Introduction
Radar (Radio Detection and Ranging) is a key sensing technology in modern vehicles, used to perceive the environment by transmitting radio waves and analyzing their reflections from surrounding objects.
In automotive systems, radar enables reliable detection under a wide range of weather and lighting conditions. This article introduces the automotive radar node of our demo and explains how it can be integrated into a modern vehicle electronic architecture.
Overview
How radar supports automotive systems
Within an automotive system, the radar node plays a central role in advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving functions, such as adaptive cruise control, collision avoidance, and blind-spot detection. It continuously measures object presence and motion in the vehicle’s surroundings, providing robust and real-time perception data.
In this implementation, the radar application is developed using NXP’s Model-Based Design Toolbox for Radar, a MATLAB add-on developed by NXP. By using this toolbox, developers can design, simulate, and generate code while leveraging the hardware accelerators available on the target platform to achieve high performance and deterministic execution. The offloading of processing to the accelerators is achieved through the integration of the NXP Radar SDK within the MATLAB environment.
Target Audience
This series of articles serves a wide range of engineering and technical stakeholders involved in the design, development, and integration of radar systems. This chapter outlines the intended audience:
- Embedded Software Engineers
- Radar Engineers
- System Architects & Vehicle Architecture Engineers
- Hardware Engineers
- Model-Based Design and MATLAB Developers
- Academic and Research Communities
Context
The radar application is targeted for the NXP S32R45 MCU, a high-performance processor designed specifically for automotive radar signal processing. In the vehicle electronic architecture, the radar node is connected directly to the Central Node, which is responsible for sensor fusion and higher-level decision-making.
For each radar frame, the NXP S32R45 MCU detects and processes objects in the field of view and transmits, via CAN, the distance, speed, and direction of each detected object to the Central Node. This structured data exchange enables efficient integration of radar information into the overall vehicle perception and control system.
Figure 1. Example integration of the radar node into a vehicle electronic architecture.
References
Conclusion
In conclusion, the radar node is a fundamental building block of the modern vehicle electronic architecture, providing accurate and reliable perception data that enables advanced safety and automation functions.
This introductory chapter has outlined the role of the radar node within the vehicle system and its contribution to environment perception for advanced driving functions.
The next chapters will build on this foundation by exploring the radar signal processing chain, the implementation approach, and the main software components that enable the application on the target platform.