indie Semiconductor has announced that its latest 120-GHz radar transceiver, the TRX_120_089, has entered serial production, marking a significant addition to its portfolio of short-range radar solutions. Designed to enhance performance, flexibility and cost efficiency, the device builds on its predecessor while enabling a seamless transition for existing users.
The TRX_120_089 succeeds the earlier TRX_120_067 and is optimized for short-range radar applications with a typical range of up to 10 meters, which can be extended significantly using dielectric lenses or reflectors. It supports both FMCW and CW operating modes within the 122–123 GHz ISM band and offers a wide tuning capability of up to 6.5 GHz, providing greater versatility across applications.
Fabricated using SiGe BiCMOS technology, the transceiver integrates key functional blocks including a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), frequency divider, power amplifier, low-noise amplifier, homodyne quadrature receiver, polyphase filter and on-chip antennas. The VCO can be paired with an integrated divider and an external fractional-N PLL for FMCW operation or run at a fixed frequency in CW mode. It is controlled via two analog tuning inputs, which can be combined to achieve a tuning bandwidth exceeding 6 GHz, enabling precise and flexible signal control.
In addition to its performance improvements, the TRX_120_089 introduces a TX/RX enable feature that allows the device to be fully powered down when not in use, reducing overall energy consumption. Enhanced packaging technology further contributes to lower system costs while maintaining reliability.
With integrated transmit and receive patch antennas and switchable signal paths, the device delivers increased flexibility for a wide range of use cases, including collision avoidance, industrial sensing, healthcare monitoring such as vital sign detection, predictive maintenance of rotating machinery, material analysis and quality control. Maintaining the same compact BGA81 8×8 mm² package and largely identical control circuitry as its predecessor, the TRX_120_089 ensures minimal redesign effort for developers migrating from earlier designs.
To support rapid development and evaluation, the SiRad Easy® r4 evaluation kit featuring the TRX_120_089 is also available for sampling.
