Bistatic scattering center models for the simulation of wave propagation in automotive radar systems

Deterministic radio channel simulations for large and complex environments at very high frequencies are a challenging task. In this paper an approach is presented in which the computational complexity is significantly reduced by using scattering center models for the most complex objects. The scattering centers are described in form of directional, bistatic scattering intensities and can be computed for the isolated complex object in advance without considering the complete environment. Thus, the simulation performance benefit is due to a significant reduction of the complexity of the geometrical representation of the scene. The parameterization of the scattering centers itself is based on an efficient high frequency asymptotic field prediction tool incorporating Geometrical Optics and other techniques. The models are designed to study deterministically the wave propagation for vehicle based radar systems operating near 80 GHz. An example for a bistatic three-dimensional parameterization is given. Furthermore, a fast Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) imaging technique is applied that can be used to find the most relevant scattering center positions on the objects.