Japanese electronics firm Renesas is entering the automotive radar market with its launch of a 4×4 channel 76-81GHz transceiver designed for ADAS and Level 3+ self driving applications. The new RAA270205 HD radar receiver is part of the company’s sensor fusion portfolio, which combines radar, vision systems and other sensing modalities.

Designed together with Steradian Semiconductors, acquired by Renesas earlier this year, the RAA270205, a monolithic microwave integrated circuit, is designed for imaging radar, long-range forward-looking radar and 4D radar, but can also be used for corner and central-processing radar architectures, the so-called “satellite” automotive radar systems. Equipped with 4Tx and 4Rx channels, the RAA270205 supports up to 16 MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) channels. It can be cascaded to enable higher channel count and better radar resolution.

Renesas says that the RAA270205 features best-in-class accuracy with up to 5GHz of bandwidth, and a 112.5MSPS ADC (analogue-to-digital converter) sampling rate that is nearly three times faster than competing devices. Power consumption of 1.2W is 50 percent lower than comparable transceivers and it delivers a noise figure of 9dB, which is 3dB less than other radar transceivers. Its chirp rate of up to 300MHz/µs improves radar resolution and object detection.

“Today’s radar transceiver MMICs must achieve higher definition to support the high-accuracy requirements of ADAS and autonomous driving safety platforms,” said Vivek Bhan, Senior Vice President and Deputy General Manager of Renesas’ Automotive Solution Business Unit. “Working in close collaboration with Steradian, which brings deep radar design expertise, we are expanding our sensor fusion offerings with a focus on functional safety and low power consumption to help our customers lower their development costs and improve time to market.”

Renesas has plans to combine the RAA270205 transceiver with other compatible devices from its portfolio to support automotive radar systems. These combinations will include the “Satellite Radar System for AD/ADAS,” which will be available in Q2/2023. Renesas “Winning Combinations” are technically vetted system architectures from mutually compatible devices that work together to bring an optimised, low-risk design for faster time to market. Renesas offers more than 300 “Winning Combinations” with a range of products from the Renesas portfolio to enable customers to speed up the design process and bring their products to market more quickly.

The RAA270205 will be available in 1Q/2023 in sample quantities, with commercial production planned for 2024. The transceiver is available in a small eWLB (embedded wafer-level ball-grid array) package, measuring 7.6 x 5.6mm. It will be fully compliant with automotive industry requirements such as IATF 16949, AEC-Q100 Grade2 and ASIL B.