A4Radar is a Deep Tech Company at the forefront of technological advancement, specializing in the development of cutting-edge solutions, using the newest generation of Radar System on Chip (SoC) ICs for addressing Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) and mmWave applications in different markets, opening up new possibilities in communication, sensing, and beyond. Their commitment to innovation is deeply ingrained in their DNA, driving A4Radar to continually push the boundaries of what’s possible in the world of radar technology. With a relentless pursuit of excellence, the company isn’t only transforming industries but also shaping the future.
A4Radar is made up of a multidisciplinary engineering team, with a large experience in multinational companies form R&D engineering to Business Management with a unique blend of expertise in Radar Systems, Embedded Real Time Signal Processing, Radiofrequency Design and Industrial Development, being able to provide engineering support from concept to final stages throughout algorithm creation and industrialization of new products, allowing quickly prototyping and a reduced time to market for new radar solutions in different applications. Each of these verticals represents a critical aspect of the company’s mission to drive innovation, enhance industries, and improve the quality of life for individuals and communities around the world. A4Radar is committed to leveraging technology to solve complex challenges and make a positive impact in these key areas.
Easy Engineering: What’s the news about new products? What are the main areas of activity of the company?
A4Radar: Development of millimeter wave UWB Radars with real-time acquisition and processing has a recent history and is beginning to prevail in the new precision sensorization without contact, thanks to the advances in the integration of SoC solutions for large production volumes and costs contents. Those innovations will enable real-time use cases that were not reasonably feasible up to now, as will be demonstrated with the real-life scenarios in the test-bed deployments.
A4Radar’s solutions find applications across diverse industries, that directly address market challenges, ensuring our innovations have real-world impact, offering tailored solutions for each. Our adaptability is a key strength, as we cater to the unique needs of various markets.
E.E: What are the ranges of products? At what stage is the market where you are currently active? What can you tell us about market trends?
A4Radar: A4Radar Mobility Solutions: Transformation of urban mobility towards sustainability has led to an increase in the number and variety of vehicles in any city globally. This fact has also increased the complexity of its management and planning to avoid or prevent congestion or dangerous situations that affect public, private and emergency transport impacting negatively in the quality of life of the citizens Urban population density, combined with cars, trucks, public transport and now autonomous vehicles, sharing crowded streets with vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists), makes the task of providing safe mobility a complex challenge. The radar system can collect and analyze data over time, providing valuable insights for traffic planning, optimization, and safety improvement. This data can be used to identify trends, assess crossing usage patterns, and make informed decisions regarding infrastructure enhancements. A4R Smart City Solution is an integrated radar system for the ISM bands (no license required) enable real-time detection of accurately detecting and tracking pedestrians, obstacles, and other vehicles or potential hazards; playing a crucial role in promoting pedestrian safety and optimizing traffic flow.
A4Radar Industrial Solutions: Industrial convergence to reduce the ramp-up and integration time of new Radar monitoring systems, enabling plug & play integration of new components. By evolving predictive maintenance for multiple use cases to a self-describing network, the integration of new hardware and software components can be done easily on all levels of the value chain. Predictive maintenance radar solutions utilize advanced radar technology, which can provide highly accurate and reliable data about equipment conditions that harness the power of data analytics and artificial intelligence to analyze complex patterns and trends in the collected data. This enables the system to provide actionable insights, make accurate predictions, and optimize maintenance schedules. This technology allows for non-contact and non-invasive monitoring of various parameters, such as vibration, displacement, and wear, even in harsh or remote environments. Radar sensors can provide real-time and high-resolution data, enabling precise monitoring of equipment health. This accuracy can lead to early detection of potential issues that might not be easily detectable with other monitoring methods. Radar technology can penetrate certain materials, such as plastics, rubber, and fabrics, enabling it to real monitor equipment components that might be hidden from other types of sensors in environments with dust, smoke, or other obstructions that might affect optical or other types of sensors. Radar solutions can be customized to fit the specific needs of different industries and equipment types. They can be adapted to monitor various parameters and integrate with existing monitoring and control systems.
Hard work and dedication paid off when they were selected as one of the three finalist start-ups for the Embedded Awards 2023. This recognition was a significant milestone for A4R, as it not only validated their innovative technology but also provided them with valuable exposure and networking opportunities.
A4Radar eHealth Solutions: Providing radar-based sensors with acquisition and processing in real time, for unattended non-contact detection and monitoring of cardiopulmonary activity, movements during sleep, breathing and heart rate. Possible to extract behavioral patterns such as apnea, sleep disorders or cardiac conditions, by using Big Data and AI algorithms and/or neural network sensors. Currently, cardiopulmonary monitoring is based on contact devices. The use of radar has emerged as an alternative. The privacy provided, without the need for sedation or the need to remain immobile and not fully clothed, makes it possible to monitor and control patients not only in hospitals, nursing homes, and neonates but also at home in a non-intrusive way, without cameras, providing data on daily activity, falls or abnormal situations during sleep, which allows early detection of pathologies and generation of alerts. Consequently, this innovation presents quite a high degree of novelty – compared to existing products – and has the potential to significantly transform markets. The main approach of radar-based vital sign detection is the measure of chest vibrations resulting from the mechanical effects of breathing and the cardiac cycle. This low-cost system allows different hardware configurations for truly correlation between the heart electrical response -measured with an existing commercial ECG- and its mechanical response measured with the radar. However, the technology’s impact is not limited to healthcare. The Biosensing and eHealth Multipurpose Radar has found application in the automotive industry, providing biosensing capabilities for driver and passenger monitoring and safety.
The technology has demonstrated the power of radar technology in transforming industries beyond healthcare. The Biosensing and eHealth Multipurpose Radar’s potential to improve driver and passenger safety, reduce accidents, and save lives has been widely recognized. By continuously monitoring vital signs, such as heart rate and respiratory rate, the technology can detect drowsiness or distraction in the driver and issue alerts to prevent accidents.
E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?
A4Radar: More innovative and traction generated is our Vital Sign Detection Radar System. There are different studies about the use of high frequency radars for Vital Sing Detection applications, and multiple approaches to face this challenge using radar technology. These are research studies done by universities and Institutes, but not commercial ready products so far in the market. Advanced Algorithms 4 Radar’s Biosensing and eHealth Multipurpose Radar has been recognized as the Best Healthcare Solution 2023 at the international IoT World Congress fair in Barcelona, thanks to its innovative design and non-contact vital signs monitoring capabilities. This recognition brought the project to the forefront of the healthcare industry, generating interest and demand from hospitals, clinics, and healthcare providers worldwide.
E.E: What estimations do you have for the rest of 2023?
A4Radar: A4Radar actively collaborates with partners such as public entities, universities, and private companies. Within these partnerships, a shared vision between A4Radar and silicon manufacturers of bringing to market, state of the art Industrial, Medical and Smart Mobility Radar solutions, set a step stone for the next generation of new high precision contactless sensors, joining the latest advances on Radar SoC solutions with powerful algorithms even for large volumes of production.
Framework collaboration agreements are in place with those manufacturers on which we base our products. These collaboration agreements are for the promotion of A4Radar as a technology supplier. The manufacturers of this type of high frequency components rely on companies such as A4Radar to develop applications for their current international customers, as they are unable to meet their own requests for customized developments, given their know-how as chip manufacturers and not as solution providers.
Following the same approach both in objectives and purpose, collaboration agreements with important European microprocessor manufacturers, interested in the applicability of the on the Edge signal processing that A4Radar offers, have been added to this type of agreements.
Focus on quick wins, collaboration agreements for the promotion of A4Radar as a technology supplier and fairs, symposiums and conferences in which A4Radar plays a leading role. Endless possibilities and multiple vertical applications are now possible for this type of technology, which will bloom in the years to come.