Integration of Phase Noise into a Virtual Test Driving Software to Investigate the Impact on the Radar Performance

Phase noise (PN) is one of the most significant impairments adversely affecting the detection performance of frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar systems. Due to the rapid advance of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), virtual testing and the evaluation of highly-automated driving (HAD) functions became indispensable. In this work, the impact of PN on the performance of automotive radar sensors is demonstrated on HAD functions in a virtual driving simulator. Therefore, a PN model initially developed for static objects is applied to dynamic scenarios including moving objects. By implementing a real world scenario in the virtual environment the influence of PN on the detection performance of the radar sensor is demonstrated. The virtual test scenario is implemented using the CarMaker test driving software, which is commonly accepted as an accurate and reliable tool by the automotive industry. The radar sensor model including PN is implemented as a functional mock-up unit (FMU) using the standardized functional mock-up interface (FMI)2.0 and the open simulation interface (OSI)3.0.0. Finally, the radar FMU model simulations are compared with hardware measurements.