Hardware-in-the-loop radar test simulator

In this work, a real-time hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) radar target and environment simulator (RTSim) is presented. RTSim is developed to test the radar systems starting from the initial algorithm development until the final field testing stages. In this way, it is possible to avoid the costly field tests in constantly changing conditions and test the radar systems in a controlled but highly complex environments. In the real-time operation scenario, Radar Signal Processing Unit (RSPU) sends the parameters of the radar signal to the RTSim. For each receive channel, RTSim generates baseband IQ (16-bit I, 16-bit Q) signals using these parameters and user programmed environment including targets, jammers, atmospheric effects, clutter, and radar related system noise. The generated baseband signals are sent to RSPU over fiberoptic lines.