Metamaterial Radome for Automotive Radar

汽车雷达传感器代表了新一代自动驾驶汽车的关键新兴技术。这些传感器将在未来互联电动汽车的智慧城市中发挥至关重要的作用。该合作项目旨在显著提高毫米波（mm波）频率下先进汽车雷达传感器的功率效率和精度。 尽管在雷达罩设计中存在广泛的研究，但仍然不可能始终实现小反射和高定位精度，因为雷达波束是从宽边扫描到大扫描角。这是因为大多数传统的天线罩是基于各向同性的纯电材料，如塑料。在这个项目中，我们将使用先进的超材料概念和结构来设计新型的雷达罩，与现有技术相比，这些雷达罩可以带来前所未有的性能。 这对加拿大的好处是巨大的，因为加拿大拥有强大的汽车行业和对智能城市未来的愿景。在这一愿景中，自动驾驶电动汽车将在缓解气候变化和大城市交通拥堵等问题方面发挥关键作用。特别是，该项目旨在改进通常容纳这些雷达传感器的雷达罩，以保护它们免受灰尘，湿度，雨雪等环境条件的影响。使用先进的超材料概念，我们将开发一种新的雷达罩，将最大限度地提高角扫描覆盖范围和精度，同时通过最大限度地减少不必要的反射来节省功率。

Automotive radar sensors represent a key emerging technology for a new generation of autonomous vehicles. These sensors will play a crucial role in the smart cities of connected electric vehicles of the future. This partnership project aims at significantly improving the power efficiency and accuracy of advanced automotive radar sensors at millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequencies. Despite the extensive research that exists in radome design, it is still not possible to consistently achieve small reflections and high positioning accuracy, as the radar beam is scanned off broadside to large scan angles. This is because most conventional radomes are based on isotropic electric-only materials such as plastics. In this project, we will use advanced metamaterial concepts and structures to devise new classes of radomes that can result in unprecedented performance compared to the state of the art. The benefits to Canada can be significant since Canada has a strong automotive sector and a vision for a future in smart cities. In this vision, autonomous electrical vehicles will play a key role to alleviate issues like climate change and traffic congestion in big cities. In particular, this project aims at improving the radomes that typically house these radar sensors to protect them from environmental conditions such as dust, humidity, rain and snow. Using advanced metamaterial concepts, we will develop a new class of radomes that will maximize angular scan coverage and accuracy, whereas conserving power by minimizing unwanted reflections.