The smallest complete radar system in the world -- measuring less than half an inch on each side -- was squeezed into a low-cost computer chip recently, a European Union team of scientists said.
The Success project, nine academic and industrial partners across Europe, spent three years working on the chip package, with $3.9 million in funding from the European Commission.
And in this case, smaller is better.
'In this area, size matters a lot.'- Christoph Scheytt from IHP Microelectronics
"In this area, size matters a lot," said Christoph Scheytt from IHP Microelectronics, one of several companies collaborating on the shrinkage. They achieved the feat by tuning the radar to operate at frequencies beyond 100 GHz.
"The main motivation for using high frequencies rather than lower ones is that the antennas can be smaller."
Operating at 120 GHz, a wavelength of about 2.5 mm, the chip can accurately calculate the distance to an object. By using the Doppler effect, it can also detect moving objects and calculate velocity.
At about €1 for each mini radar, or about $1.30, the technology is also very cheap. But miniaturizing a radar dish wasn’t easy.
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