Automotive Engineering - March 2022 - 26

Expanding ADAS roles for
RADAR AND CAMERAS
Spartan Radar's
Nathan Mintz
noted that
the industry is
beginning to
leverage the
power of software
in automatedvehicle
radar
applications.
Developed over a
decade, TriEye's
CMOS-based Raven
SWIR sensor brings
down proven defense
technology to a
competitive cost level.
TriEye's Avi Bakal
notes that the
SEDAR system
could help more
advanced ADAS
functionalities
reach a broader
market.
[or] into the side of a mirror. It's a known, understood
variable, " Mintz noted. " Radar imagery does look different
than lidar and camera imagery, and there's some training
that's going to have to occur across the full radar waterfront
to get the perception guys to appreciate that. "
Power of processing
The real power of Spartan's work, Mintz claimed, is the
recognition of the modes and algorithms that makes
radar work. " Our unique value proposition is we have a
family of what's called compressive sensing and super
resolution techniques, where we can take the exact same
radar someone else has part-wise, and lay the antenna
out differently and add additional signal processing on
the back end to increase the resolution by a factor of five
in each dimension, and decrease the number of antenna
elements you need by a factor of two or even four. "
The other key aspect of Spartan's IP is an ability to
interleave different modes of operation. " You aren't
always necessarily interested in having crystal-clear
imagery of everything in the field of view, all at the
same time, all the time, " Mintz said. " Sometimes it's
more important for you to have a higher revisit rate on
the guy that's braking right in front of you than on
taking exquisite imagery of some tree on the edge of
the road that's moving out of your field of view. "
26 March 2022
" We want to be the Microsoft of automotive radar, " Mintz responded
when asked where Spartan Radar sees itself in the autonomousstack
supply chain. " We want to be where we're basically providing
both the foundational layer of the software - the operating system
- and then the applications and the modes that allow it to really
reach up to the next level. We see our magic being in the software
modes and algorithms that we provide. "
An all-conditions camera
Camera-based sensors currently lead in object-recognition development,
but require a light source. A key lidar advantage is it requires no environmental
lighting since it's self-illuminating. Radar has significant advantages
over both cameras and lidar in inclement conditions. But what if
you could combine the best traits of each in a single sensor, forming a
self-illuminating camera that works in a wide range of conditions? Billing
itself as a fabless semiconductor company developing mass-market,
short-wave infrared (SWIR) sensing solutions, Tel Aviv-based TriEye has
genuine claim that it's already developed such a sensor.
Most common in aerospace and defense, SWIR technology is wellknown
as an effective all-environment imaging sensor, its only major
drawback being dizzying cost. TriEye claims it has created a CMOSbased
SWIR sensor at a fraction of the cost of current SWIR solutions,
and it is currently working with Tier 1s and OEMs to apply the
technology as part of autonomous-sensor suites.
" The TriEye solution for automotive provides not only vision, we also
provide depth perception under any condition - day, night, fog, dust, "
claimed Avi Bakal, TriEye CEO and co-founder. " And in terms of pricing,
it's ten-times lower cost than the lidar solution. So not only that the product
brings much better performances, but it's also highly cost-effective. "
SEDAR as lidar alternative
The company grew out of an academic tract as a solution to what it
considers a huge technology gap facing the industry. That is, ADAS
systems function well in ideal conditions, but in poor conditions -
fog, low light, pedestrians walking in dark roads, etc. - when their
safety benefits are most needed, they fall short. The other challenge
is cost, which prevents higher-function ADAS devices or sensor suites
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
Automotive Engineering - March 2022

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