Project description
Driving new electronic systems technologies
With the rising demand for smart systems across both industrial and private sectors, it stands to reason that smart technology has found its place in the automotive industry. The promise of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and fully automated vehicles has created an opportunity for advancement and profits for innovators in smart systems and smart car radar sensors. The EU-funded Car2TERA project, taking advantage of this demand, will further advance smart automotive electronic system technology. To achieve that, it will develop novel sub-THz smart electronic systems by utilising silicon-germanium technology, micromachined silicon, and nanoelectronic technologies. Car2TERA will enforce a firm European position in the advanced, smart electronic sensor systems field.
Objective
The objective of Car2TERA is to develop emerging sub-THz (150-330 GHz) smart electronic systems based on latest semiconductor, microsystem and nanoelectronics technologies, and to implement TRL-4 demonstrators in two high-potential application scenarios: (1) a new class of compact, high-resolution, electronic-beam-steering short-range car radar sensors, with the primary application being in-cabin passenger monitoring (currently fastest growing car sensor market) for individually and real-time adjusted crash mitigation measures; (2) short-distance, high data-rate THz-over-plastic data links for telecommunication radio-access and backbone networks facilitating the data growth demanded by 5G and IoT.
Car2TERA combines, for the first time, the results of recent achievements in semiconductor, micro- and nanoelectronics scientific projects, including the Graphene Flagship, an ERC and several EU collaboration projects, with the following emerging THz technologies: (1) 600-GHz-fmax SiGe monolithic-microwave integrated circuits (MMICs); (2) silicon micromachining for system integration, packaging and phased-array antenna front-end; (3) integrated MEMS reconfigurability; and (4) large-bandwidth, high-linearity graphene MMICs; (4) advanced signal processing including OFDM radar signals and AI sensor fusion.
The consortium: Veoneer, world’s largest car safety equipment manufacturer; Ericsson, world leading in telecommunication systems; Infineon, world’s largest manufacturer of SiGe radar chip sets; the academic partners Chalmers and KTH, leading in MMIC design and micromachining/THz MEMS; and three SMEs leading in sub-THz technologies and 2D-materials.
With European car module manufacturers holding a market share of 79% on car radars, and European semiconductor manufacturers 90% on SiGe car-radar chip sets, this project aims at extending Europe’s success story on advanced, smart electronic sensor systems into the sub-THz frequency spectrum and into new emerging applications.
Fields of science
Not validated
Not validated
- engineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materialstwo-dimensional nanostructuresgraphene
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringinformation engineeringtelecommunicationstelecommunications networksdata networks
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringinformation engineeringtelecommunicationsradio technologyradar
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- engineering and technologynanotechnologynanoelectronics
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
9500 Villach
Austria
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.