Providing SDK and Design Resources to Shorten Development Time

TI announced that it is beginning mass production of the highly integrated ultra-wideband AWR1642 and IWR1642 mmWave sensor products.

Supporting a frequency range of 76~81GHz, this product delivers three times more accurate sensing with significantly less power consumption than competing sensor technologies and a minimal footprint.

TI's millimeter wave sensors are currently used in automotive and industrial applications including vehicle occupancy detection, building occupancy counting, and human-machine interaction.

Automotive Millimeter Wave Sensors
Vehicles equipped with this sensor in ADAS applications are expected to make their first appearance in the second half of 2018. This ADAS application includes long-range, short-range, and mid-range radar, making vehicles smarter and safer.

In addition to ADAS, automotive-grade AWR1642 sensors are used to implement functions such as empty parking space detection, obstacle detection near doors or trunks, in-cabin occupancy detection, intrusion alerts, and smart automated parking.

Together with the industry's only officially mass-produced single-chip CMOS sensor, common software development kits (SDK) and design resources are provided to reduce development time.

For example, the in-cabin occupancy detection reference design includes system-level overview and software samples for detecting people inside vehicles using the AWR1642 sensor.

Industrial Millimeter Wave Sensors
Engineers are advancing rapidly not only in the automotive sector but also in industrial applications.

As new applications using TI's millimeter wave technology emerge, customers use these sensor products to create smarter and more efficient cities, buildings, and machines.

By using the IWR1642 sensor that combines a compact form factor with high resolution, a smarter world can be realized. Since this product is also supported with design resources, engineers can bring smart systems to market more quickly.

For enhanced building automation, developers can utilize the "reference design for occupancy counting and tracking using millimeter wave radar sensors."

By collecting distance, velocity, and angle data to monitor both large and small movements of people, building systems such as HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), lighting, and elevators can be operated more intelligently.

The "reference design for traffic monitoring, object detection, and tracking using millimeter wave radar sensors" for smart cities uses intelligent monitoring systems with applied sensors to track the movement of vehicles and objects on roads, in factories, farms, and other locations.

Therefore, everything from parking meters and traffic signals to agricultural equipment, construction equipment, and accident management can be simplified.

By using millimeter wave sensors on machines in production lines, distance, velocity, and angle data can be collected to detect and avoid obstacles or detect and recognize hand gestures. This revolutionarily improves human-machine interaction.