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A WELLENZAHL REFERENCE PROJECT · IMAGING RADAR

REPLICAR

From chirp to tracked 3D point cloud — in real time.

A real-time pipeline on a Jetson AGX Orin turns each AWR2243 MIMO frame into a tracked 3D point cloud — every stage runtime-switchable, scaling from a compact 4-chip stack to the full 8-subarray aperture shown here.

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01 · HARDWARE

Two demonstrators. One architecture.

Cascaded AWR2243 front ends built and validated by Wellenzahl — from a compact four-chip stack to a cross-coherent 18-chip array.

Funktionsdemonstrator v2 — cascaded AWR2243 radar PCB with patch antenna arrays
FUNKTIONSDEMONSTRATOR V2

The four-chip cascade

  • 4× AWR2243 — 12 TX / 16 RX RF channels
  • Dedicated LO distribution, switchable between two master AWR2243
  • Raw ADC data transfer for maximum signal-processing flexibility
Referenzdemonstrator — subarray electronics of the cascaded AWR2243 array
REFERENZDEMONSTRATOR

The cross-coherent array

  • 16 + 2 AWR2243 in 8 subarrays → 48 TX × 64 RX = 3072 virtual antennas, cross-coherent
  • Two cascade masters (master-master + master-slave) → flexible LO domains
  • One STM32L5 per subarray with TI mmWave Link · dedicated supply or Power-over-A-PHY
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AWR2243 MMICs
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SUBARRAYS
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LO DOMAINS
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VIRTUAL CHANNELS
02 · CONFIGURATIONS

One architecture. Tested profiles.

Subarrays, LO domains and chirp profiles are configuration, not redesign. Two builds are validated end to end — everything in between is a parameter set.

PROFILE · COMPACT — IN OPERATION

4 AWR · 2 subarrays

MMICS
4 + 2 AWR2243
TX × RX
12 × 16
VIRTUAL ANTENNAS
192 · cross-coherent
V4L2
4 × /dev/video0..3
DATA RATE
~550 MiB/s @ 30 Hz
COMPUTE
CPU · Rayon/SIMD
PIPELINE
9–11 ms · 91–111 Hz
PROFILE · FULL SYSTEM

16 AWR · 8 subarrays

MMICS
16 + 2 AWR2243
TX × RX
48 × 64
VIRTUAL ANTENNAS
3072 · cross-coherent
V4L2
16 × /dev/video0..15
DATA RATE
~2.2 GiB/s @ 30 Hz
COMPUTE
CUDA · cuFFT
PIPELINE
< 30 ms · ~95 W

Everything in between is configuration: LO splits of 8/0, 7/1 or 4/3/1 run subarrays coherently or autonomously — up to 792 sliding subarray configurations on the same hardware.

8 TESTED MEASUREMENT PRESETS · HOT-SWAP VIA BROWSER UI
3.07 GHz → 4.88 CM RESOLUTION · ~30 M 500 MHz → 30 CM RESOLUTION · 200+ M TDM · BPM-MIMO · ALL-ON · SINGLE-TX TX SCHEMES PAUSE → RECONFIG → RESUME AT RUNTIME · I²C

Modular by design.

From a single subarray to the full 8-subarray system — architecture, firmware and software scale by configuration, not redesign. We serve any configuration on request.

SUBARRAY BOARD → FULL SYSTEM → JETSON PLATFORM →
03 · DATA PATH

Raw ADC data. Over 200 metres of range. No compromise.

Every subarray streams unprocessed IQ samples over automotive long-reach links into the Jetson's camera pipeline — landing in userspace as plain V4L2 devices.

CONTROL FRONTEND · 8× SUBARRAY BOARD A-PHY · 8× CABLE ~15 m · 4.6 GBIT/S PER LINK DES → C-PHY JETSON · V4L2 Cascade-Master A MASTER-MASTER · AWR2243 LO → ALL 8 SUB Cascade-Master B MASTER-SLAVE · AWR2243 LO → ≤ 4 SUB (ALT.) 8× STM32L5 1 PER SUBARRAY · SPI · I²C SUBARRAY COHERENCE 8 / 0 · ALL COHERENT 7 / 1 · 7 + 1 AUTONOMOUS 4 / 3 / 1 · SPLIT + AUTONOMOUS SUBARRAY 1 6T × 8R · 48 ANT AWR-1a AWR-1b COMB2→1 · 2 VC SER · VA70xxA-PHY OUT SUBARRAY 2 6T × 8R · 48 ANT AWR-2a AWR-2b COMB2→1 · 2 VC SER · VA70xxA-PHY OUT × 4 MORE SUBARRAYS SAME SCHEME · → VIDEO4..11 SUBARRAY 7 6T × 8R · 48 ANT AWR-7a AWR-7b COMB2→1 · 2 VC SER · VA70xxA-PHY OUT SUBARRAY 8 6T × 8R · 48 ANT AWR-8a AWR-8b COMB2→1 · 2 VC SER · VA70xxA-PHY OUT Σ 8 LINKS VALENS DES BANK 8× A-PHY IN FEC · 16 VCs → C-PHY OUT 4× C-PHY TRIOS JETSON AGX ORIN · USERSPACE V4L2 /dev/video0 .. 15 16 STREAMS · MMAP · ZERO-COPY NVCSI 4× PORT → 2× VI → DMA ~2.2 GiB/s @ MODE1 · 30 Hz SPI / I²C LO MASTER-MASTER LO MASTER-SLAVE (ALT.) CSI-2 / C-PHY A-PHY (1 LINK PER SUBARRAY) V4L2 · DMA
The data path in one sentence.On each subarray board the FPGA combiner merges the two AWR2243 CSI-2 streams into one 2-VC stream and a dedicated Valens VA70xx serializer packs it onto A-PHY; eight long-reach links (~15 m cable) carry everything to the deserializers at the Jetson, which hand the streams over C-PHY into the NVCSI ports — end to end without TCP, without a userspace hop.
Flexible LO domains.The master-master cascade clocks all eight subarrays; master-slave adds a second LO domain for up to four of them — enabling splits like 8/0, 7/1 or 4/3/1, with individual subarrays running autonomously.
Why C-PHY on the Jetson side?C-PHY carries ~2.28 bits per symbol — about twice the D-PHY bandwidth per pin. One 3-wire trio per lane bundle is enough, saving routing at the MIPI connector and feeding the full ~2.2 GiB/s of raw IQ without lane shortage.
36.8 Gbit/s PEAK PAYLOAD RAW12 12-BIT IQ · NOT BAYER ~2.2 GiB/s @ 30 HZ 16× V4L2 STREAMS IN USERSPACE
04 · SIGNAL PROCESSING

Six stages. Every one switchable at runtime.

The full chain runs in Rust on the Jetson — CPU is enough for the compact profile, CUDA takes over at full scale. Every stage can be swapped live, from fast to high-resolution.

01 · MIMO

MIMO front end

The AWR2243 array delivers one coherent data cube per frame — chirps, channels and samples, phase-locked across all subarrays.

FMCW CHIRP · DATA CUBE
02 · 2D-FFT

Range-Doppler

A 2D FFT per antenna produces range/velocity maps — the basis for detection and angle estimation.

RANGE / VELOCITY MAP
03 · CFAR

Detection

An adaptive CFAR threshold reliably finds targets even under varying noise and clutter.

ADAPTIVE THRESHOLD
04 · DOA

Angle estimation

Selectable beamforming — from fast (Bartlett) to high-resolution (Capon/MUSIC) — computes azimuth and elevation.

BARTLETT
05 · DBSCAN

Point cloud & clustering

Detections are grouped into 3D objects, including heading and extent.

CLUSTER · BBOX
06 · IMM

Multi-target tracking

An IMM tracker assigns stable IDs over time and smooths position and velocity.

TRACKS · STABLE IDS
05 · PLATFORM

Live on the bench.

Configuration, live view and recording run in a web-based radar UI — straight against the Jetson.

Web-based radar UI showing live range profiles of all channels
WEB RADAR UI · LIVE RANGE PROFILES ACROSS CHANNELS
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SYSTEM POWER
BARTLETT CAPON MUSIC EVERY STAGE RUNTIME-SWITCHABLE
06 · THE PROJECT

Built within RepliCar.

Within the RepliCar project, Wellenzahl Radar- und Sensortechnik GmbH & Co. KG developed and validated high-resolution radar hardware and signal processing for robust environmental perception — from front-end electronics, firmware and synchronization to data acquisition and real-time evaluation, demonstrated live on functional demonstrator systems under realistic operating conditions.

Radar systems like this one?

HIGH-FREQUENCY ELECTRONICS · RADAR ARCHITECTURE · EMBEDDED SOFTWARE · MEASUREMENT

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Wellenzahl ЯEPLICAR · A WELLENZAHL REFERENCE PROJECT

Imaging Radar

4D Radar

Radar sensors with multiple transmit and receive antennas (MIMO radar) are redefining performance standards in industrial sensing. By applying advanced beamforming and signal processing, these systems offer unmatched spatial resolution, precise object detection, and exceptional measurement stability—even in demanding environments with dust, steam, vibrations, or fast-changing conditions.

Beyond fill level measurement, multi-antenna radar excels in a wide range of applications, including object positioning, collision avoidance, flow monitoring, and presence detection. Whether in bulk material handling, smart factories, autonomous systems, or process automation, this technology ensures reliable and accurate data where conventional sensors reach their limits.

For industries aiming to enhance safety, efficiency, and data-driven automation, multi-antenna radar is the future-proof solution of choice.