IWRL6432: Low Power Use Cases/Products To date, mmWave Radar sensing based products for industrial use have been largely relegated to line-powered applications. This limited radar’s potential use-cases and product appeal despite the performance advantages that the technology has over competing technologies like Passive Infrared (PIR) sensors. IWRL6432, with focus on high-performance while consuming less power is set to change that. Radar can supplement the camera in products like home security cameras and video doorbells, adding functionality such as precise location detection, low-power presence detection, human vs non-human classification and person counting, while reducing false detections/alarms. End equipment developers can even decide to replace the camera completely to allow the security solution to be placed in areas where personal privacy is of concern and non-visual observation is desired like bedrooms and restrooms. The low-power consumption of the device enables battery power too, further increasing the areas where the device can be placed. Indoor Occupancy Sensors and Radar Enabled Lights & Fixtures can now be battery powered, making installation possible nearly anywhere. Using the radar, these products count and localize the number of people in a room. Lighting and ventilation systems, which previously only knew whether people were present/not-present, become more efficient and robust. Minor motion detection enabled by mmWave radar sensor is a key feature in improving the efficiency of these products. Using the IWRL6432, motion is detected from the slightest movements such as typing or breathing enabling more precise monitoring of offices, hotel rooms etc. Personal Electronics like laptops, earbuds, music players and the like can also be outfitted with the IWRL6432 due to low power consumption. For example, laptops can now use radar for “on-looker” presence detection to dim the display when there is an unwanted presence within a specified area around the user and not compromise the battery life of the laptop. Many new applications of radar can be realized with the low power consumption, accurate and reliable range, velocity and location information that the IWRL6432 provides. The Design: What Makes the Power so Low? The IWRL6432 is developed in Texas Instruments low power 45nm RFCMOS process to enable unprecedented levels of integration and power consumption. This radar sensor deploys a mix of hardware design and software techniques to minimize the power consumption while in active and sleep modes. The radar IC is partitioned into four (4) power domains (see Figure B below) which can be turned on/off via software controls. 1. RF / Analog Subsystem – includes all RF and analog components required to transmit and receive RF signals 2. Front-end Controller Sub-system: includes the processor responsible for radar front-end configuration, control and calibration 3. Application Sub-system: includes the ARM Cortex®-M4, clocking and power managements sub-blocks 4. Hardware Accelerator Sub-system: includes the FFT and Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR) accelerators for scaling and compression The device also features the capability to exercise various low-power states like sleep and deep sleep. Low-power sleep mode is achieved by clock gating and by turning off specified internal blocks of the device. The power states and their associated description are listed in Table 2 below and include Active, Processing, Idle and Deep Sleep States. In an effort to maximize performance and minimize power consumption the device can go in/out of the various modes extremely quickly. IWRL6432 also includes features such as memory retention while in low power states to retain some contents of the on-chip memory like the RF chirp profile and the application image. Texas Instruments provides detailed documentation and examples on how to navigate the IWRL6432 through the device's multiple power modes and states. Conclusion: As buildings, homes, factories and personal electronics get smarter the bar is raised on the sensing requirements and modalities while keeping power consumption to a minimum. The IWRL6432 meets the bar in enabling robust, reliable, accurate high-performance sensing solutions with limited power consumption.