Radar Target Stimulation for Automotive Applications

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.