Solutions for radar testing and automated driving

Dspace and Noffz Technologies launched a solution for end-of-line testing of automotive radar sensors. ZF partnered with Stradvision to expand its automated driving perception software portfolio.

The test solution from the two German companies enables automated validation and calibration of radar sensors in production. This helps to ensure that radar-based driver assistance systems are reliable and precise. The end-of-line test system will be used in high-volume production and is based on the compact antenna test range (CATR) method, which uses a parabolic reflector to generate a plane wavefront. This enables the calibration of sensors with a large far-field distance in a compact setup. The test system therefore requires only a small footprint compared to conventional ‘direct far-field’ test systems.

In the low-reflection absorber chamber, the radar sensor is calibrated with the integrated radar target simulator. This is done in a predefined test sequence, during which the radar sensors are rotated around their radiation center in both the horizontal and vertical directions, using high-precision drives. The test system is therefore suitable for the calibration of modern radar sensors, such as 4-D radars and imaging radars. Dspace will present the test bench at the European Microwave Week in London, from April 4 to 6.

Perception software for automated driving (AD)

ZF (Germany) has acquired a 6-percent stake in the software company Stradvision (South Korea). The latter is a pioneer in artificial-intelligence-based vision processing technology for autonomous vehicles and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The partnership strengthens ZF’s global ecosystem for automated driving Level 3 and Level 4 systems.

The Stradvision software allows vehicles to detect and identify objects, such as other vehicles, lanes, pedestrians, animals, free space, traffic signs, and lights, even in harsh weather conditions or poor lighting.  It relies on deep-learning-based perception algorithms, supports a variety of hardware platforms, and can be customized for other hardware systems. The perception software also meets the regulatory safety standards. Currently, it is already used in high-volume models of ADAS and autonomous driving vehicles.

“The partnership with Stradvision considerably extends our autonomous driving perception and sensor fusion capabilities,” said Marc Bolitho, head of Electronics Engineering and ADAS division at ZF. “Together with our sensors, middleware platform and high-performance computing solutions, this vision perception software expertise from Stradvision can provide a key component of our environmental sensor fusion for shuttles, commercial and light vehicles that can be optimized for centralized electrical architectures.”

ZF is a system provider for autonomous driving. It’s solutions for the automotive and mobility sectors include high-performance computers such as the ZF ProAI, automotive software supporting ADAS and AD functions, sensors such camera, radar and lidar, as well as smart actuators.

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