7 Challenges and Future Developments

While TI LoP technology offers promising advancements, there are some design challenges. The launch must be designed to transfer maximum power from mmWave integrated circuit to the 3D antenna, minimizing return loss and signal leakage. Design the mechanical stability of the 3D antenna and LoP robustly to withstand adverse temperature changes and environmental stresses. High-precision manufacturing and assembly practices, which is needed for better alignment between the PCB and antenna to minimize leakage of electromagnetic signals at optimize cost, needs further improvement.

Movement towards L3 autonomous driving needs higher angular resolution (both azimuth and elevation) to resolve static environment (overhead structures, guard rails, road debris) and improve object classification. This demand increases the number of transmitter and receiver channels. Thereby, it is a challenge to design a LoP package with reduced size, isolation, and cost for a large number of integrated channels. Lastly, another challenge is that the height of the 3D antenna is more relative to microstrip patch antenna thereby increasing overall sensor size.

Ongoing efforts in research and development aim to overcome these challenges and usher in the next wave of innovations in mmWave semiconductor and antenna technology for automotive radars.