Radar target stimulation for automotive applications

Abstract

Automated driving is seen as one of the key technologies that influences and shapes our future mobility. Modern advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) play a vital role towards achieving this goal of automated driving. Depending on the level of automation, the ADAS takes over the complete or partial control of the movement of the car. Hence, it is mandatory that the system reacts reproducibly and safely in a wide range of possible situations. Especially in complex and potentially dangerous traffic scenarios a test system with the ability to simulate realistic scenarios is required. The authors present an implementation of a vehicle-in-the-loop (ViL) test system which accomplishes these goals in a defined environment. Of the great plenty of sensors stimulated in this context, the radar sensor takes a special position due to its robust and comprehensive information perceiving capability. Stimulating the automotive radar sensor in a ViL environment requires supporting the complex movements of the considered traffic scenarios. For this task, a modular and highly scalable radar target stimulator is necessary, which is capable of stimulating multiple independent moving targets with realistic parameters. The authors are discussing the underlying concepts of the suggested solution and are presenting its performance.

Environment perception simulation for radar stimulation in automated driving function testing

“…Current stimulation hardware is capable of creating up to 4 SPs, most without azimuth information [11,13,14], and some [12,15] with. Future stimulation units [16,17] will be capable of stimulating areas, rather than points. Thus depending on the stimulation hardware, available, the EPSR should generate appropriate output.…”

Frequency dividers in radar target stimulator applications

“…One way of validating these functionalities is closed proving ground and on-road testing under realworld conditions [13]. The restraints imposed by weather, lighting and other practical limitations makes the Vehicle-in-the-Loop (ViL) test approach an attractive alternative [13][14][15][16]. This test approach requires stimulating all underlying sensor systems appropriately.…”

“…This test approach requires stimulating all underlying sensor systems appropriately. Focusing on the radar sensor and considering scenarios for the ViL test including traffic moving in close distance to the location of the sensor impose demanding requirements on the equipment stimulating the sensors [14,16]. For an Over-the-Air (OTA) test a Radar Target Stimulator (RTS) must capture the signals transmitted by the radar sensor and process it corresponding to the scattering caused by the physical object which should be detected and, thereafter, retransmit it to the sensor.…”

“…In [14][15][16] we introduced radar target stimulation with application to ViL testing of ADAS functionality. In this article we are focusing on the stimulation of radar targets for SRRs.…”

“…By this procedure the RTS must ensure, that the radar sensor's signal processing can retrieve the stated properties from the evaluation of its received signal [14][15][16]. Furthermore, this task must be accomplished for all objects which are concurrently present within the detection range of the sensor.…”