Radar technology drives ADAS applications forward with new SoCs

Bosch has introduced two new system-on-chips. The SX600 and the SX601 support a wide range of ADAS functions that fall under SAE level 2+ for vehicle autonomy. For example, the automatic emergency braking function lowers the risk of rear-end collisions. Other applications include adaptive cruise control, the detection of objects in the driver’s blind spot, and the lane change assistant.

“Bosch can already look back on 25 years of experience in the field of radar sensors. With our advanced SoCs, we’re helping to make driving convenient and, above all, safe,” says Peter Wolfangel, executive vice president of the Mobility Electronics division at Bosch. Automotive customers and distributors can source these SoCs directly from the company.

The two new chips have a fully digital, fast-response PLL – a control circuit that uses digital components to adjust the frequency and phase of an output signal to the frequency and phase of an input signal. The digital PLL is more precise, more flexible, and easier to integrate than an analogue one. It generates a highly flexible output signal, enabling long-range and high-resolution applications. The integrated radar receiver offers a high dynamic range for optimised object recognition, making the sensors highly sensitive even to small and distant targets. Their error rate is also notably lower than with other radar sensors.

This advanced radar detection inevitably needs greater computing power. The company manufactures the two new radar SoCs using 22nm RF CMOS technology. This cutting-edge semiconductor technology enables the SoCs to be fully integrated at low cost, offering a range approximately 30% greater than that of conventional sensors on the market. The multicore subsystem delivers sufficient memory and computing power to integrate customer functions directly on the chip, with plenty of scope for future expansion.

The chips are provided with a mmWave sensor frontend and a powerful digital signal processor for conventional or AI-based data processing. This frontend is the interface between the real world and digital processing – and is vital to the functionality and accuracy of the entire mmWave sensor system. Its high computing power supports complex recognition algorithms and AI based on neural networks. These advanced functions allow the ADAS system to distinguish between pedestrians and other objects reliably. The company provides a matching engineering environment to simplify the implementation of applications with machine learning.

The SX600 and the SX601 operate in the 77GHz frequency band. Both SoCs feature CAN XL and Ethernet interfaces, which means they can be connected flexibly to the vehicle system. Hardware-based security accelerators and data encryption prevent unauthorised persons from gaining access. While the SX600 is designed for cost efficiency, the SX601 offers more memory and the greatest computing power currently available on the market. The two models are interchangeable, making it straightforward to upgrade the system. Each sensor is equipped with four transmitting and four receiving channels. For applications with even higher needs, the company provides a cascaded solution consisting of two interconnected chips. Samples of the SX601 are already available to customers worldwide for development and testing purposes.