Efficiency is crucial in the development and testing of radar chips. Simulation therefore plays a key role in their development.
To be able to drive more safely than humans, autonomous vehicles must first be able to see more clearly than humans. Radar sensors are the key to building reliable visual capabilities because they can see clearly at night and during the day, in sunlight and rain, and potentially around obstacles. To design radar chips efficiently, performance testing at a very early stage in the laboratory is a must. Therefore, the simulation of radar targets plays a crucial role in the development and verification process of radar chips. In this context, radar target simulators (RTS) have proven to be flexible and reliable. They work according to the over-the-air principle: The real chip is stimulated with radar waves in real time during operation. This means that the RTS receives the wave from a radar chip or sensor, imprints a target internally, and sends the modified radar wave back to the chip or sensor. This allows for operating and testing both the chip and the radar sensor exactly as in a real environment.
We rely on the dSPACE Automotive Radar Test System (DARTS) to verify the increasingly feature- rich, high-bandwidth radar chips. The highly accurate simulation of multiple targets allows us to determine the quality and performance of the chips early and easily in the lab.
