Ripple™, hosted by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)®, is an open-radar API standard to enable hardware and software interoperability while accelerating the growth of applications for general purpose consumer radar.

Experts from across the silicon, sensing, automotive and electronics industries have come together to develop open and standardized API interfaces for radar system development. The standardized API calls for general purpose radar that enables interoperability and the rapid deployment of new applications.

Originally released in January 2022, the Ripple standard focused on enabling interoperability between FMCW radars by defining a Hardware Abstraction API, Signal Processing Libraries, and Extensions. In June 2022, Ripple added specification documentation, updates the standard data formats of the Hardware Abstraction level, and adds a Hello World demo. The first Ripple compatible development kits for FMCW were released at CES 2023.

In June 2023, Ripple expanded to cover Pulsed and UWB radar. 

Benefits of Ripple

Interoperable software libraries: With standardized calls, software libraries can work across various radar hardware implementations, ensuring reusability and easier firmware upgrades.

Growth of radar hardware ecosystems and integrators: With an open API standard, it's easier for integrators to get started, develop, and distribute radar solutions. This reduced barrier to entry will lead to new products and services for consumers.

Innovate and differentiate with extensions: Ripple enables developers to create specialized extensions so that they can build on the standard to support their own differentiated use cases. These extensions can be incorporated as official interfaces in future versions of the standard.

Education and academic research: Standardized software that works across all radar applications can simplify experimentation and prototyping, making radar technology more accessible to students, startups, academics, and researchers.