Infineon has attained new heights in smart radar sensor technology. Deepti Thore finds distinctive capabilities in its latest offering.
With the rising demand for safety and comfort features and an increase in sensor-based technology in commercial vehicles, the automotive electronic market is peaking at the right time. The interior systems of the cabin are reshaping to provide a holistic driving experience. Radar sensor solutions are addressing numerous passive safety applications like left-behind child, pets or valuables detection, monitoring driver vitals and occupancy sensing with micro motions monitoring capability. Addressing this need for in-cabin and external monitoring systems, Infineon has rolled out the BGT60ATR24C, XENSIV™ 60GHz radar sensor. Powered by an embedded algorithm, the sensor can be easily installed in vehicles for rapid prototyping.
While the temperatures are rising in summer, it has become necessary to note that temperatures inside the parked vehicles can reach upto 70 degrees Celsius posing a danger for children and pets left behind in the car with such disturbing fatalities coming to light. The automotive radar sensor from Infineon Technologies AG, In-Cabin Monitoring Systems (ICMS) detect micro-movements as well as vital signs of left-behind infants and pets, and sound the alarm for drawing attention. In addition, the compact and cost-effective chipset addresses external applications such as front-end radar for gesture sensing, high-resolution Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radars for distance measurement, short range sensing operations, as well as hidden sensing applications in the radome.
The capability
The BGT60ATR24C enables 4 GHz ultra-wide bandwidth FMCW operation in a small package. The core functionality of BGT60ATR24C is to transmit FMCW signal via one of the two Transmitter Channels (TX) and receive the echo signals from the target object on the four Receiving Channels (RX). The platform operates in 58–62 GHz with a continuously usable bandwidth of 4 GHz. Configuration of the sensors and data collection are done with a digital interface. The integrated state machine enables independent data acquisition with power mode optimisation for lowest power consumption. The size- and space-optimised solution has two TX as well as four RX and offers excellent thermal management. The sensor is AEC-Q100/101 qualified and offers maximal re-use with various antenna topologies.
The BGT60ATR24C shield is designed to showcase the capabilities of the BGT60ATR24C. This device offers customers design flexibility in terms of their desired antenna configuration. It consists of two transmit and four receive channels. The BGT60ATR24C shield facilitates fast prototyping and system integration, as well as initial product feature evaluation. This board offers developers the flexibility to choose their own platform depending on their preferred use cases. The sensor incorporates various use cases, serving a broad array of applications – including presence detection, LBC, ROA, proximity sensing, people counting/tracking, gesture recognition, monitoring vital signs, etc. Presence detection may only require 1 mW of power in the sensor under certain circumstances. In an automotive context, it can be of value in ROA, LBC and dashboard control.
