A Simulation-Based Testing to Evaluate and Improve a Radar Sensor Performance in a Use Case of Highly Automated Driving Systems.

The development of Highly Automated Driving (HAD) systems is necessary for automated vehicles in terms of various complex functionalities. HAD systems consist of complex structures containing different types of sensors. The functionality of HAD systems needs be tested to ensure the overall safety of automated vehicles. Methods such as real-world testing require a large number of driving miles and are enormously expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, simulation-based testing is widely accepted and applicable in the development of HAD systems, including sensor performance improvement. In order to identify the functional insufficiency of such sensors that affect the safety of HAD systems, it is critical to test these sensors extensively under a variety of conditions such as, road types, environment and traffic situations. Based on this motivation, the main contributions of this paper are as follows: First, a simulation-based test concept of radar sensors with methods for the Safety Of the Intended Functionality (SOTIF) use case is presented. Second, a specific radar effect is evaluated through simulation-based testing of two different radar models to support and realize the sensor's functional insufficiency. Finally, the development of a filter is proposed to improve the sensor performance considering the radar specific multipath propagation effects.