High resolution 3D sensor technology has emerged as a critical capability in applications ranging from gesture-based user interfaces to automotive driver assistance systems (ADAS). Among 3D sensor alternatives, radar technology offers features and performance characteristics unavailable with more conventional approaches. Still, developers find it challenging to maintain high accuracy and low power consumption, and there is a steep learning curve for deploying radar sensor systems. Using an advanced technology called pulsed coherent radar (PCR), Acconeer has developed an integrated radar sensor that provides the combination of high accuracy and low power consumption required for smart products and other emerging applications. This article describes Acconeer’s PCR approach before introducing a radar module and associated development platform based on its technology. It then demonstrates how to use the platform to start designing sophisticated radar sensor technology into a wide range of systems including battery- powered smart products.
Why radar?
Able to provide millimeter scale resolution at high update frequencies, radar-based sensing technology can deliver highly accurate distance and motion data needed by applications for precision object detection, range measurement, position tracking, and more. By incorporating radar technology into smart product designs, however, developers are typically forced to choose between low power or high accuracy. As developers look to apply this technology in designs with limited power budgets, application requirements drive a growing need to maintain accuracy even at reduced power levels. Advanced radar technology An alternative approach to conventional radar designs offers a solution that combines the accuracy of sophisticated coherent radar methods with the reduced power requirements of pulsed radar systems. Pulsed radar designs shut down the transmitter between pulses, achieving lower
power consumption but with lower accuracy. In contrast,
coherent radar systems transmit a continuous train of pulses, using precise phase measurements of return signals to provide high accuracy measurements but at the cost of high power consumption.
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