With radar emerging as a new technology for the safety application space, safety standards were made in order to define what it takes for a radar-based safety system to be considered safe. The newly created IEC TS 61496-5:2023 has set performance requirements that a radar protective device within a safety system must meet in order to be certifiably safe. The requirements given are in context to the detection of an adult human being present in an industrial manufacturing environment that contains areas that must be monitored for safety. Functional tests were created that obstruct the sensor in different ways while attempting to detect an actual person or a corner reflector rated to the 99th percentile of a human being. This document covers what functional tests are listed within IEC TS 61496-5:2023 in order to verify radar performance for an adult human, the many terms their definitions used throughout the standard, and how the IWR6843 and IWR6843AOP mmWave Radar sensors passes the requirements defined.
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In many safety systems found today, safety status devices such as pressure and optical/infrared sensors fail short of providing reliable human detection for safe operation and maximized up time. TI’s mmWave radar sensors provides a strong solution, especially when integrated in a safety compliant system, and is able to pass safety certification standards that are applicable.
Many applicable safety standards are created by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and are used across all electrical, electronic, and related technologies. The IEC TS 61496-5:2023 is a new safety standard created for safety-related systems that employ a Radar Protective Device (RPD) in order to detect people using a frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) transmission. A list of functional tests are defined by the standard to ensure proper sensor function and detection integrity under specified conditions.
The functional tests are used to check for various key abilities of the RPD, and this document focuses on providing results of the detection capability and integrity of the RPD for the more challenging tests. The RPDs used in this document are the IWR6843AOPEVM and IWR6843ISK. A detection zone is set at a designated range that the RPD is to be certified to, and the desired target must still be detected regardless of conflicting influences stated by the standard.