Electronica: 78 – 81GHz multi-channel radar transceiver for automated driving

Following its acquisition of Steradian Semiconductors in August, Renesas entered the automotive radar market this week when it introduced a multi-channel 76 – 81GHz transceiver at Electronica.

Designed for driver assistance and Level 3 (and higher) autonomous driving, the MMIC (monolithic microwave integrated circuit) is aimed imaging radar, long-range forward radar and ‘4D’ radar, “but can also be used for corner and central-processing radar architectures, the so-called ‘satellite’ automotive radar systems”, according to the company.

Dubbed RAA270205, it has four transmit and four receive channels and supports up to 16 MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) operation, as well as cascading for higher channel count and better radar resolution.

Within the 7.6 x 5.6mm embedded wafer-level ball-grid array are ADCs (112.5Msample/s) , VCO (-97.5dBc/Hz phase noise at 1MHz), a PLL (-226dBc noise floor), PAs, LNAs, 360° phase shifters for beam-forming and signal processing accelerators. Up to 5GHz of bandwidth is available.

Specs include 1.2W consumption (970mW estimated at 40frame/s), 9dB noise figure and 300MHz/µs chirp rate.

Amongst safety mechanisms aimed at satisfying ISO26262 functional safety requirements, are chip loop-back testing, voltage monitors, clock monitors and digital error checking.

“It will be fully compliant with automotive industry requirements such as IATF 16949, AEC-Q100 Grade2 and ASIL B,” said Renesas, which is planning product samples in the first quarter of next year.

Renesas has a RAA270205 product page here