NXP Semiconductors today announced at CES 2023 a new industry-first 28-nm RFCMOS (radio-frequency metal-oxide semiconductor) integrated circuit (IC) technology that integrates ) radar one-chip IC family for next-generation ADAS and autonomous driving systems. The SAF85xx one-chip family—from the market-share leader in automotive radar according to Yole Intelligence—combines NXP’s high-performance radar sensing and processing technologies into a single device, offering Tier 1s and OEMs new flexibility in addressing short-, medium-, and long-range radar applications to meet more challenging NCAP safety requirements.
The introduction of the one-chip radar family has added to NXP’s leading radar portfolio built on more than 15 years of technology leadership and designed to surround drivers in a cocoon of safety to reduce accidents. Radar-technology Tier 1 Denso Corp. has embraced NXP’s latest innovation as its lead customer.
“This advanced radar sensing technology plays an essential part in accelerating the development of next-generation ADAS,” said Hiroshi Kondo, Head of Safety Systems Business Unit at Denso Corp. “We know Denso will extend its leadership position in ADAS by leveraging NXP’s compact high-performance SAF85xx radar SoC.”
NXP’s new family of automotive radar SoCs (systems-on-chip) is comprised of high-performance radar transceivers integrated with multi-core radar processors built on its S32R radar compute platform. The SAF85xx offers twice the RF performance and accelerates radar signal processing by up to 40% compared to NXP’s previous generation.
The one-chip family enables 4D sensing for corner and front radar, serving critical safety ADAS applications such as automated emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, cross-traffic alert, and automated parking. The company says that OEMs will benefit from the increased flexibility it offers in meeting the expanding NCAP safety requirements and the proliferation of radar sensors, which some analysts estimate could range up to five or more per car.
When combined with power management and connectivity solutions from NXP, the system solution addresses a variety of OEM needs. Developers can take advantage of the S32R family’s seamless performance scalability as well as its software and hardware design reuse benefits.
“Our new radar one-chip family enables the reliable long-range detection of objects and separation of small objects next to larger ones, like a fast-moving motorcycle next to cars and trucks on a busy multi-lane highway,” said Torsten Lehmann, Executive Vice President, NXP Semiconductors. “Its small form factor allows our customers to build radar sensor modules that are up to 30% smaller, enabling global suppliers of ADAS systems like Denso to expand the potential of radar safety through this powerful new technology.”
NXP’s third-generation radar platform is built on the proven RFCMOS expertise of NXP, which says it was the first to ramp to high-volume series production for automotive radar and has already shipped tens of millions of units. The 77-GHz radar smart transceiver SoC contains four high-performance transmitters, four receivers, a multi-core radar processor with hardware accelerator, and Gigabit Ethernet communication interface and memory. It targets Automotive Safety Integrity Level B (ASIL B) requirements, according to the ISO 26262 functional safety standard, and the automotive cybersecurity standard ISO/SAE 21434 to meet the requirements of the automotive industry for safety and security.
The new radar family builds on NXP’s suite of radar-sensor solutions that can surround vehicles in a 360-degree safety cocoon tailored to cover car OEMs’ growing use cases and architectures, from corner radar to high-resolution 4D imaging radar.
NXP is showcasing its scalable radar portfolio at CES 2023 at its LVCC Booth CP-18.
