The new ICs provide improved sensitivity, processing and memory, including short-range UWB pulse radar to detect the presence of a child in the car
As cars get more intelligent, they’re getting more complex. To that end, NXP Semiconductor has released a new pair of ultra-wideband (UWB) products aimed at reducing that complexity, with several features built into a single chip.
The goal is to allow drivers access to their cars and detect when a child might be left behind in their seat, using a single chip, to possible save a life in the heat of the summer. According to NOHeatStroke.org, 33 children died due to heatstroke in cars in 2022.
Both NXP’s new products offer improved real-time location, so that cars respond with greater sensitivity to exactly where a driver’s phone is, as they approach their car. One of the two chips, in addition, uses short-range radar to identify what is happening in and around a vehicle. In the latter case, the system employs the radar to get a sense of the environment, without requiring an UWB tag or sensor to respond.
Two New Products
The NCJ29D6 UWB integrated circuits are part of NXP’s Trimension family of UWB ICs used in the automotive sector. Two other verticals are Internet of Things (IoT) devices and mobile phones and tablets.
The new products come in an A and B model: NCJ29D6B and NCJ29D6A.
The NCJ29D6B is an enhanced version of the company’s secure car access digital key technology for the UWB-enabled vehicle. The device is intended to offer design flexibility, higher radio frequency sensitivity and larger memory size than previous versions. The new product accomplishes that improved localization and sensitivity with a dual antenna.
NCJ29D6A provides not only the improved UWB-based access control, but real-time localization leveraging pulse radar, enabling child presence detection, intrusion alert and gesture recognition.
Original equipment manufacturers will use the new ICs to build solutions for their automotive customers.
A History in Hands Free Car Access
NXP has been in the car access business for several decades, first with RF based key fobs, then NFC and UWB, explains Markus Staeblein, NXP’s senior VP and general manager of secure care access.
In the past few years, Staeblein, says the engineers were looking to enhance automotive connectivity by solving real world problems, and combining technology in a single chip. The goal was to improve child safety, and also enable hands-free access.
“We said, we need to bring all technology together for secure, mobile hands-free car access,” with UWB pulse radar that can provide further intelligence without requiring an additional UWB device to receive and transmit a signal, said Staeblein. “That is where our journey started several years ago.”
How UWB Access Works
With the UWB-based access, NXP’s ICs are built into devices in vehicles. When a driver approaches with their mobile phone running the system app, the vehicle’s access control wakes up via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and then authenticates and localizes the driver’s unique ID via a UWB transmission.
Typically, there are six UWB anchors in in each vehicle, four outside and two inside. The outdoor anchors (one on each corner) create a 360-degree detection zone around the vehicle. Inside there are usually two anchors built into the ceiling of the car to manage the entire interior of the vehicle’s cabin once the phone is inside the car.
As the anchors capture data related to UWB transmissions, that data is sent to a gateway device within the vehicle using a Controller Area Network Flexible Data-Rate (CAN FD) protocol. Data is typically processed in the central control module or telematics module of the vehicle.
However, the car must sync with the cloud to confirm the validity of a mobile device, and it uses a gateway to forward that data to the cloud via 4G or other connectivity options.
Child Presence Detection
By providing pulse radar in its UWB technology, NXP allows vehicles systems to do more. Pulse radar sensing systems emit short pulses of radar energy into a space and detect and measure the length of time it takes for the energy to bounce back when it reaches an object.
The NXP NCJ29D6A uses this principle by emitting its radar pulse into the car’s cabin, and based on the response it can detect what is inside the vehicle that is not standard to that vehicle—such as passengers and their various possessions.
The intelligence built into the system can differentiate a non-living object such as a bag, from a child, based on movements as subtle as the child’s breathing, explained Christoph Zorn, NXP’s product marketing manager of automotive UWB solutions.
Kick Sensing
Another use case for the pulse radar enabled technology is kick-to-open sensing gesture which can be detected to manage access to a car’s trunk. Some vehicles already use a capacitive sensing system to enable users to open their trunk with a kicking gesture in the back undercarriage of the car.
Now, the new NXP product can accomplish that as well as UWB proximity detection. Users with their mobile phone in their pocket could kick their foot within range of the pulse radar. The user’s UWB based phone’s unique ID, along with the gesture, would then trigger the trunk to open.
Security and Cost Savings
By building two functionalities into a single IC, NXP official proclaim it can save money for the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and their customers, while NXPs latest UWB version increases computing power and memory size.
The new products are designed with security to detect and prevent cyber attacks in the case someone was trying to hack into the system as well.
“We’re working very closely with OEM ‘s to identify what could be potential attacks,” says Staeblein.
Commercial Used in 2024
Several companies are working with the latest products in early testing. Both will be commercially available in volume in the second half of 2024, and the following year, cars will be leveraging the technology.\
Among the other possible use cases from the radar and UWB include wireless electric vehicle charging based on the proximity of a vehicle over a charging plate in a parking space, using the UWB Radar and UWB ranging functionality on the single IC.
Additionally, the system could detect an intrusion in a car or even predict the health status of an individual within the car based on their motions and behavior.
Key Takeaways
- By including UWB pulse radar with UWB ranging on a single chip, NXP’s latest product can provide mobile phone based access and view the presence of a child inside a car.
- The two new products from NXP feature improved memory, computing power and location sensitivity.