Seeed Studio Unveils an Infineon-Powered 24GHz mmWave Grove Doppler Radar Module for ADAS Projects

Seeed Studio has teased a Grove-compatible millimetre-wave (mmWave) radar module, the Grove Doppler Radar, designed for advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) projects.

"ADAS is a on-car system to assist drivers which provides functions like collision warning, parking assistance, blind spot detection, stop & go, etc," Seeed's Eric Yu explains. "Many of our customers have already implemented some of these features on their Jetson Nano robot car. There are also many fantastic demos available in the maker and AI community.

"However, a lot of these demos use camera as the only sensor to perform object detection or some other functions. Make full use of computer vision is certainly a good idea for low-speed driving in good weather conditions. But we all know CV relies on analysing videos frame by frame. The detection system based on CV is certainly not real-time. Besides, during bad weather conditions, like foggy days, it becomes hard for cameras or IR sensors to functions precisely. Thus, mmWave radar is adopted by almost every automobile manufacturer on their ADAS."

To assist makers and tinkerers with mmWave experimentation, Seeed has designed and is actively producing a Doppler radar module based on a 24GHz frequency. "The module is powered by a ultra-low power MMIC(BGT24LTR11) from Infineon, the smallest 24GHz radar in the market and perfectly suitable for use-cases where low power, discrete design and long range is required," Yu claims. "The radar operates in 24.0 GHz to 24.25 GHz. It was designed with Doppler-radar applications in mind — as it is capable of keeping the transmit signal inside the ISM band without any external PLL — and may also be used in other types of radar such as FMCW or FSK."

The compact module features a Grove connector, allowing it to be quickly connected to Grove-compatible microcontrollers and microcomputers; where Grove connectors aren't present, adapters are often available to add them.

The launch price for the Grove Doppler Radar has yet to be confirmed, with more information available on the company's blog.