Second generation radar transceivers for ADAS and autonomous driving

NXP Semiconductors released its second generation RFCMOS radar transceiver family to production. The TEF82xx replaces the market-proven TEF810x. Optimised for fast chirp modulation, the device supports short-, medium- and long-range radar applications, incorporating cascaded high-resolution imaging radar. It allows 360-degree sensing for critical safety applications, including automated emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, cross-traffic alert and automated parking.

Radar is becoming the key sensing modality for safety use-cases for ADAS functions in classical passenger vehicles and MaaS applications. On the road to fully autonomous driving, the more demanding use-cases need higher RF performance to 'see' further, at distances beyond 300m, and at finer resolutions down to sub-degree level to detect, separate accurately and classify smaller objects. The TEF82xx radar transceivers make all of that possible. Its scalable family of S32R Radar processors, combined with the NXP TEF82xx RFCMOS radar transceivers, provide the fine angular resolution, processing power, and ranges needed for production-ready imaging radar solutions.

The fully integrated RFCMOS chip comprises three transmitters, four receivers, ADC conversion, phase rotator and low-phase noise VCOs. It also includes built-in safety monitors and external interface capability for MIPI-CSI2 and LVDS and complies with ISO26262 and ASIL Level B standards.

Based on the company's proven RFCMOS technology node and production setup, the device provides meaningful improvements over its prior generation. The RF performance has more than doubled, including a +6dB phase noise improvement, output power of 14dBm at phase noise of -95dBc/Hz and a receiver noise figure of 11.5dB. It employs an ultra-compact eWLB package with an exposed die, enabling the best heat transfer to fulfil the demanding thermal conditions in high-performance radar applications, even at elevated ambient temperatures. A particularly short chirp return time of only 4µs lowers power-on-time, decreasing sensor power consumption and enabling to space chirps more closely in time, increasing speed estimation capabilities.

Developers can easily build and optimise applications employing the comprehensive radar algorithm library provided by the automotive-grade Radar Software Development Kit (RSDK) without needing to manually fine-tune accelerator software. Engineers can also access the resources required for quicker development by leveraging the company's large ecosystem of compilers, development environments, MCALs, and free and commercial RTOS support.

"For high-performance imaging radar applications, which require 4x NXP TEF82xx radar transceivers cascaded with our high-performance S32R45 processor, OEMs can achieve ranges of up to 300m or above with sub-degree resolutions for azimuth, as well as elevation. We already have lead customers in their final radar module qualification stage based on our TEF82xx with a target start of production (SOP) by the end of this year with some automotive OEMs aiming for launch in model years 23/24," said Steffen Spannagel, vice president and general manager ADAS at NXP.