Integrated Design and Prototyping of a 77 GHz Automotive Medium Range Radar into Car Rear Lamp

The continuing trend of increasing the frequency adopted for automotive radar application has permitted an overall increase of performances and reduction of the dimensions of this type of device. This last feature could permit new ways of installation with respect to the standards adopted today by car manufacturer (behind bumpers or in car body). Instead of seeing the radar as an external device to be installed on the car it could be part of the initial project and included into the design process of a plug-in part. In this paper the integrated design and prototyping of 77 GHz automotive radar into a modern car rear lamp is presented. The radar Printed Circuit Board (PCB) has been designed to fit into the lamp without affecting the external look; the optimization of the material thickness of the radar cover and temperature tests have been performed on the system. The embedded radar processing has been implemented on a monolithic chip to perform target tracking and the main processing steps are reported. The results obtained from tests in controlled environment and on the road in traffic scenarios show that including the radar into the design of a lamp from the beginning is a feasible solution. This approach brings some advantages such as: improved placing and connections, undisturbed view, better protection from disturbances and accidents and provides more customized solutions for the car makers.