Radar suitability Indoor test facility

Modern driving safety systems must correctly interpret every conceivable traffic situation and make right decisions of high importance for the safety and protection of all road traffic participants. These decisions are based on data from modern vehicle sensors such as radars, laser scanners or camera systems. Falsified information about the surroundings can have devastating consequences for occupants but also for passers-by. Reliability, quality and failure safety are therefore fundamentally significant characteristics of an environmental sensor. Only through comprehensive sensor tests can such characteristics be measured and improved. The aim of this research focus is to create realistic and reproducible conditions in the C-ISAFE indoor test facility, which form the basis for conducting the sensor tests. The test facility is designed and specialized for crash tests of vehicles. Existing stationary objects (e.g. concrete barriers) are the reason for multiple reflections of the radar waves and thus for the generation of so-called "ghost objects". These are objects falsely detected by the radar, but which are not actually present. The targeted installation of absorber panels makes it possible to prevent the formation of ghost objects. The challenge is to achieve sufficient attenuation in the test hall with the minimum use of materials.

For this purpose, the C-ISAFE engineers are developing a simulation environment in which any radar positions and test arrangements can be simulated even before a real test is set up and carried out. In addition, mobile radar sensors are used to validate the simulation results. Strong reflection zones and ghost objects of the hall can be made unrecognizable for the radar and suppressed by the modification.

Contact: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Brandmeier,  Dr. Dagmar Steinhauser

Target development

PAdDy und ArChi during a rain simulation

About half of all traffic fatalities worldwide are vulnerable road users (VRUs) such as pedestrians or cyclists. VRUs are always the weaker collision partner in road traffic. The detection of VRUs by using sensor technology is therefore important for an optimal support of the driver and thus increase the safety of all road users.

Especially with regard to automated driving, robust detection in any traffic situation is indispensable. Within the development of systems that detect pedestrians and cyclists, a large number of different tests are necessary until a system can be tested as a whole one. The large number of accident scenarios with a high risk of injury or fatal outcome must be reduced to a few, but decisive test setups. For this purpose, dummies are to be used that represent a pedestrian as realistically as possible.

The development of such dummy is the research focus of C-ISAFE. Research on pedestrian dummies is being carried out in several projects together with industrial partners. The current object of research is on the one hand to improve the gait behavior of an adult dummy, The PAdDy, and on the other hand to transfer the gained knowledge to a new generation of pedestrian dummies representing children and teenagers, the ArChi.

The challenge for engineers is the lifelike reproduction of the motion sequences of adults and children, also the design of the assemblies and the supporting skeletons with high stiffness. Furthermore, the new generation of dummies will be optimized with regard to test procedures, for example similar radar signatures of real persons. This concerns in particular the sensor suitability, but also the robustness of the dummy.

Contact: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Brandmeier,  Dr. Dagmar Steinhauser