On the Testing of Advanced Automotive Radar Sensors by Means of Target Simulators

The rapid development and wide commercial implementation of automotive radar sensors are strengthening the already considerable interest in matching radar target simulators. Such simulators boast promising results when used for both essential functional inspections of active sensors and the high-speed testing of numerous traffic scenarios while examining complex reactions of automobile electronic systems. For these purposes, advanced versions of target simulators enabling a generation of multiple targets moving at different velocities and ranges are required. The design, practical implementation and system programming of advanced sensor simulator setups require a detailed analytical description concerning all important technical aspects. An abundance of detailed information on the behavior and parameters of automotive radar sensors can be found in the references, but similar knowledge on sensor simulator setups is lacking. This article presents detailed analyses of the all-important RF parameters, where special attention is paid to phase noise, and its analytical description takes into account an even greater number of simulated targets. The derived analytical formulas enable both an optimal setup implementation and system programming of a wide range of practical testing procedures.