Use a PCR module to rapidly develop accurate, low-power radar-based sensors
Figure 1: The Acconeer A111 pulsed coherent radar device achieves high accuracy at low power by transmitting long or short wavelets with carefully controlled pulse repetition frequency (PRF), center frequency (f RF ), and pulse duration (t pulse ). (Image source: Acconeer)
fingers in a gesture-controlled user interface application. Conversely, they can increase tpulse to generate the high energy long wavelets needed to resolve obstructions in an automotive self-parking application. Despite the attraction of PCR’s technical advantages, few developers without significant expertise in radar technology could afford the time required to implement this technology on their own. Besides the challenges of designing an efficient millimeter wave (mmWave) front-end stage, developers would face
the considerable challenge of converting the acquired amplitude and phase data of reflected radar signals into useful measurements of distance and motion. Designed to address these challenges, the Acconeer PCR-based A111 radar device and associated software development kit (SDK) abstract the low-level details of radar signal processing, delivering data in forms that can be more easily consumed by applications.
Acconeer combines these techniques in the PCR technology used in its A111 radar sensor. Like pulsed radar, PCR technology keeps the radio turned off between transmissions, but as in coherent systems, the transmissions are bursts of pulses, or sweeps, with a known starting phase (Figure 1). By tuning parameters such as pulse duration (tpulse), developers can optimize signals for different applications. For example, developers can reduce tpulse to generate the shorter wavelets needed to resolve small movements of individual
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