As more industrial applications move toward autonomous functioning, sensing becomes more important to generate and process a variety of data so that systems can become autonomous and make real-time decisions. With Texas Instruments’ highly integrated millimeter-wave (mmWave) radar sensors, a larger amount of processing can occur within the sensor, thus enabling intelligence at the edge.

TI mmWave sensors perform in a variety of environmental and lighting conditions for indoor and outdoor applications. These extremely rugged sensors can be mounted directly behind enclosure plastics without external lenses, apertures or sensor surfaces, which makes this technology capable of accurate sensing in many building and factory applications. TI’s 60-GHz frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) mmWave technology allows open-band mmWave sensing for most industrial applications worldwide. To make industrial sensing even more streamlined, small size antenna-on-package sensors enable designs in form factors that were never possible before.

In radio-frequency (RF) sensor-based systems, antenna design is just as important as sensor selection. The antenna configuration determines the maximum object range, the maximum field of view (FoV) and the resolution, which is important for several applications. With a single sensor and the right antenna configuration, an industrial system can cover a wide area for simultaneous object detection. Traditionally, mmWave antennas have been designed on a printed circuit board (PCB) using Rogers material to deliver high-accuracy sensing. Although highly effective, this does require RF expertise to design and manufacture an antenna to work alongside the sensor.

A new antenna-on-package (AoP) design simplifies board manufacturing and system design vastly, so that engineers with minimal RF expertize can integrate TI mmWave sensors into their systems with great ease. AoP sensors result in a 40% board reduction compared to a standard TI 60- GHz sensor and a 75% board reduction compared with other radar technologies. Figure 1 illustrates the size reduction possible when moving from a traditional 60-GHz mmWave sensor to a 60-GHz mmWave AoP sensor.

The key benefits of using TI mmWave AoP sensors include:

• Reduced system and manufacturing cost and complexity, for faster time to market.
  • Flexibility to manufacture anywhere in the world with a simpler, cheaper FR4 design.
  • Minimal RF expertise needed to design and develop a sensor solution in-house.
• Small form factor.
  • Viable for industrial market applications that need a smaller sensor footprint.
• Higher efficiency due to zero board routing loss.
  • Better range performance.

Figure 1 Comparing a 60-GHz 55-Mm-by-55-Mm TI mmWave Evaluation Board with External Antenna; and the New 15-Mm-by-36-Mm Evaluation Board Design with TI’s mmWave AoP Sensor.

An mmWave sensor requires the capture of both location and accuracy data from its environment. Key data sets include the range of the object from the sensor and the speed of the object. To maximize useful data collection, a 3D sensing system should also be able to detect the height of an object and filter out ground clutter. This maximizes a sensor’s accuracy and measurement performance.

An AoP antenna’s wide FoV configuration provides a 130-degree view in the azimuth and elevation, which provides true 3D sensing whether the sensor is ceiling- or side-mounted. This antenna configuration, along with the small size of TI mmWave AoP sensors, makes radar sensing possible nearly everywhere in building automation, factory automation, smart homes, personal electronics and industrial systems.

Let’s focus on three applications that AoP sensors enable: robotics, occupancy detection, and automated doors and gates.