Remcom announces unique benefits of time-domain electromagnetic simulation for automotive radar sensors via XFdtd® 3D EM Simulation Software. XFdtd enables simulations of full sensor models with a bumper’s fascia, dramatically decreasing development cycles and improving accuracy. Remcom is refining these competencies to help suppliers meet the requirements of the major automobile manufacturers.
Design requirements for 24 GHz and 77 GHz automotive radar sensors are becoming more stringent as a result of safety features such as blind spot detection and lane change assistance. In response to this, leading Tier 1 suppliers are adopting time-domain simulations because they are more accurate for determining the performance of a fully detailed sensor model installed behind a piece of fascia.
XFdtd provides benefits unique to the time-domain approach. In particular, GPU acceleration and memory efficiencies enable short run times, even for complex models. This enables engineers to perform multiple design iterations much faster than previously possible. At the board level, sources of parasitic coupling or variations in ground potential can be identified and mitigated. This type of analysis carries through to optimizing radome structures and determining the best location for a sensor behind a fascia. Coupled with GPU technology, engineers are able to perform this analysis in hours, thus reducing the overall development time.
Using EM simulation is not a new concept when designing automotive radar sensors; however, engineers have traditionally used software that does not account for all the complexities in a full sensor model. Without time domain simulations, engineers were forced to simplify their models, essentially analyzing them in pieces. XFdtd, using the time-domain approach in its calculations, not only simulates the entire model, but also does so with great efficiencies and much shorter run times.
Remcom has published a white paper that talks about the benefits of Time-Domain Electromagnetic Simulation for Automotive Radar – You can download the white paper here.
