Automotive 76-GHz to 81-GHz single chip radar with enhanced RF and compute performance

The AWR2944P/AWR2E44P is a

"Performance" expansion to the AWR2944 portfolio with enhanced RF and compute performance to meet

NCAP + Automated Driving requirements. The AWR2944-ECO/AWR2E44-ECO and

AWR2944LC/AWR2E44LC are mainstream and feature optimized variants

respectively in the family to enable customers with a scalable portfolio between P, ECO, and

LC devices in the family. The AWR2944P/AWR2E44P/AWR2944-ECO/AWR2E44-ECO/AWR2944LC/AWR2E44LC

is also a single-chip mmWave sensor composed of a FMCW transceiver, capable of operation in

the 76- to 81-GHz band, radar data processing elements, and peripherals for in-vehicle

networking. The radar sensor is built with TI’s low-power 45-nm RFCMOS process with designs

to enhance RF and compute performance enabling unprecedented levels of integration in a

small form factor and minimal BOM. The

AWR2944P/AWR2E44P/AWR2944-ECO/AWR2E44-ECO/AWR2944LC/AWR2E44LC device is designed

for low-power, self-monitored, ultra-accurate radar systems in the automotive space.

The AWR2E44P/AWR2E44-ECO/AWR2E44LC variant

provides customers with an remarkable Launch on Package (LOP) antenna feature which

facilitates the attachment of antennas directly on to the package. LOP technology enables

loss-less transmission of signals from the AWR2E44P/AWR2E44-ECO/AWR2E44LC chip to the

antenna via holes in the PCB & launches on the bottom of the chip. The chip and antenna

are directly soldered to the PCB enabling low cost PCB material to be used instead of

expensive high-frequency material.

TI’s

low-power 45nm RFCMOS process enables a monolithic implementation of a 4 TX, 4

RX system with integrated PLL, VCO, mixer, and baseband ADC. Integrated in the DSP subsystem

(DSS), is TI’s high-performance C66x DSP for radar signal processing. The device includes a

Radio Processor Subsystem (RSS), which is responsible for radar front-end configuration,

control, and calibration. Within the Main Subsystem (MSS), the device implements a

user-programmable Arm Cortex-R5F processor allowing for custom control and automotive

interface applications. The hardware accelerator block (HWA 2.1) supplements the DSS and MSS by offloading common radar processing such as

FFT, constant false alarm rate (CFAR), scaling, and compression. This saves MIPS on the DSS

and MSS, opening up resources for custom applications and higher-level algorithms.

A Hardware Security Module (HSM) is also

provisioned in the device (available for only secure part variants). The HSM consists of a

programmable Arm Cortex-M4 core and the necessary infrastructure to provide a secure zone of

operation within the device.

The

AWR2944P/AWR2E44P/AWR2944-ECO/AWR2E44-ECO/AWR2944LC/AWR2E44LC also incorporates a Cortex-M4

processor to configure and control the Hardware Accelerator module (HWA 2.1).

Simple programming model changes can enable a

wide variety of sensor implementation (Short, Mid, Long) with the possibility of dynamic

reconfiguration for implementing a multimode sensor.

Additionally, the

AWR2944P/AWR2E44P/AWR2944-ECO/AWR2E44-ECO/AWR2944LC/AWR2E44LC is provided as a

complete platform device including TI hardware and software reference designs, software

drivers, sample configurations, API guides, and user documentation.