Millimeter Wave Radar solution for terrain awareness in UAV Leave a comment
Millimeter wave radar solution for terrain awareness in unmanned aerial vehicle (“1 +2” solution). It adopts one NRA24 altimeter radar sensor and two SP25T radar sensors for obstacle avoidance, with the advantages of high integration, anti-interference, good stability, long distance measurement, accurate height measurement, small size, light weight, easy to install and all day and all weather work.
Performance characteristics for “1+2” solution
| Electrical performance for “1+2” solutions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Operating voltage | 5~30V DC | |
| Power consumption | 6W@12V DC | |
| Update rate | ≤50Hz | |
| Operating temperature | -40~85℃ | |
| Storage temperature | -60~125℃ | |
| Detection performance | ||
| Forward/backward side | Altimeter | |
| Detected range | 20m | 30m |
| Range accuracy | 0.1m | 0.02m |
| On the horizontal | 56°(-6dB) | 28°(-6dB) |
| Numbers of detected targets simultaneously | 5 | Single target |
System composition
System block diagram is as shown above. The data fusion module utilizes SPI interface to read forward and backward detection radar SP25T and the altimeter NRA24 and realizes the data fusion, and then through the UART, CAN interface to transmit the data to the UAV flight control system. Also users can directly connect SP25T and NRA24 radar for data collection and integration.
“1 + 2” solution adopts 1 NRA24 mmw radar sensor and 2 SP25T mmw radar sensors developed by Nanoradar. Based on this solution, UAV customers can quickly build their own flight platform, and design different UAV-aware system suitable for their application scenarios.
Installation
Millimeter wave terrain awareness radar in UAVs adopts standard modular for the distributed installation, which is easy to assemble around the body of the UAV. The installation diagram is as shown below.
SP25T specifications
| PARAMETERS | CONDITIONS | MIN | TYP | MAX | UNITS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| System charecteristics | |||||
| Transmit frequency | 24.00 | 24.20 | GHz | ||
| Output power（EIRP） | Adjustable | 20 | dBm | ||
| Modulation type | FMCW | ||||
| Update rate | 30 | Hz | |||
| Power consumption | @5V DC 25℃ | 1.20 | 1.32 | 1.45 | W |
| Distance and velocity measurement performance | |||||
| Distance-measurement range | @0 dBsm | 0.1 | 40 | m | |
| Speed-measurement range | -70 | 70 | m/s | ||
| Distance-measurement accuracy | ±0.1 | m | |||
| Speed-measurement accuracy | ±1.2 | m/s | |||
| Detected targets simultaneously | |||||
| Numbers of detected targets simultaneously | 5 | pcs | |||
| Range resolution | 0.75 | m | |||
| Speed resolution | 2.4 | m/s | |||
| Antenna performence | |||||
| Beam width | azimuth(-6dB) | 56 | deg | ||
| elevation(-6dB) | 37 | deg | |||
| Side level | azimuth | -22 | dB | ||
| elevation | -16 | dB | |||
| Other characteristics | |||||
| Supply voltage | 5 | 12 | 32 | V | |
| Supply current | @12V/25℃ | 100 | 110 | 120 | mA |
| Storage temperature | -60 | 125 | ℃ | ||
| Operating temperature | -40 | 85 | ℃ | ||
| Weight | 9 | g |
NRA24 specifications
| PARAMETERS | CONDITIONS | MIN | TYP | MAX | UNITS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| System charecteristics | |||||
| Transmit frequency | 24.00 | 24.20 | GHz | ||
| Output power(EIRP) | Adjustable | 13 | 24 | dBm | |
| Modulation type | FMCW | ||||
| Update rate | 50 | Hz | |||
| Power consumption | @5V DC 25℃ | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.8 | W |
| Distance measurement performance | |||||
| Distance-measurement range | @0 dBsm | 0.1 | 50 | m | |
| Distance-measurement accuracy | ±0.02 | m | |||
| Detected targets performance | |||||
| Numbers of detected targets simultaneously | 1 | pcs | |||
| Range resolution | 0.75 | m | |||
| Antenna performence | |||||
| Beam width/TX | azimuth(-6dB) | 28 | deg | ||
| elevation(-6dB) | 18 | deg | |||
| Beam width/RX | azimuth(-6dB) | 27 | deg | ||
| elevation(-6dB) | 17 | deg | |||
| Other characteristics | |||||
| Supply voltage | 4 | 5 | 6 | V DC | |
| Supply current | @5V/25℃ | 300 | 300 | 330 | mA |
| Storage temperature | -60 | 125 | ℃ | ||
| Operating temperature | -40 | 85 | ℃ | ||
| Weight | Including shell | 95 | g | ||
| Outline dimensions | Including shell | 130x70x14.5 (LxWxH) | mm |
