ADAS Radar Signal Processing ECU — PCB Design Case Study

A Tier-1 automotive supplier needed to integrate a 77 GHz radar front-end module with a high-performance SoC for real-time object detection. The PCB had to handle 3 Gbps MIPI CSI-2 data from the radar module, process via DSP/FPGA fabric, and output object lists over CAN FD to the vehicle bus — all while meeting AEC-Q100 Grade 1 (−40 °C to +125 °C) and IATF 16949 quality requirements.

• 8-layer stackup, 2.0 mm total — controlled impedance on MIPI CSI-2 (100 Ω diff), DDR4 (80 Ω diff), and CAN FD (120 Ω diff)
• AEC-Q100 Grade 1 — all active ICs qualified to −40 °C to +125 °C
• ISO 26262 ASIL-B considerations — single-point fault coverage for power sequencing
• Automotive power supply: 12 V battery (6–16 V operational, 40 V load dump per ISO 7637-2)
• EMC: CISPR 25 Class 5 radiated and conducted emissions
• PCIe Gen 3 (8 Gbps) between SoC and NVMe storage for data logging

• Achieved DDR4-3200 signal integrity with <50 ps skew across 72 data bits by topology-matching trace lengths to ±5 mil tolerance, validated via HSpice simulation before layout release
• MIPI CSI-2 4-lane interface routed in dedicated signal layers with ground-plane shielding between channels; measured eye diagram met MIPI D-PHY v2.1 spec at 3 Gbps
• Solved CAN FD stub reflections caused by T-tap topology by converting to a daisy-chain termination scheme, eliminating ringing at 5 Mbps bit rate
• Implemented ASIL-B dual-path power monitoring with independent ADC channels on separate supplies — fault coverage analysis verified in FMEA documentation

• Schematic (420 references) with AUTOSAR component identification and safety mechanism annotations
• 8-layer PCB layout with full SI/PI simulation report
• AEC-Q100 BOM with approved Grade 1 components and lifecycle status
• CISPR 25 pre-compliance simulation results
• ISO 26262 relevant FMEA excerpt covering power sequencing safety mechanisms
• Full Gerber, ODB++, IPC-2581, and DXF mechanical files

Engineering samples passed CISPR 25 Class 5 conducted emissions on first attempt. DDR4 signal integrity validated on oscilloscope to match simulation. Client approved for production tooling after single hardware revision.