Press Release

11/08/2023

Reference Sensor Technology for High-Precision Sensor Validation for Automated Driving

Project RepliCar started

Research focus: Intelligent Transportation Systems and Logistics

+ Development of a high-precision reference system for environment detection in automated driving scenarios + Sensor fusion of high-resolution radar, camera, and lidar data + Development of innovative test procedures and methods

The secure perception of the environment is a crucial prerequisite for automated driving. The sensors and processing chains employed must meet the highest standards in terms of reliability, precision, and accurate evaluation of reality. Currently, there are no approaches for the effective and efficient validation of sensors and processing chains. This gap is being closed by the cooperative project RepliCar. In this project, a reference system comprising radar, camera, lidar, GNSS, and inertial sensors is to be established and integrated into a test vehicle.

This reference sensor system will be ahead of today’s sensor technology by several years. The integration of sensors with particularly high resolution and a most effective sensor data fusion for object recognition make way for the determination of a highly accurate representation of reality, a so-called “Ground Truth”, serving as basis for sensor validation in automated driving.

About the Project:

Apart from being the consortium leader, ANavS GmbH from Munich also develops the sensor data fusion required to determine “Ground Truth” for self-localization and environment perception. The Institute for High-Frequency and Elektronics (IHE) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the Offenburg University of Applied Schiences (HSO) and Freudenberg FST GmbH from Weinheim are jointly developing a highly accurate radar system, which is a crucial component in the reference system for environment perception and is periodically described by the Institute for Control and Systems Engineering (IRS) at KIT.

The project partners AKKA Industry Consulting GmbH (Sindelfingen), the FZI Research Center for Information Technology (Karlsruhe), IAVF Antriebstechnik GmbH (Karlsruhe), IPG Automotive GmbH (Karlsruhe), and GTÜ Gesellschaft für Technische Überwachung mbH (Stuttgart) define and implement all steps from simulated validation to the approval of sensors and functions. The individual innovations in the validation and testing process for serial sensors encompass AI methods for analyzing recorded scenarios, a “Sensor-in-the-Loop” test bench, integration into existing simulation tools, and a modular verification and validation process.

The partners HighQSoft GmbH (Idstein) and RA Consulting GmbH (Bruchsal) are building a high-performance data platform for managing, processing, and providing reference data. The mobile demonstrator from Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG (Stuttgart) records initial data and utilizes these for the approval process of an exemplary perception system.

The project has a duration from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2026.

About the FZI

The FZI Research Center for Information Technology, with headquarters in Karlsruhe and a branch office in Berlin, is a non-profit institution for information technology application research and technology transfer. It delivers the latest scientific findings in information technology to companies and public institutions and qualifies individuals for academic and business careers or the leap into self-employment. Supervised by professors from various faculties, the research groups at the FZI develop interdisciplinary concepts, software, hardware and system solutions for their clients and implement the solutions found as prototypes. The FZI House of Living Labs provides a unique research environment for application research. The FZI is an innovation partner of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and strategic partner of the German Informatics Society (GI).

Press Contact

Valérie Hasler

Division Manager Communications

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