Infineon, Imec to jointly develop 79 GHz CMOS radar sensor chips for Autonomous Cars
The German Semiconductor heavyweight, Infineon technologies is looping with the literary affluent nanoelectronics research center imec to devlop CMOS sensor chip.
The agreement came amid the annual Imec Technology Forum in Brussels (ITF Brussels 2016) is said to cooperatively work on highly integrated CMOS-based 79 GHz sensor chips for automotive radar applications. Imec contributes its advanced expertise in high-frequency system, circuit and antenna design for radar applications thus complementing Infineon’s radar sensor chip knowledge.
Emphasizing on fully automated car, the development of a first demonstrator in 28 nm CMOS technology is well under way.
Typically, there are up to three radar systems in today’s vehicle equipped with driver assistance functions. In the future, with fully automated cars up to ten radar systems and ten more sensor systems using camera or lidar technologies may potentially be utilized.
Citing in its official release, said Ralf Bornefeld, Vice President & General Manager, Sense & Control, Infineon Technologies AG said, “Infineon enables the radar-based safety cocoon of the partly and fully automated car. In the future, we will manufacture radar sensor chips as a single-chip solution in a classic CMOS process for applications like automated parking. Infineon will continue to set industry standards in radar technology and quality.”
“We are excited to work with Infineon as a valuable partner in our R&D program on advanced CMOS-based 77 GHz and 79 GHz radar technology,” said Wim Van Thillo, program director perceptive systems at imec. “Compared to the mainstream 24 GHz band, the 77 GHz and 79 GHz bands enable a finer range, Doppler and angular resolution. With these advantages, we aim to realize radar prototypes with integrated multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) antennas that not only detect large objects, but also pedestrians and bikers and thus contribute to a safer environment for all.”
Infineon and imec expect functional CMOS sensor chip samples in the Q3 of 2016. A complete radar system demonstrator is scheduled for the beginning of 2017.
