Metawave has successfully demonstrated the first automated 77 GHz electronically steerable antenna calibration system for realizing dependable and repeatable beamsteering at TechCrunch Mobility 2019. Recently Metawave has also launched its millimeter-wave analog phase controller, a critical component that enables analog beamsteering radars for highly automated driving, an important step toward full autonomy.
Metawave’s WARLORD™ radar system enables near-instantaneous positioning of the radar beam anywhere within a set field of view (FOV), allowing the beam position to be changed in microseconds. The innovative design eliminates typical limitations and failures of existing radars while extending detection range and enhancing angular resolution. The flexibility of WARLORD facilitates multi-modal radar operation, delivers automated multi-target tracking, and greatly reduces interference.
With highly focused transmitter beamsteering, Metawave can point the beam specifically on what the target needs to detect in order to make critical driving decisions quickly, safely, and smoothly. Metawave’s highly advanced and carefully demonstrated beamsteering capability empowers its proprietary AI platform – AWARE™ – with the ability to identify regions of interest and quickly detect and classify objects, both up-close and in the distance (~300 meters), ensuring the automobile receives the information needed to make critical driving decisions.
The calibration system was completed in partnership with The University of Oklahoma Advanced Radar Research Center (ARRC) at the Radar Innovation Lab (RIL), a research facility directed by Dr. Robert Palmer.
At the ARRC, Dr. Jorge Salazar leads the Phased Array Antenna and Development (PAARD) group that focuses on the design of high-performance active antennas for multifunction phased array radars, including integration, characterization, and calibration from S- to W-bands. Dr. Salazar has vast experience in the design and calibration of phased array antennas. He is a professor and researcher at the school of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Oklahoma.
Dr. Salazar assembled a diverse team of experts in radar design and calibration from the Advanced Radar Research Center to enable the acceleration of this project. A novel millimeter RF scanner was designed, implemented, validated, and tested with Metawave in a very impressive few months. The customized RF scanner enables testing and calibration of an active array in near-field and far-field operating modes.
Metawave is delivering a new kind of automotive radar, one that balances complexity between digital and analog. WARLORD integrates their proprietary phase controller using a single transceiver antenna port to shape and steer the beam and detects objects quickly by leveraging analog data. Metawave’s offerings include its AI perception layer to recognize and classify objects and continue to ‘learn’ as the radar sees moving and inactive objects (autos, pedestrians, bicyclists, lamp posts, guards, etc.) in complex operating scenarios.
Metawave’s WARLORD is an inexpensive, long-range, high-resolution sensor that can overcome many of today’s driving challenges, including cut-in/cut-out scenarios, automatic emergency braking (AEB), highway pilot (HWP, aka traffic-jam pilot, super-cruise), and forward-collision warning systems (FCWS).
