This project is a result of ongoing cooperation between our team and the Department of Electromagnetic Field. Its goal is to develop a system for synthetic radar target simulation and projection, designated for testing of automotive radar systems. The developed system consists of a simulator control module, the RF circuitry, and the control software. Currently, two variants of the simulator have been developed – the analog version, relying solely on methods of analog signal processing, and the digital version, based on the digital signal processing algorithms implemented within FPGA and high-speed A/D and D/A conversion circuitry. Both variants are controlled by a control module, powered by an ARM-based microcontroller. The last part of the simulation system is the traffic scenario designer and simulator control software. This accompanying software, called Mirage, is built using modern technologies, such as C# programming language, WPF user interface platform, and Model-View-ViewModel architecture.

The simulation platform has been targeted for application in the integration testing of automotive systems. In the future, it is expected to play a significant role in the testing of automotive systems, because of the rising importance of radar-based systems in cars. Both developed variants of the platform have been experimentally evaluated and will be additionally assessed in cooperation with industrial partners. However, the project is still under active development. One of the subjects of current research are additional methods of synthetic target azimuth simulation, as well as improvements of the Mirage software tool.