Latest mmWave sensors for industrial applications

Based on Texas Instruments' proprietary low-power 45-nm RFCMOS process, the IWR1843 industrial radar sensor enables exceptional levels of integration. They are supplied in remarkably small form factor packages, which make them suitable for deployment in space-constrained environments. Among the target applications for these devices are the low-power, self-monitored, ultra-accurate radar hardware used in building and factory automation systems, as well as for traffic monitoring, materials handling, people detection/counting and intelligent robotics.

The radar sensors are extremely sophisticated single-chip frequency-modulated continuous-wave devices that support operation in the 76GHz to 81GHz mmWave spectrum. The RFCMOS process employed allows monolithic implementation of a system with three TX and four RX channels, plus built-in PLL and ADCs. The sensors have DSP subsystems embedded into them for radar signal processing purposes. These are based on the company's high-performance C674x DSP cores. Also, built-in self-test processor subsystems take liability for radio configuration, control and calibration activities. Each sensor also has an on-board user-programmable Arm Cortex-R4F processor for undertaking object tracking/classification, AUTOSAR and interface control.