mmWave radar sensor for ultra-accurate measurements in automotive systems

Mouser now stocks the AWRL1432 mmWave radar sensor from Texas Instruments. The integrated, single-chip mmWave sensor is based on FMCW radar technology and provides precise measurements with low power consumption. It was developed for self-monitored radar systems in automotive applications, including kick-to-open, parking assist, blind spot detection, and door obstacle detection.

The mmWave radar sensor operates in the 76GHz to 81GHz frequency band with 5GHz continuous bandwidth. The sensor is partitioned into four power domains: RF/analog subsystem, FECSS, application subsystem (APPSS), and hardware accelerator (HWA). The sensor has separate controls for each power domain, allowing each of the states to be turned on or off depending on the use case. The sensor can enter low-power modes such as sleep and deep sleep through clock gating and by turning off the internal IP blocks. Even in low-power states, the sensor retains some of its contents, such as the application image or RF profile, allowing the device to resume operation quickly.

The AWRL1432 mmWave Radar Sensor includes an Arm M4F core (160MHz) with a single-precision FPU for efficient signal control. The sensor also features a TI radar hardware accelerator (HWA 1.2) for processing tasks such as fast Fourier transform (FFT), log magnitude, and constant false alarm rate (CFAR) operations.