A method for computer-implemented simulation of radar raw data

Abstract

The invention refers to a method for computer-implemented simulation of radar raw data (RD), where the radar raw data (RD) are generated for a synthetic MIMO radar system (1) comprising a transmitter array (2) of several transmitters (201, 202) for transmitting radar signals and a receiver array (3) of several receivers (301, 302) for receiving radar echoes of the radar signals. In this method, ray tracing (RTR) of a radar signal (RS) sent from a preset transmitting position (TP) within the transmitter array (3) and received at a preset receiving position (RP) within the receiver array (3) is performed based on a 3D model (MO) of a virtual area (AR) adjacent to the MIMO radar system (1), where the ray tracing (RTR) determines propagations of a plurality of rays (R1, R2, R3) within the radar signal (RS) from the preset transmitting position (TP) to the preset receiving position (RP), the propagation of each ray (R1, R2, R3) being dependent on a first angle (theta) and a second angle (phi) describing the direction of a respective ray (R1, R2, R3) at the preset transmitting position (TP). By using first-order derivatives (d1, d2, d3, d4) with respect to the first angle (theta) and the second angle (phi), propagations (PRM) of a plurality of modified rays (RM) originating from a respective transmitter (201, 202) and received at a respective receiver (301, 302) are determined based on a linear approximation. The modified rays (RM) are processed in order to determine the radar raw data (RD).

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for computer-implemented simulation of radar raw data. Background technique [0002] To simulate the radar raw data of a synthetic radar system, a so-called ray tracing method is used. These methods trace multiple rays in a radar signal along the path from the transmitter to the receiver. By combining these rays, the radar return received by the receiver can be determined. In this ray-tracing method, a 3D model of a virtual area adjacent to a synthetic radar system is used to calculate the deflection of rays due to interactions with objects within the area. References [1], [2] and [3] describe radar simulations based on ray tracing. [0003] Many known radar systems are so-called MIMO systems (MIMO=Multiple Input Multiple Output), consisting of multiple transmitters and receivers, generating an output channel for each receiver. When conventional ray tracing methods are applied to such a system...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

When applying conventional ray-tracing methods to such a system, the rays from multiple emitters and receivers must be processed, resulting in a large number of rays being traced

Radar systems currently under development can easily have upwards of 100 transmitter-receiver pairs (number of transmitters multiplied by number of receivers), causing severe performance and memory limitations when using conventional ray tracing methods

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