Automotive Radar System Basics | Automotive Radar tutorial

This Automotive Radar tutorial covers Automotive Radar System basics. It mentions specifications and frequency bands used in automotive radar system.

There are different types of radar based on various applications of use, but their functionality or operation is same. Automotive radar is used in automotive applications specifically for car safety.

automotive radar configurations

Let us understand basic operation of a radar. Typically in a radar there are two components viz. transmitter and receiver. Transmitter radiates EM waves towards target and receiver detects echo from the target. This received echo signal is only fractional of the transmitted signal. This received signal is amplified, downconverted and later processed to recover information i.e. range of target and size. Moreover direction of target can be determined based on arrival angle of echoed wave. Relative velocity of target is determined based on doppler shift of returned signal.

There are two types of radar configurations used in automotive radar applications viz. monostatic radar and bistatic radar. In Monostatic radar, same antenna is used for transmission and reception. The duplexer is used to provide isolation between transmitter and receiver parts. In Bistatic radar, two separate antennas are used for transmission and reception.

Automotive Radar System

Following table-1 mentions typical specifications of automotive radar.


Specifications Automotive Radar support
System type Pulse
Band 76 to 77 GHz
Emission Bandwidth (BW) up to 500 MHz
Max. EIRP up to 20 Watts
Average EIRP < 10 mWatt
Antenna Beamwidth (MAX.) 4 degree elevation, 15 degree azimuth

Following table-2 mentions frequency bands used by various organizations for automotive radar applications.


Organization Automotive radar Frequency Bands
CEPT (Europe) 76 to 77 GHz
ETSI (Europe) 76 to 77 GHz
FCC (USA) 46.7 to 46.9 GHz , 76 to 77 GHz
ITU 60 t0 61 GHz, 76 to 77 GHz
MPT (JAPAN) 60 t0 61 GHz, 76 to 77 GHz

RADAR Tutorial RELATED LINKS

Refer following radar tutorial links which covers radar terminology, types, radar measurements, doppler radar, FMCW radar, radar bands, radar scope, weather radar, radar range and resolution, ground radar etc.
Radar Tutorial   Radar Terminology   Radar Measurements   Doppler Radar   FMCW RADAR   RADAR BANDs   RADAR SCOPE   Weather Radar   Ground Penetrating Radar System  RADAR RANGE and RESOLUTION 

Radar calculators

Following are useful radar calculators to calculate radar range, radar PRF, radar resolution etc.
Radar Range calculator   Radar PRF vs Range   Radar Range Resolution 

RF Wireless Tutorials