Virtual Drive: A Complete V2X Communication and Radar System Simulator for Optimization of Multiple Antenna Systems

Vehicle-to-X (V2X) communication as well as automotive radar are fast growing areas of consumer interest. This gives rise to a challenge to a well-working communication systems in handling the V2X radio channel. The two most important components influencing the channel are the antennas and the fast changing environment, resulting in a time-variant behavior of the channel. Therefore, finding the optimal antenna configuration to ensure the best performance is a difficult task. A possible solution is the employment of measurement campaigns, but they are expensive, time consuming, and provide no repeatability. An alternative approach, based on simulations, is presented in this article. This tool, called “Virtual Drive,” consists of an environment and a traffic model and calculates the multipath propagation with a 3D ray-tracing tool. This combination yields a “virtual drive” through arbitrary scenarios and allows for the optimization of antenna configurations that are to be investigated. The different components of the Virtual Drive are described and the accuracy of the software tool is examined by a comparison with measurements. Finally, the manifold capabilities of such a software tool are demonstrated using the example of vehicular antenna optimization for cars and of radar system optimization.