Most significant Industry Meeting for Electronic Experts
Platz der Vereinten Nationen 2
53113 Bonn
Booth 183 on the Rhine plain
In the 70th anniversary year of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, four Fraunhofer Institutes are jointly presenting their range of innovative automotive products. The Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques FHR, the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE, the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Resources and Systems IMWS and the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronics and Reliability IZM are represented at the international automotive electronics congress.
At the Fraunhofer joint booth, your contact persons will provide information on a variety of Applications and projects in the automotive sector.
Visit us at booth 183 on the Rhine plain.
The ATRIUM radar target simulator provides comprehensive control of the functionality of next-generation automotive radar sensors. The complete simulation of critical traffic scenarios in the E-band distinguishes ATRIUM from conventional target simulators.
To ensure the reliability of automotive radar sensors, they must be comprehensively qualified with a suitable test environment. With ATRIUM, the Fraunhofer FHR is developing a radar target generator that can generate more than 100 virtual objects at any position and at any speed. The system will be able to simulate complex target signatures, allowing radar targets to be simulated not only as points, but as objects composed of several parts (e.g. rear, bumper, wheels). This enables the realistic simulation of complex traffic scenarios and ultimately increases the safety of road users.
Range of services:
- Generation of more than 100 doppler- and time-shifted, amplitude- and phase-varying copies of the transmitted signal.
- Representation of complex target signatures
- Simulation of realistic traffic scenarios
- Definition of own traffic scenarios
- Playback of recorded traffic scenarios
The high spatial resolution of automotive radars is achieved by an increasing number of antennas, which have to be connected to the individual gates of integrated radar ICs. The previously used printed circuit board technologies are reaching their limits.
Antenna solution based on waveguides and sector horn antennas
For cost reasons, printed radiator elements such as microstrip antennas or surface integrated (SIW), slotted waveguides are usually used as antenna elements, since these can be integrated monolithically with radar MMICs and possibly other electronic components on the same printed circuit board. Due to the increasing number of
of antenna elements, the routing of high-frequency lines between MMICs and antennas becomes a major challenge. Therefore, the Fraunhofer FHR has designed and built a novel demonstrator antenna based on metallic waveguides and sector horn antennas. The first radar experiments have already been very promising.
The next development step now concentrates on cost-effective production with other materials and processes.
Range of services:
- Design of individual antenna solutions
- Optimization of existing antenna concepts in the automotive sector
- Full wave simulation and measurement of antenna characteristics
Modern driver assistance systems require a large number of sensors in order to increase safety and comfort. Automated driving in particular relies on optical systems, lidar sensors, infrared and, last but not least, radar sensors for environment recognition.
Radar as an essential sensor component
By integrating the radar into the vehicle, the understanding of the transmission and absorption properties of the materials used is of essential importance in order to guarantee the performance of the radar sensor at the installation location. The Fraunhofer FHR has proven itself in many
projects are dealing intensively with this topic. Together with suppliers, OEMs and manufacturers of measuring instruments, methods for suitable material characterization were developed. In the process, various planar single- and multi-layer plastic samples of bumpers in the 75-85 GHz range were measured with regard to their complex dielectric constant (permittivity). In addition to the plastic material itself, the geometric properties (e.g. radii of curvature) and the paint finish also influence the radar signals.
Range of services:
- Experimental-measuring material characterization for plastic materials and paint layers
- Determination of the absorption and transmission behaviour in the frequency range 75-85 GHz
- Optimized design of emblems
Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques FHR