The impact of SARA for further advances in automotive microwave sensing

During the next years, the number of wireless sensor and communication systems used in cars for ubiquitous applications will increase significantly. The operational frequencies will span from the low frequency range (9 kHz) up to the mmWave (79 GHz) range, the bandwidth from narrowband band to Ultra-Wide Band (UWB). Increasingly, however, the electromagnetic spectrum represents a scarce natural resource of strategic national socio-economic importance. Careful international spectrum engineering and regulation is required, in order to ensure coexistence between existing and planned services. Automotive applications traditionally have used free and unlicensed ISM (Industrial, Scientific, Medical) bands, which will be overcrowded in the future. Therefore, the automotive industry needs dedicated frequency allocations for future applications. UWB is one of the most promising new concepts for automotive applications. The SARA (short range automotive radar frequency allocation) group was founded by the automotive industry in 2001, a newcomer in the field of frequency management. SARA´s activities focused on international frequency regulation and standardization of UWB automotive short range radar (SRR) for advanced driver assistance and safety applications. As a result of successful SARA activities, the market introduction of these sensors started with the Mercedes-Benz S-class in 2005, followed by BMW´s introduction of SRR in 2007 in the 5-series. The SARA group has expanded the focus of its activity from UWB SRR to general frequency needs for automotive radar. With this new focus, SARA has become the strategic automotive radar frequency Allocation group. This contribution gives an overview on actual and planned wireless sensing systems used in cars and on the necessary spectrum resources for the technologies to be applied. Finally, the current and planned activities of the SARA group are outlined.