This work introduces a process to develop a tool-independent, high-fidelity, ray tracing-based light detection and ranging (LiDAR) model. This virtual LiDAR sensor includes accurate modeling of the scan pattern and a complete signal processing toolchain of a LiDAR sensor. It is developed as a functional mock-up unit (FMU) by using the standardized open simulation interface (OSI) 3.0.2, and functional mock-up interface (FMI) 2.0. Subsequently, it was integrated into two commercial software virtual environment frameworks to demonstrate its exchangeability. Furthermore, the accuracy of the LiDAR sensor model is validated by comparing the simulation and real measurement data on the time domain and on the point cloud level. The validation results show that the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of simulated and measured time domain signal amplitude is 1.7%. In addition, the MAPE of the number of points Npoints and mean intensity Imean values received from the virtual and real targets are 8.5% and 9.3%, respectively. To the author’s knowledge, these are the smallest errors reported for the number of received points Npoints and mean intensity Imean values up until now. Moreover, the distance error derror is below the range accuracy of the actual LiDAR sensor, which is 2 cm for this use case. In addition, the proving ground measurement results are compared with the state-of-the-art LiDAR model provided by commercial software and the proposed LiDAR model to measure the presented model fidelity. The results show that the complete signal processing steps and imperfections of real LiDAR sensors need to be considered in the virtual LiDAR to obtain simulation results close to the actual sensor. Such considerable imperfections are optical losses, inherent detector effects, effects generated by the electrical amplification, and noise produced by the sunlight.

Measurement performance evaluation of real and virtual automotive light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors is an active area of research. However, no commonly accepted automotive standards, metrics, or criteria exist to evaluate their measurement performance. ASTM International released the ASTM E3125-17 standard for the operational performance evaluation of 3D imaging systems commonly referred to as terrestrial laser scanners (TLS). This standard defines the specifications and static test procedures to evaluate the 3D imaging and point-to-point distance measurement performance of TLS. In this work, we have assessed the 3D imaging and point-to-point distance estimation performance of a commercial micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS)-based automotive LiDAR sensor and its simulation model according to the test procedures defined in this standard. The static tests were performed in a laboratory environment. In addition, a subset of static tests was also performed at the proving ground in natural environmental conditions to determine the 3D imaging and point-to-point distance measurement performance of the real LiDAR sensor. In addition, real scenarios and environmental conditions were replicated in the virtual environment of a commercial software to verify the LiDAR model’s working performance. The evaluation results show that the LiDAR sensor and its simulation model under analysis pass all the tests specified in the ASTM E3125-17 standard. This standard helps to understand whether sensor measurement errors are due to internal or external influences. We have also shown that the 3D imaging and point-to-point distance estimation performance of LiDAR sensors significantly impacts the working performance of the object recognition algorithm. That is why this standard can be beneficial in validating automotive real and virtual LiDAR sensors, at least in the early stage of development. Furthermore, the simulation and real measurements show good agreement on the point cloud and object recognition levels.

In this work, we introduce a novel approach to model the rain and fog effect on the light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor performance for the simulation-based testing of LiDAR systems. The proposed methodology allows for the simulation of the rain and fog effect using the rigorous applications of the Mie scattering theory on the time domain for transient and point cloud levels for spatial analyses. The time domain analysis permits us to benchmark the virtual LiDAR signal attenuation and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) caused by rain and fog droplets. In addition, the detection rate (DR), false detection rate (FDR), and distance error derror of the virtual LiDAR sensor due to rain and fog droplets are evaluated on the point cloud level. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) is used to quantify the simulation and real measurement results on the time domain and point cloud levels for the rain and fog droplets. The results of the simulation and real measurements match well on the time domain and point cloud levels if the simulated and real rain distributions are the same. The real and virtual LiDAR sensor performance degrades more under the influence of fog droplets than in rain.