Development of Ray-Tracing-Based Automotive LiDAR Sensor Model with Standardized Interfaces

The advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) operational performance depends significantly on the fidelity of environmental perception sensors, including LiDAR, RADAR, camera, and ultrasonic sensors. But, validating ADAS functions in the real world is very costly and time-consuming. As a result, real tests need to be replaced partially or entirely by virtual tests to cope with this challenge. That raises the drastic need for virtual development of ADAS applications and ADAS sensors that can produce results as close as possible to reality. In this work, we have developed a ray-tracing-based LiDAR model that considers the scan pattern and complete signal processing toolchain of the LiDAR sensor. The model is developed as a functional mock-up unit (FMU) by using the standardized open simulation interface (OSI) 3.0.2, functional mock-up interface (FMI) 2.0, and integrated into the co-simulation framework of the IPG CarMaker. Furthermore, the accuracy of the LiDAR sensor model is validated by comparing the simulation and real measurement data at the time-domain and point cloud levels.