California-headquartered auto-tech provider indie Semiconductor has acquired Silicon Radar, a German company specializing in advanced, highly integrated, high-frequency system-on-chips (SoCs) for automotive radar applications.
The radar industry is transitioning to 120GHz for in-cabin sensing, and to 140GHz for external sensing. These higher frequencies enable the use of antenna-on-chip techniques, greatly raising the integration levels. This enables indie to create products with a complete radar on a chip to expand into new market areas.
Specifically, operation at 120GHz or above enables antennas to be integrated in package or on-die, simplifying the PCB design and dramatically reducing cost especially for in-cabin occupant monitoring systems, where industrial design often cannot allow external antennas optimized for RF performance at lower frequencies.
Established in 2006, Silicon Radar works on the semiconductor design of 60GHz, 120GHz and 140GHz high-frequency circuits for radar, sensor and wireless communications. To date, Silicon Radar has developed 10 radar-related patents and has previously worked with indie to co-develop radar solutions for emerging radar applications, including 120GHz and 140GHz frequencies.
“Radar is a fundamental sensor modality for ADAS and automotive safety applications,” said Donald McClymont, co-founder and CEO, indie Semiconductor. “The growing number of radars per vehicle require high-performance and highly integrated semiconductors capable of supporting ever higher frequency of operation with the lowest power consumption while supporting the ever-increasing demand for resolution in both external and in-cabin radar systems.”