Autonomous driving requires thorough testing of all the intelligent electronics controlling the automobile’s sensors and communications. A critical component for this, is to understand various requirements for automotive radar development and to keep up with the combination of evolving designs and test demands. Consequently, a new set of development challenges arise for engineers who want to design, evaluate and manufacture a radar sensor solution quickly. While in the lab, these engineers must validate radar sensors under corner case scenarios for instance. Therefore, lab testing with over-the-air simulators is critical for maintaining the pace of innovation of automotive radar sensors. In the same vein, UniqueSec is committed to solve such industry challenges for its global automotive customers. The Swedish company invented and developed a new revolutionary technology and product, ASGARD1 for OTA test and validation of automotive radars in a HIL setup.

UniqueSec’s ASGARD1 is a unique radar test and verification solution which provides an in-lab facility to evaluate radar sensors, driver assistance systems, and autonomous driving for their performance, availability, and reliability. The system sits in front of the vehicle or radar under test and emulates electromagnetic emissions analogous to real-scenario radar reflections.

Due to the HIL/VIL setup, scenario signature updates in response to VUT to simulate the experience of driving expeditions more realistically.

“Our premium radar verification system enables vehicle and radar manufacturers to test and verify their radar-based driver assistance functions and autonomous driving systems, in labs,” adds Dr Kasra Haghighi, the CEO at UniqueSec.

Likewise, it can create high-quality training data for deep learning algorithms in autonomous driving which dramatically reduces test-driving time and cost. The solution can further improve the quality of testing by providing accurate test results and enhancing the systems’ exposure to rare and dangerous scenarios. This enables the testing and verification of ADAS & AD systems in a variety of scenarios, which, in turn, dramatically reduces the need for a long hours of driving expeditions.

The patented radar test and verification product, ASGARD1, consists of an RF front-end as well as a digital back-end, where processing happens and target signatures are generated. The user interface of the system allows to select a scenario from a library of existing scenarios, such as EuroNCAP scenarios, or to create a test scenario by specifying the number of targets, types of objects, obstacles, pedestrians, traffic situations and weather conditions. Signature generation in ASGARD1 is also possible using a pre-recorded database. This covers a large number of test scenarios and makes it possible to add more test scenarios through a combination of existing data. The generated signals are then fed to the 77 GHz RF front-end, where radar signal is manipulated.

“Best-in-class features of ASGARD1 enable this system to create the perception of targets from a very close to far ranges and from almost zero minimum distance, to create angular perception without the need for a mechanical antenna rotation, and to emulate soft targets such as pedestrians and animals, still with an affordable price,” states Fahimeh Rafieinia, the CTO at UniqueSec. This is how UniqueSec’s game-changing flagship technology aims to replace long hours of driving expeditions by emphasizing the opportunity of repeating rare and improbable scenarios for radars. In short, ASGARD1 is battle-tested to face impending market downturns – equipped to counter every challenge. “The future looks bright! As we move forward, catering to the growing demands of our existing customers,” concludes Dr Haghighi.