Single-chip low-power 76GHz to 81GHz automotive mmWave radar sensor

The

AWRL1432 mmWave Sensor device is an integrated single chip mmWave sensor based on

FMCW radar technology. The device is capable of operation in the 76GHz to 81GHz band

and is partitioned into mainly four power domains:

* RF/Analog Sub-System: This

block includes all the RF and Analog components required to transmit and receive

the RF signals.

* Front-End Controller

sub-System (FECSS): FECSS contains processor, responsible for radar

front-end configuration, control, and calibration.

* Application Sub-System

(APPSS): APPSS is where the device implements a user programmable ARM

Cortex M4 allowing for custom control and automotive interface applications. Top

Sub-System (TOPSS) is part of the APPSS power domain and contains the clocking

and power management sub-blocks.

* Hardware Accelerator

(HWA): HWA block supplements the APPSS by offloading common radar processing

such as FFT, Constant False Alarm rate (CFAR), scaling, and compression.

AWRL1432

is specifically designed to have separate controls for each of the above-mentioned

power domains to control their states (power ON or OFF) based on use case

requirements. The device also features the capability to exercise various low-power

states like sleep and deep sleep, where low-power sleep mode is achieved by clock

gating and by turning off the internal IP blocks of the device. The device also

provides the option of keeping some contents of the device, like Application image

or RF profile retained in such scenarios.

Additionally, the device is built with TI’s low power 45nm RF CMOS process and

enables unprecedented levels of integration in an extremely small form factor.

AWRL1432 is designed for low power, self-monitored, ultra-accurate radar systems in

the automotive space for applications like blind spot detection, kick-to-open,

parking assist, and door obstacle detection.