Developers face a confusing, often conflicting, array of radar software specifications when trying to build apps, which is why Google, Ford and 10 other companies including chipmakers and OEMs have collaborated on a new open radar API standard called Ripple.
Ripple was officially announced at CES 2022 in January and hosted by the Consumer Technology Association with the intent of enabling radar hardware and software interoperability to further growth of general purpose radar in industrial, medical and automotive apps. https://cta.tech/ripple
Fewer barriers to entry and clear standards will encourage interoperability and help fast-track radar innovation, said Kerri Haresign, director of technology and standards at CTA.
Haresign will join development experts on a panel at Sensors Converge on June 29 to explain the benefits of the open radar application programming interface, or API, standard, including tech leaders from Ford, Google and Infineon.
Some history
The origins of Ripple go back several years when Google and Infineon were instrumental in Project Soli, a miniature radar for gesture sensing, recalled Blumio CEO and co-founder Catherine Liao, a Ripple adherent and fellow panelist at Sensors Converge. Google ATAP brought gesture sensing tech forward to Nest smart home devices and the Pixel phone.
Blumio is using the same radar chip from Infineon for blood pressure monitoring, although it can and will likely be used for detecting various health metrics, Liao said. In 2020, Google reached out to Blumio to help start an industry consortium around a radar API that has become Ripple,
Taking the pain out of radar development
One goal of Ripple is to simplify the app development process with radar, Liao said. She knows the integration problems well, as a leader of a company started in 2014 dedicated to creating a sensor to measure blood pressure without applying any pressure on the body. https://www.blumio.com/
“Every radar vendor has its own development kit and integration of radar is always a pain,” she said. “It takes four or five months of work every time a new radar vendor starts out. All radar vendors should develop to the same radar standards so its all plug and play.”
Before Ripple, there’s not been incentive for the vendors to play together, she said, but “Google is so big, it can bring everybody together so they all play nice.”
The participants in Ripple so far number only 12 companies, but the group counts other big players beyond Google. They include Infineon and big chipmakers NXP and Texas Instruments. Ford signed on, bringing to Ripple a major carmaker with plans for future vehicles that use various sensing technologies such as radar.
CTA believes Ripple will help with application development for non-invasive wellness monitors, occupancy detection, human activity recognition and gesture controls.
Traditionally, radar products are highly customized, meaning a radar speed gun shares no common components with a radar air traffic control system. With the reduction in the size of radars that require lower power, they can be embedded in various devices but still need an open API standard, such as Ripple, supporters believe. On its website, CTA notes that radar sensors from different hardware makers are already running the same software -- thanks to the Ripple API.
A radar future
CTA envisions interoperable software libraries for Ripple and the growth of an ecosystem of integrators.
“With Ripple you can obfuscate all the tech layers needed for development,” Liao said. “I won’t have to know Doppler radar or frequency modulation or continuous wave form radar. If and when Ripple becomes mature, it will be plug and play, so you can unplug a board and plug a new board on.”
Editor’s Note: The “Ripple Effect” panel at Sensors Converge in San Jose convenes June 29 at 11 a.m.