar. In 1997 Toyota used it for the first time and currently Daimler, JLR, Volvo,, Audi, Porsche, BMW, etc are using it in their car variants in their ADAS systems. Typically, 1 to 6 Radar sensors are being used in a single car completely depending on the wide range of applications provided by the ADAS.
In further advancement of RADAR sensor technology, IMEC in Belgium has work together with Bosch for the 79GHz Radar in 28nm CMOS technology
Automotive Radar system can be sub divided into three different sub-categories depending upon range: short-range, mid-range and long-range automotive Radar. Each of them has got different applications with long range (ranging over 100m) is being usually used for the forward collision avoidance, while short and mid-range Rader (ranging in 10s of meters) is being used for the blind-spot detection, parking assist system, pre-crash alert, lane departure warning, or stop-and-go type of emergency system.
It is projected that the Radar system is going to play a major role in the autonomous driving in the future.
Apart from the autonomous driving, LiDAR sensor is being used for the purpose of generating high resolution 3D map by different mapping companies such as HERE WeGo got acquired from Nokia in December 2015 by BMW,AUDI and Daimler. These particular maps are very essential enablers for the autonomous driving itself.
LiDAR has got some natural advantages for the autonomous driving. It works very well in diversified environmental conditions and has got larger ranging up from 10cm to 100m and it can record 30 times faster than the normal camera video. It also provides much granular image.