Xilinx and Continental have teamed up to create the automotive industry's first production version of the 4D imaging radar for autonomous driving

     Xilinx, a global leader in adaptive and intelligent computing, and Continental have announced that Xilinx will support Continental's development of the new Advanced Radar Sensor (ARS) 540 via the Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC platform to create the automotive industry's first production 4D imaging sensor. The collaboration will enable new models equipped with the ARS540 to implement SAE J3016 L2 capabilities, paving the way for the L5 autonomous driving system.

     4D imaging radar can determine the position of objects through Range, Azimuth, Elevation and relative speed to provide detailed information about the driving environment, which is unprecedented in automotive radar systems that can only collect speed and orientation information. Continental's ARS540 is a high-end long-range 4D imaging radar with high resolution and a detection range of up to 300 meters. Its wide field of view of ±60° enables MHT (Multiple Hypothesis Tracking) to provide accurate predictions during driving, which is crucial for handling complex driving scenarios, such as detecting traffic jams under Bridges. In addition, the ARS540 system has higher horizontal and vertical resolution to detect and respond appropriately to potentially dangerous objects on the road. In addition, by supporting SAE L2, where a human driver is responsible for overseeing vehicle control, and extending to fully autonomous L5 fully autonomous driving, the ARS540 demonstrates the application scalability of this sensor.

     Norbert Hammerschmidt, head of radar project management at Continental, said: "The Xylinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC platform provides us with the high performance and advanced DSP capabilities we need to implement the ARS540, coupled with the flexibility and market-leading network interface options to process large amounts of antenna data at extremely high aggregate transfer rates. Continental has recently won a number of designs from leading Oems in Europe and the United States, and is also in ongoing discussions with other Oems around the world to adopt the ARS540. We are proud to continue to grow our long-term partnership with Xilinx and bring this potentially life-saving technology to market."

     Xylinx's XA Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC is a highly flexible, adaptive processor platform that enables Continental's 4D imaging radars to be immune to multiple sensor platform configurations and flexibly adapted to OEM specifications. The parallel processing capabilities in the device's programmable logic provide optimal performance, enabling the fully independent concurrent processing pipeline that is critical in ARS5404D sensing. In addition, a large number of digital signal processing (DSP) Slices provide hardware acceleration for the implementation of real-time radar sensor inputs.

     CedricMalaquin, technology and market analyst, RF Equipment and Technology, YoleDevelopement (Yole) commented: "4D imaging radar provides longer detection range, wider field of view and deeper perception, and is an important sensor that can provide L2 to L5 developers with systems to help them create safer driving environments." We expect 4D imaging radar to first appear in luxury cars and autonomous taxis, forming a market size of more than $550 million and growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 124% between 2020 and 2025. By working together to develop this new sensing mode, Xilinx and Continental, two innovative market leaders, have a great market opportunity." 

     Willard Tu, Senior Director of Xilinx's automotive business, added: "We are proud to support the industry's first production 4D imaging radar. By incorporating this advanced technology into passenger cars, the extraordinary features offered by Continental's ARS540 will accelerate the wider adoption of autonomous driving. Continental's long history in radar and Xilinx's extensive experience in adaptive chips have combined to create an extremely powerful solution."