OTMS: A Novel Radar-Based Mapping System for Automotive Applications

Current automotive radar systems are designed to detect objects within an area around the vehicle and provide alerts or other driving assistance features to the driver. The main goal of these driving assistance systems is to increase safety of not only the driver but also increase safety for pedestrians on and around roadways. In this paper, we propose an on-board terrain mapping system (OTMS), which is an automotive radar-based system that extends the automotive safety goals to include mapping and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication. The proposed system utilizes a 94 GHz 3-dimensional (3D) pulsed radar to sense the environment around the vehicle and create a 3D model of the environment that can be sampled into a global database for mapping purposes. Objects are also detected and tracked within the model and can be used to provide assistive driving to the user even in adverse weather conditions. The model generated by the system can then be stored locally on the automobile or transmitted to other vehicles or infrastructure for use in mapping, navigation, and/or safety applications. The results validate that the OTMS is a valid system for providing safety and mapping functions for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).