62%
Actual targets
Vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists. The ones that matter.
Technology
The radar signal-processing breakthrough, explained.
AWEARE is not a new sensor. It is a new waveform plus a new way to decode it. Every commercial 24 GHz radar today uses FMCW; AWEARE replaces the waveform generator and the signal processor while leaving the antennas, RF chains and ECU interfaces untouched. The result is 2-3× the range and velocity resolution and roughly 80% fewer false positives — without new silicon.
01 · Architecture
What AWEARE actually does
Two keys — one in hardware, one in software — sit on either side of the radar's RF front end. The transmit chain emits an AWEARE-encoded waveform; the receive chain knows how to reject everything that isn't a genuine return.
Same RF chain
Existing 24 GHz commercial off-the-shelf chipsets and antennas. The AWEARE waveform sits in front of them.
Hardware key
Encodes the AWEARE waveform into the transmit pulse. Currently a small companion module; targets ASIC integration in 2027 generation.
Software key
DSP that uses the encoded waveform to discriminate real returns from multipath ghosts and interference. Embeddable into existing automotive DSP back-ends.
02 · The ghost problem
Where the false positives actually come from.
An urban radar dataset (Kraus et al., 2021) catalogued one million non-stationary targets in real driving. 38% of them were false positives. AWEARE eliminates 80–95% of that 38%.
12.5%
Traceable multipath ghosts
Returns that bounce off a second surface (car · wall · curb) before reaching the receiver. Look real, aren't.
25%
Other ghost types
Math-based, interference, specular reflections. Specular is the only category AWEARE doesn't yet have a complete theoretical answer to.
Source: Florian Kraus et al., The Radar Ghost Dataset — An Evaluation of Ghost Objects in Automotive Radar Data, 2021. Cited verbatim in the AWEARE technical overview deck.
03 · The proof
Same scene, same hardware, different output.
Recorded in the AWEARE Long Beach test lot, 24 GHz with 250 MHz bandwidth, two cars facing each other. Left: FMCW commercial output. Right: AWEARE output. Same scene, same antennas, same RF front end.
Standard FMCW
Commercial 24 GHz output
- Lower resolution
- More noise
- Ghost detections
- Less confidence
AWEARE waveform
Same 24 GHz hardware
- Higher resolution (2-3×)
- ~80% fewer false positives
- Cleaner data
- Higher confidence
04 · Evolution
From WW2 baseline to next-gen, in one matrix.
AWEARE has been continuously demonstrated since 2016 — first with expensive lab modules, then with commercial chipsets, today with portable demonstrators. The 2027 next-generation waveform targets 3-4× resolution and 90%+ ghost reduction.
| Year | Frequency / Mode | Waveform | Ghost reduction | Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WW2 | <300 MHz / CW | FMCW | — | Baseline |
| Commercial automotive | 24 GHz / CW | FMCW commercial | Baseline | Baseline |
| 2016 | 2 GHz / CW | AWEARE broadband | 95%+ | 4-6× |
| 2020 | 24 GHz / CW | AWEARE commercial | 70%+ | 1.5-2× |
| 2023 | 24 GHz / CW | AWEARE commercial | 80% | 2-3× |
| 2026 today · in process | 24 GHz / CW | AWEARE commercial | 80% | 2-3× |
| 2027 planned | 24 GHz / CW | AWEARE+ next gen | 90%+ | 3-4× |
See the full milestone history on /roadmap.
05 · 77 GHz
The chipset opportunity at 77 GHz.
The current AWEARE demonstrator runs at 24.125 GHz with 250 MHz bandwidth — chosen because commercial off-the-shelf components are readily available and low-cost test equipment makes lab-ready capability achievable.
24 GHz has product advantages today: intrinsically longer native range (~3× over 77 GHz due to propagation path loss), and AWEARE's resolution improvements enable sensor fusion object detection that is far more capable than traditional cruise control or lane change.
The transition to 77 GHz unlocks true imaging-quality radar. AWEARE requires one upconversion mixer per Tx chain — addressable with a chip-and-wire or flip-chip module sufficient for a 2027 milestone demonstrator.
Why this is a chipset opportunity
- → AWEARE natively minimises ghosts (80–95%), encouraging rules-based DSP over scene-building AI.
- → AWEARE IP can be embedded directly in the DSP back-end of an existing radar SoC.
- → Either modify the RF front-end of an existing Tx chip, or offer an arrayable companion chip (e.g. 1×6) for higher Tx count and elevation.
- → The result: the first chipset with both AWEARE-ready RF front-end and DSP back-end out of the box.