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Advanced Automotive Radar Technology from Freescale Semiconductor

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Nick Trompert

Semiconductor technology increases passenger safety

According to Jurgen Weyer, Vice President of Automotive Sales and Marketing at Freescale, the mission is clear – “To advance the truly assisted driver, the role of radar and other technologies is expanding to provide coverage around the entire vehicle. We are very pleased to make our roads safer by facilitating broader adoption of radar in more mainstream vehicles.” Freescale Semiconductor and Continental are planning to integrate Freescale’s next 77GHz radar technology into Continentals short and mid-range automotive radar modules. It’s a move that represents the next generation of Continental’s advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The benefits are dual. ADAS safety benefits will available to more cars, and automakers will be able to meet mandated safety regulations.

Freescale’s advanced automotive radar technology integrates a complete radar system and includes applications for lane keeping assistance, emergency braking, blind spot detection and pedestrian detection. It’s scalability at its best enabling multiple radar modules to deliver coverage for surround sensing around cars. It also delivers high radio frequency performance, low power consumption and a less obtrusive integration into the vehicle.

All of these advanced capabilities will build on Continental’s current generation long range radar sensor. Specifically, its ARS400 will encompass the entire signal path from 77GHz antenna input to the vehicle’s network connection. With the ADAS market rapidly growing and high safety compliance standards, Continental’s work with Freescale will enable it meet strict strict safety protocols like those under the European NewCar Assessment Program (NCAP).

As a major leader in silicon for automotive radar applications, Freescale has developed and shipped more than one million radar integrated circuits into the market. 

Freescale has also recently aquired CogniVue Corp., an image cognition IP developer based in Ottawa, Canada. As reported by the EE Times, CogniVue over the last four years has played a critical role in Freescale’s advanced driver assistance system SoC solutions as a key vision IP partner.

By bringing CogniVue’s IP and its development team in-house, Freescale hopes to lead the safety-critical ADAS and eventually autonomous car market with its own IP -- developed from the very start as “automotive qualified.”

The upcoming merger with NXP Semiconductor is expected to be complete by the end of 2015 and the combined businesses will have a dominate market position in supplying semiconductor technology to the automotive industry. 

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Topics: Semiconductor News

Nick Trompert

Nick Trompert is a Sr. Manager. He is responsible for connecting with the best engineering and information technology talent and resources in the world. He is one of the founders of Talent 101 and joined full time after college.

nickt@talent-101.com