
Test environment simulates automated valet parking
Self-driving cars place high demands on the test procedures and methods for electronics and software – often the requirements are too complex and too specific for a single company to handle such tasks alone. Now the test and security experts Anritsu, dSpace and Apposite Technologies have joined forces to make such test scenarios possible. In focus: Automated Valet Parking (AVP).
These companies have jointly developed a test and simulation environment that enables automotive OEMs and tier ones to run through all aspects of AVP in the lab.
Valet parking is a service in which a professional parking attendant parks drivers’ cars at large-scale parking facilities and commercial facilities, mainly in Europe and the United States. AVP enables this parking to be done automatically, without any driver in the vehicle. The test environment at hand is based on the AVP Technical Report Version 1.0, released by the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA) in June 2022, and a wireless communication (Type-2) operation scheme linked with parking garage infrastructure and users’ smartphones was proposed.
AVP is being developed as one of the first autonomous driving use cases to be commercially deployed – Mercedes-Benz has already, together with Bosch, demonstrated a working AVP configuration, albeit on a completely different technological base than 5GAA.
AVP Type-1 autonomous driving vehicles (according to 5GAA’s scheme) require expensive high-performance computing and sensing, while AVP Type-2 communication-cooperative vehicles do not require such installations, reducing vehicle costs and making implementation easier.
Since AVP Type-2, however, requires highly reliable end-to-end communications, a test system needs to evaluate QoS management and impairment effects in the IP layer. The wireless connectivity environment also needs to be evaluated. The test solution set up from Anritsu, dSpace and Apposite incorporates a digital twin of both virtual and real devices. This allows the system tests and certification required to improve the reliability of AVP Type-2 to be started before the actual devices are available.
The base station simulator Radio communication test station MT8000A is a test platform that provides network simulation for 5G radio access technology (RAT*6) and provides a development evaluation and certification test environment for automotive use cases such as Telematics, Infotainment, and V2X.
dSPACE’s software-based tool integrates and simulates environment/infrastructure/sensor/vehicle information only on a PC. Vehicle motion control commands (VMC) generated by the AVP System are transmitted to the OEM Application, which displays the state of vehicle control, via 5G communication using Anritsu’s 5G base station simulator.
VMC commands pass through the Apposite Network emulator on the way to OEM Application. IP data delay and data packet loss are added by the emulator, and so vehicle control becomes unstable due to its influence in the OEM Application. AVP developers design control systems and networks to keep vehicle control stable.
https://www.dspace.com/en/pub/home.cfm
https://www.apposite-tech.com/
Related articles:
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Bosch, Daimler test driverless valet parking via smartphone app
