Renesas acquires Steradian to expand radar portfolio

Renesas Electronics Corporation — a supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions — has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Steradian Semiconductors Pty Ltd — a fabless semiconductor company based in Bengaluru, India, that provides 4D imaging radar solutions — in an all-cash transaction. The acquisition of Steradian’s radar technology will enable Renesas to extend its reach in the data market and boost its automotive and industrial sensing solution offerings.

With the advancements of ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) in the automotive market, automotive sensor fusion demand is growing to allow precise and accurate object detection of vehicles’ surroundings by combining data from multiple sensors, such as cameras, radar and LiDAR (light detection and ranging). Radar in particular can detect objects over long distances, day or night, even during harsh weather or other adverse environmental conditions. For these reasons, radar is considered an essential sensing technology for ADAS, and the number of radar sensors installed in vehicles is expected to triple over the next five years. To respond to such growth, Renesas is expanding its automotive product portfolio with Steradian’s radar technology.

Hidetoshi Shibata, President and CEO of Renesas, said the addition of Steradian’s radar technology and engineering talent will enable Renesas to extend its leadership in automotive segments. Renesas will also leverage Steradian’s technology for industrial applications to drive its mid- to long-term business growth in both segments. “Radar is an indispensable technology for ADAS, which uses a complex combination of various sensors,” Shibata said.

Gireesh Rajendran, CEO of Steradian, said that Renesas’s portfolio of embedded solutions and broad customer base serve as an ideal foundation to maximise Steradian’s radar technology worldwide. “By working together with the Renesas team, we will continue to develop innovative radar solutions that deliver the high performance, small footprint and low power consumption that our customers desire,” Rajendran said.

Founded in 2016 as a start-up company, Steradian has developed extensive expertise in radar technology. Operating in the 76–81 GHz band, Steradian’s 4D radar transceivers offer a high level of integration in small form factor and high power efficiency. Renesas will use Steradian’s design assets and expertise to develop automotive radar products, with plans to start sample shipments by the end of 2022. The company aims to develop complete automotive radar solutions that combine ADAS SoCs (system-on-chips) for processing radar signals, power management ICs (PMICs) and timing products together with software for object recognition. Collectively, these solutions will simplify the design of automotive radar systems and contribute to faster product development.

Renesas and Steradian have been collaborating since 2018, primarily in industrial applications. Steradian’s radar technology is expected to be adopted in home security systems such as surveillance, traffic monitoring for people, cars and motorcycles, HMI (human-machine interface) systems such as gesture recognition and docking systems in airport terminals. Steradian provides targeted solutions for these applications by offering transceiver ICs, turnkey modules that include antennas and software stacks for object recognition. With the acquisition of Steradian, Renesas will bring devices and software together to meet the growing demand for sensor technology solutions for automotive and industrial customers, to make their design work easier.

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