The 77GHz millimeter-wave radar market is about to explode. What strengths does NXP rely on to seize the opportunity?

"The 77GHz millimeter-wave radar market is in a period of rapid growth, and the demand comes from three aspects: First, with the gradual implementation of domestic policies related to active automobile safety, especially the five-star rating of C-NCAP, millimeter-wave radar is needed to realize the AEB function; in addition, the Ministry of Transport's requirements for the installation of FCW, AEB, and LDW systems on operating buses and trucks are also rigid requirements for millimeter-wave radar. Second, the demand for various radar functions is constantly increasing, such as FCTA, RCTA, LCA, BSD, etc., which makes each vehicle have more and more radar sensors . Third, with the continuous improvement of the level of autonomous driving , there is a demand for high-resolution radar, that is, imaging radar, at the L3 and L4 levels. This requires the cascading of multiple radar RF transceivers , and the back-end signal processing chip needs to have sufficient capabilities to process the multi-channel radar signals cascaded at the front end."  Dr. Huang Mingda , Chief System Architect of Automotive Electronics (ADAS & Connectivity) of NXP Greater China, told the reporter of .

 Figure: Huang Mingda, Chief System Architect of Automotive Electronics, NXP Greater China

NXP has been deeply involved in the field of automotive semiconductors for many years. Maurice Geraets, managing director of NXP Netherlands, previously told the media that the value of semiconductors has been increasing from L1 to L5. At L1 and L2, it was $100 to $150, and at L3 it reached $600. The value of semiconductor components at L4 to L5 levels reached $900-1200, because the level of products such as radars, cameras and optical radars is getting higher and higher, and the value is also getting higher and higher. In high-end cars, the L3 to L5 autonomous driving market has new growth points, and the value of semiconductor components installed in each car has increased by as much as $300. This market is the future growth point.

NXP's chip technology establishes its dominant position in the millimeter wave radar market

Huang Mingda believes that in the five stages of evolution of autonomous driving technology, the number of sensors required by cars is astonishing. The core of ADAS hardware is sensors (cameras, radars) and processors, while the core of software is algorithms. The all-weather performance of millimeter-wave radar makes it an indispensable part of autonomous driving sensors.

In the past, the promotion of 77GHz millimeter-wave radar was not ideal due to its high price. To this end, NXP made bold technological innovations in chip technology, leading the industry's major transformation from highly integrated millimeter-wave radar chips to SiGe technology to RFCMOS technology.

Huang Mingda analyzed: "Previous SiGe process millimeter wave radars are all sets of chips, including separate transmission, reception, and VCO, etc., and the cost is high. NXP took the lead in adopting RFCMOS technology, integrating transmission, reception, phase- locked loop , waveform generator, adc and other IP into a single chip, which not only ensures good chip performance, but also greatly reduces chip costs."

Advanced chip technology has led to a significant drop in the price of 77GHz millimeter-wave radars, and has also enabled more cars to apply advanced radar technology. According to the author's statistics, among new domestic models, in terms of the installation of forward and rear radars, joint venture car companies rely more on the safety function of forward braking. Relatively speaking, new American and Japanese cars are ahead. Among them, brands such as Mercedes-Benz and Volvo have already equipped their entire series with millimeter-wave radars as standard. Fortunately, the configuration of millimeter-wave radars has been extended to the mid-range Camry of the B-class car.

NXP has achieved great success in market promotion. 2019 will be the first year for the mass production of 77GHz RFCMOS millimeter-wave radar. Starting from this year, more and more cars on the market will be equipped with 77GHz millimeter-wave radars based on NXP chips.

Autonomous driving poses two major technical challenges to millimeter-wave radar performance

Taking the 2018 Audi A8 (L3 autonomous driving) as an example, this car has 28 sensors, 2 front cameras, 2 side 360-degree cameras, 1 front lidar , 1 radar (1 long-range, 4 medium-range), and 12 ultrasonic sensors. The processor used in this car is NVDIA Drive PX2[MH2].

At present, an L2-level intelligent driving system only needs one long-range radar and two medium- and short-range radars, while an L3-level intelligent driving system will require four to five medium- and short-range radars and one long-range radar. In the future, an L3-level intelligent driving system or above may require 10 radars for the entire vehicle, which will bring new requirements for the performance and price of millimeter-wave radars.

"The number of radars per vehicle is increasing as the level of autonomous driving increases. At the same time, the number of chips in a single radar is also increasing, which improves the angular resolution of the radar, achieving the effect of imaging radar and approaching the effect of lidar , with a cost that is acceptable to large automakers." Huang Mingda believes that these trends have driven the market application of millimeter-wave radar.

Since it can be made smaller than the 24GHz radar solution, the 77GHz millimeter-wave radar solution has become the mainstream choice for automotive forward detection radar and has gradually penetrated into the industrial and infrastructure application markets. In L4 autonomous driving, 77GHz millimeter-wave radar is even standard. Guo Jishun, director of autonomous driving at GAC Group , said: "L4 autonomous driving requires many sensors to be installed on the car body. For example, Tesla needs 12 millimeter-wave radars and 8 cameras. More work needs to be done to achieve fully autonomous L4."

Guo Jishun pointed out that in the field of autonomous driving, millimeter-wave radar is an important part of the entire perception system of the car, and the overall design requirements must be considered. Huang Mingda holds the same view. He said that LiDAR has two major problems: cost and vehicle regulations. "When it comes to autonomous driving above L4 level, I believe that millimeter-wave radar, LiDAR and cameras are mutually redundant and are all indispensable prerequisites."

Huang Mingda believes that the large-scale use of millimeter-wave imaging radar in the field of autonomous driving above level L3 faces two major technical challenges: autonomous driving above level L3 has greatly improved the angular resolution requirements of radar, especially forward radar, which needs to have the function of imaging radar. First, this requires multiple radar transceivers to be cascaded. "NXP has 3 transmit and 4 receive channels. By cascading 4, 12 transmit and 16 receive can be achieved. With advanced MIMO technology, the effect of 192-channel virtual array can be achieved, which greatly improves the angular resolution. Secondly, the signal processing chip needs to have sufficient capabilities to process the radar signals output by the cascaded transceivers in real time." Huang Mingda said.

NXP's fourth-generation chip solves market pain points

As one of the leaders in millimeter-wave radar chip technology and market, NXP released a new generation of radar solutions in 2018, using TE F810x ​​RFCMOS transceivers, S32R27/37 processors, FS84/85 series power management ICs, and NXP's CAN and Ethernet physical layer ICs. It aims to provide hardware, software and tools to simplify radar implementation, lower the threshold for radar application development, and thus help customers speed up the listing of radar applications.

Figure: Detailed diagram of NXP's new generation millimeter wave radar

Huang Mingda introduced that NXP has led the major industry transformation of millimeter-wave radar chips from SiGe process to RFCMOS process.

This shift in manufacturing process reduces chip power consumption, improves integration, reduces size, and reduces costs. In addition, not only chip costs, but also peripheral circuits and radar module manufacturing will become easier. This creates conditions for large-scale deployment of 77GHz millimeter-wave radars, especially in mid- and low-end models.

NXP's 77GHz millimeter-wave radar chip has outstanding performance, functional safety, quality safety, and platform-based system solutions.

First of all, NXP millimeter wave radar chips have excellent RF performance, low power consumption, small chip size, and a very wide temperature range (junction temperature from -45 degrees to 135 degrees). At the same time, the radar signal processing chip has a dedicated accelerator with powerful performance and integrates the efficient radar signal processing acceleration core SPT2.0, which can perform hardware acceleration for the most resource-consuming calculations such as fast data compression, modulus, and peak detection. Compared with traditional DSP , the performance/power consumption ratio is improved by 10 times. All of these can meet the high performance required by the vehicle-mounted module.

Secondly, in terms of functional safety, NXP's millimeter-wave radar chip can enable the radar system to achieve the highest level of functional safety (ASIL-D).

Third, NXP millimeter-wave radar chips are highly reliable. NXP uses a zero-defect methodology to require automotive-grade chip products. At the same time, NXP has accumulated more than ten years of experience in the 77GHz millimeter-wave radar market. Its design concept, process management, and quality safety have been proven over time and through multiple product iterations.

Fourth, NXP can provide a complete one-stop radar chip solution, and the solution is platform-based and scalable, covering all applications of millimeter-wave radar, including ultra-short-range ultra-small radar ( AIP ), short-range radar, medium-range radar, long-range radar, and high-resolution imaging radar, etc., which can achieve 360-degree coverage of the vehicle's surrounding environment. Among them, the TEF810x ​​RF transceiver provides several different versions to meet customers' needs for the various radar applications mentioned above; in addition, in terms of radar signal processing chips, they also provide customers with two sets of high-performance and low-cost solutions: S32R27 for medium- and long-range radar applications, and S32R37 for short-range radar applications.