Radar on Chip for
Cars Cooperative
Formed in Germany
Infineon Technologies AG, Robert Bosch
GmbH, BMW Forschung
und Technik GmbH, Continental AG and Daimler
AG have formed the Radar
on Chip for Cars (RoCC)
technology cooperation
project. The companies are
engaged in joint research
with the aim to significantly increase driving safety
by making highly reliable radar systems available in all
vehicle classes.
The three-year RoCC project has a budget of more
than €
17 M. It is supported by a financial grant of €
8. 3
M from the German Federal Ministry of Education and
Research (BMBF), as part of the ITK2020 support programme focusing on ‘Innovation Alliance in Automotive
Electronics’. The German government’s high-tech strategy promotes efforts made to reduce the overall number
of traffic accidents, in this case by helping to introduce
innovative safety solutions into the compact and small-vehicle classes as quickly as possible.
In the RoCC cooperative project, the five companies
will work together to develop highly integrated, cost-op-timized automotive radar sensor systems in the 76 to 81
GHz frequency range for both long-range systems (
covering distances of up to 250 m) and short-range systems
(covering distances between 5 cm and 20 m). Infineon
Technologies is the project coordinator. Additional participants from academia include German universities in
Bochum, Bremen, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Stuttgart and
Ulm, the Technical University in Munich and the University of Applied Sciences in Ulm.
Short-range automotive radar sensors in use today use
ultra-wideband technology at 24 GHz. This frequency,
however, is licensed in Europe only up until 2013. The
RoCC project aims to convert the system to the frequency range already released by the European Union of 79
GHz, and deliver systems that use these higher-frequency
sensors at a cost that does not exceed today’s 24 GHz systems. This presents a significant challenge to semiconductor technology, sensor design technology and in-vehi-cle integration that can only be tackled by a joint research
project involving some of the most important companies
in the automotive industry and their suppliers.
NGMN Alliance
and TDIA Establish
AGREEMENT
The TD Industry Associa- tion (TDIA) and the
NGMN Alliance, the group
focussing on the evolution of
next generation mobile networks, have established a cooperation agreement to support the globally harmonized
development of next genera-
INTERNATIONAL REPORT
Richard Mumford, International Editor
tion mobile broadband technologies and services.
The TDIA and NGMN will work together to promote
TD-LTE technology worldwide and ensure the development of a convergent standard for Frequency Division
Duplex and Time Division Duplex-based next generation
mobile networks. This will lay the foundation to extend
market scale and to ensure seamless mobile broadband experience for the customer. The two bodies will widen the
scope of work on chipsets and devices, system interworking, trial coordination, spectrum requirements, as well as
roaming support.
Peter Meissner, operating officer of the NGMN Alliance, stated, “The aim of this agreement is to avoid fragmentation of standards, to reduce cost and market risks,
and to provide truly global services and devices for the
end-user.”
ZigBee Alliance and
ESMIG Act Smart on
Metering in Europe
The ZigBee® Alliance and the European
Smart Metering Industry
Group (ESMIG) are working together to define in-teroperable communications standards for smart
metering technology across
the European Union. The
ZigBee Alliance is a global
ecosystem of companies
creating wireless solutions
for use in energy management, commercial and consumer applications, and ESMIG is the organization for smart
metering in Europe. The ZigBee Smart Energy public
application profile is the first open standard to be endorsed by ESMIG.
ESMIG members determined that the ZigBee Alliance
and its ZigBee Smart Energy provide a solid, open standards approach to smart metering communication. ESMIG
provides impartial expertise to key stakeholders including
EU institutions, EU Member State governments, authorities, regulators, electric, gas and water utility providers on
all aspects related to Smart Metering.
The two organizations will collaborate and identify
where ZigBee Smart Energy can be rolled out across the
27 Member States of the EU. They will evaluate ways to
maximize the benefits of a standardized smart metering
program for consumers, utility service providers and the
environment.
“The ZigBee Alliance is both a valuable and experienced partner who can provide ESMIG with expertise
and solutions for smart metering in Europe,” said Howard Porter, Managing Director at ESMIG. “ESMIG believes that a handful of proven and open standards, like
ZigBee Smart Energy, will play a key role in EU smart
metering projects because they deliver the most value
for all parties, and allow utility service providers with
flexibility in choosing standards that fit their specific
requirements.”
