CD Laboratory for Integrated Radar Sensors

The foundations for the further integration and thus miniaturisation of state-of-the-art radar sensors are the focus of research here. In addition to the hardware, the corresponding software is also undergoing intensive further development.

Silicon germanium (SiGe) technology is used for the semiconductors. This offers the necessary performance characteristics required for the miniaturisation of radar sensors in the approx. 100 GHz range. The high cost of gallium arsenide (GaAs) semiconductors is currently preventing their widespread use and is also one of the main reasons for research into more cost-effective SiGe semiconductors.

In addition to the development of the actual semiconductor elements for integrated radar sensors, the focus is also on the development of optimised signal processing methods. Together with theoretical considerations on various sensor systems, the newly developed circuits based on SiGe technology will lead to new concepts that allow all components to interact and thus enable efficient and practicable integrated radar sensors.

For the subsequent testing of the systems designed in this way, an entire sensor system with the electronics for signal recording, signal evaluation and signal storage has been developed beforehand. This system will be tested in various situations and the measurement results and findings obtained in this way will in turn flow directly into research.

In fact, even more than 100 years after the discovery of the radar principle, the technical requirements for high-frequency electronics and the associated signal processing are still very high. Only the new types of circuits will make it possible to further integrate radar sensors and make them available for everyday use.

The research work is particularly focussed on the use of integrated radar sensors for mobile use in motor vehicles. Such sensors can, for example, measure the speed of neighbouring cars or the distance to them, thus enabling an automatic and intelligent reaction to the driving manoeuvres of other road users. Due to their robustness, radar sensors are also used in numerous industrial and safety-related applications.