#205 – Matt Markel | Spartan Radar – The Reality of Road Safety & Improving Spatial Resolution for Radar

Dr. Matt Markel, CEO of Spartan Radar, discusses the role of radar in improving road safety and the autonomous vehicle ecosystem. Takeaways Radar, when combined with cameras, offers an affordable alternative for achieving human-level autonomy in vehicles. Radar excels in measuring range and velocity accurately, while cameras have superior spatial resolution. Spartan Radar focuses on improving the spatial resolution of radar through software, providing a three to eight times increase in resolution. They aim to complement radar hardware manufacturers and provide software solutions to enhance radar performance. Spartan Radar's software, Clarify, improves the spatial resolution of radar sensors, enabling better object detection and classification. Clarify has been shown to detect objects that were previously missed by radar systems, including pedestrians next to vehicles. The software is crucial for ADAS and autonomous vehicles, helping estimate drivable areas in a scene. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Background 10:41 The Abstraction of Road Safety 17:00 Enhancing Radar Performance through Software 30:22 Applications in Different Levels of Autonomy 37:27 Addressing Safety Concerns in Commercial Vehicles 48:19 Redefining Radar's Perception 49:58 Closing Links: Show notes: http://brandonbartneck.com/futureofmobility/mattmarkel https://www.spartanradar.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-markel/ Bio Dr. Matt Markel has excelled in engineering, technology, and leadership in both the defense and commercial sectors. He created and led the radar division of Ghost Autonomy, an autonomous driving company using breakthroughs in collision avoidance technology to develop safe, attention-free self-driving for mass market consumer cars. Prior to Ghost, he led the radar team at Waymo, formerly the Google Self-Driving Car Project. Dr. Markel is widely recognized as an expert and leader in radar, especially automotive radar for autonomous systems, Technology Readiness Assessments and Technology Readiness Levels, and electronic warfare. He is the inventor on multiple patents and trade secrets from his time at Raytheon and Waymo, with patents pending from his work at Ghost Autonomy. He is a published author of Radar for Fully Autonomous Driving, and is now the CEO of Spartan Radar, a radar technology startup based in Southern California, where he has successfully lead Spartan’s focus from R&D to market-ready products. Company Description Spartan Radar is a next-generation mobility sensor provider with extensive expertise in radar digital signal processing and antenna design. The commercial vehicle division offers the product, “Hoplo,” a software-defined radar for blind spot monitoring. Applications may include trucking/delivery, construction, material handling, and mining. Spartan’s flagship software package called “Clarify” is designed to increase the performance of existing automotive radar systems in a computationally efficient manner. Keywords: Spartan Radar, radar, autonomy, road safety, passenger cars, commercial vehicles, spatial resolution, radar software, Spartan Radar, Clarify, radar software, spatial resolution, object detection, object classification, radar-based perception, advanced driver assistance systems, ADAS, autonomous vehicles, drivable areas, commercial vehicles, aftermarket installation, material handling Future of Mobility: The Future of Mobility podcast is focused on the development and implementation of safe, sustainable, effective, and accessible mobility solutions, with a spotlight on the people and technology advancing these fields. Edison Manufacturing and Engineering: Edison is your low volume contract manufacturing partner, focused on assembly of complex mobility and energy products that don’t neatly fit within traditional high-volume production methods. linkedin.com/in/brandonbartneck/ brandonbartneck.com/futureofmobility/