Country for PR: China
Contributor: PR Newswire Asia (China)
Monday, July 04 2022 - 12:08
AsiaNet
LG Innotek Raises Passenger Safety with an In-cabin Radar Module
SEOUL, South Korea, June 29, 2022 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

*Installing an in-cabin radar module will become mandatory in the USA and 
Europe.

*LG Innotek's radar module secures the world's highest level of precision. 
   - Allowing to prevent children from being left alone in the car and to 
optimize airbag settings to protect passenger's life

*"We will advance the era of autonomous driving through CX innovation."

LG Innotek (CEO Cheol-Dong Jeong) announced on the 28th that the company had 
developed the world's best 'in-cabin radar module.' Thanks to the development 
of the product, the company will be able to secure an advantageous position in 
making inroads into the global automotive radar module market.

The in-cabin radar module uses radio waves to detect the presence or movement 
of a living organism and can be used to prevent vehicle burglary or to prevent 
children from being left in the car alone. The product is made by mounting 
various components, including a radar chip, antenna, and communication chip on 
a printed circuit board. It is mainly installed on the car roof above the 
second row or near the room mirror.

The demand for in-cabin sensors, including in-cabin radar modules, is on the 
rise on a global scale. In Korea, installation of safety device allowing to 
check if children have got out of the vehicle has become compulsory for all 
children transportation minibuses. Europe plans to add a child presence 
detection test to its standards for new automobile sales starting 2023. The USA 
is pursuing mandatory installation of child presence detection function 
starting 2025 to prevent parents from leaving their child alone in the car. 
This trend is spreading fast to other countries around the world as well.

Especially, in-cabin radar modules stand out among different in-cabin sensors. 
A radar can penetrate obstacles such as clothes and blankets and detect the 
presence of a living organism. Since it uses radio waves, instead of images, to 
detect a person, it is free from privacy infringement issues. Also, unlike 
pressure sensors and ultrasonic sensors, in-cabin radar modules have strengths 
in that they don't need multiple sensors to function and have high sensitivity.

In addition, in-cabin radar modules are useful for self-driving cars. They can 
play different roles, such as checking the fastening of seat belts and 
notifying passengers of get-off times, on behalf of the driver. That is the 
reason why global car manufacturers and automobile parts suppliers are actively 
considering the adoption of in-cabin radar modules.

•	The new product secures the world's highest level of precision in terms of 
resolution

LG Innotek's in-cabin radar modules have increased the resolution (the ability 
to distinguish objects close to each other) by approx. 40% compared to existing 
products, securing the world's highest level of precision. Also, the module's 
signal processing time has been reduced by approx. 30%, enabling faster 
detection of objects.

For such performance improvements, LG Innotek applied to the in-cabin radar 
module a proprietary antenna design technology and a weak signal detection 
algorithm (an algorithm that filters noise and uses only valid signals) that 
the company had developed so far in the vehicle communication field.

Especially, the company used digital transformation (DX) technology to optimize 
the antenna layout, achieving antenna performance 1.3 times higher than before 
with the same number of antennas. Also, the company minimized signal detection 
errors and developed its own software that increased the sensitivity to weak 
signals, improving the product's precision further.

Another advantage of this in-cabin radar module is that it can be installed 
anywhere inside a car. By changing the antenna design a little, the company can 
produce a module that can be installed in the location that the customer wants. 
Existing products had difficulty in changing the radio wave direction and could 
only be installed in designated locations such as the car roof above the second 
row and the room mirror.

•	Helps preventing children from being left alone and optimizes airbag settings 
to protect passenger's life

LG Innotek's in-cabin radar module can detect the location and number of all 
passengers in the car and their vital signs and movements. Currently other 
commercialized products can only detect the presence of living organisms, such 
as people and pets, on the second-row seats.

But LG Innotek's new product can prevent vehicle burglary or prevent children 
from being left in the car alone, since its high level of precision can even 
detect weak breaths of a 3-month-old infant. If the child is left alone, a 
notification is immediately sent to the driver, minimizing so accident 
occurrence.

The product increases also passenger's safety, for it helps customizing airbag 
settings. It identifies indeed passenger's position and body size and then 
customizes the airbag settings by adjusting the airbag pressure according to 
whether the person is an adult or a child.

The module can also be used as a burglar alarm. If anyone is left in the car or 
if the module detects suspicious movements inside or near the car, it can 
notify the car owner by smartphone alarm or alert.

The product also provides functions that are necessary for autonomous driving 
without a driver. Various functions can be implemented with the product, such 
as starting a car only when all passengers have worn seat belts and vibrating 
the seat to wake up a passenger when he/she fell asleep and does not get off at 
the destination.

The company will add more functions to the product in the future so that people 
can conveniently control various vehicle functions, such as setting the 
in-cabin temperature and adjusting the music volume, using only gestures like 
hand movements.

•	"We will advance the era of autonomous driving through CX innovation."

LG Innotek plans to actively make inroads into the global vehicle radar module 
market by putting the in-cabin radar module at the forefront of their plan. 
With the goal to commercialize the product by 2024, the company has actively 
carried out product promotions targeting global car manufacturers and 
automobile parts suppliers in South Korea as well as the USA, Europe, and Japan.

Byaeng kuk Yoo, Vice President of Automotive Components & Electronics Business 
Unit of LG Innotek, said, "Up until now, vehicle radar modules had strengths in 
their prices, sizes, and external environments, but fell short of expectations 
in their resolutions." He added, "LG Innotek's in-cabin radar module has 
overcome limits which existed in terms of resolution and innovated customer 
experience(CX) creating a great ripple in the vehicle radar module market." He 
continued, "In the future, we will continue to release components for future 
vehicles faster than competitors, innovating CX and advancing the era of 
autonomous driving."

According to Yole Development and Fuji Chimera, both of which are global market 
research firms, the market for global vehicle radar modules will grow by 
approx. 11% every year from 1.1 billion dollars in 2020 to 17 billion dollars 
in 2040. Especially, the demand for in-cabin radar modules is expected to 
increase fast by approx. 37% every year from 150,000 units in 2020 to 
87,000,000 units in 2040.

For more information, please refer to the website: www.lginnotek.com

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1681506/Logo.jpg

SOURCE: LG Innotek



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Translations

Japanese