The radar chip market is intensifying. It is understood that Texas Instruments is working with Bosch, NXP Semiconductors, Infineon and lots of start-up companies to develop the automotive market.
Last year, Texas Instruments introduced a new radar chip product, and stated that many customers began to use the chip for development. Recently, Texas Instruments has mass-produced the new radar product, and hopes to apply the millimeter wave sensor to the automotive and industrial fields. This includes monitoring people in the car, tracking equipment on the factory floor, and strengthening the sense of direction of the robot.
The new sensor has a frequency range of 76 to 81 GHz, and these millimeter wave bands have several advantages. Using them, higher resolution radars can be designed to achieve better separation of targets while reducing the size of the antenna and high frequency circuits. Texas Instruments said that these sensors have a range resolution of 4 centimeters and distance accuracy as low as 50 micrometers and up to 300 meters, allowing cars to sense the real-time conditions on the freeway.
Other companies often provide sensing and processing separately, but Texas Instruments integrates microcontrollers and DSPs into each chip to provide processed information and handle simple artificial intelligence tasks such as object classification. The new chip can also be accurately sensed through a variety of materials including drywall, plastic, clothing and glass.
The aforementioned new products from Texas Instruments include the automotive chips AWR1642 and IWR1642. The former can be used to detect obstacles that enter vehicles and monitor the surroundings of vehicles. The latter can be used to monitor the movement of people in buildings and help plan lighting and ventilation systems. The company stated that it can also be used in smart cities to track traffic conditions and communicate important information to city officials responsible for installing parking meters and traffic lights.
