122GHz radar gives millimetre accuracy
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In a move to provide sophisticated parking aids and devices which move around in unknown environments with millimetre accurate positional information, the Success Consortium and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have developed a high frequency radar housed in a small package.
"We have succeeded in integrating all relevant rf components into one chip," said Thomas Zwick, head of KIT's Institute for HF Technology and Electronics. "Users can solder the chip onto standard circuit boards and receive low frequency signals that can be processed without difficulty,"
The sensor operates at 122GHz, allowing the distance to an object that is several metres away to be calculated to an accuracy of less than 1mm. In addition, the velocity of the target can be measured via the Doppler effect. The sensor is integrated in an 8 x 8mm package, but contains all the necessary rf components.
The chip, manufactured using a SiGe bicmos process, was developed by IHP Innovations for High Performance Microelectronics, a member of the Leibniz Association. The chip was designed by IHP and Silicon Radar. KIT led the design of the antennae and their integration into the package. The flexible organic carrier for the antennae was developed by Hightec and Finnish company SELMIC manufactured the ceramic housing and assembled the prototype.
Other members of the Success Consortium include Robert Bosch, ST Microelectronics, Evatronix, and the University of Toronto.
