MODELING OF AUTOMOTIVE RADAR SENSOR IN UNREAL ENGINE FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE SIMULATION

Accurately testing sensors used in vehicles prior to physical production is crucial for identifying potential shortcomings and configuring effective vehicle driver assistance systems and automations. The use of virtual environments for sensor simulation and testing offers extensive freedom and allows for experimentation with scenarios that are cost-prohibitive for physical testing. In this study, we developed a sensor model using the Unreal Engine to approximate the output of an actual Delphi ESR 2.5 medium-range radar. We utilized the LineBatcher function to create point clouds that simulate radar reflections and employed 3D grid based DBSCAN for object detection. Subsequently, we implemented centroid tracking to track objects and determine range rate, acceleration, and other outputs of the Delphi ESR Radar. In our test environment, the sensor performed close to identical to a Physical Delphi ESR 2.5 Radar with accuracy of 91% and at a data rate of 10-20 Hz.