Highly accurate raw data simulation and sensor models for the validation of camera, radar, and lidar sensors
Sensor Simulation
Highly realistic and deterministic simulation of camera, radar, and lidar sensors
Flexible Usage
Support for all automotive sensor interfaces (Up to 10 Gbit/s)
Synchronized Data Feeding
High-performance FPGA for synchronized feeding of raw sensor data to sensor ECUs
Scalable Simulation
Simulation of up to 16 sensors with 50 Gbit/s of aggregated bandwidth
What is the Environment Sensor Interface (ESI) Unit?
The dSPACE Environment Sensor Interface Unit supports the time-correlated feeding of raw sensor data into one or more sensor ECUs. Such a synchronized sensor stimulation is essential for simulating the sensors in a HIL setup for sensor fusion and functional testing.
Application Areas
For the development and validation of environment sensors, e.g., radar, camera and lidar, and more generally the validation of ADAS/AD functions, support for a range of ECU interfaces for data insertion is essential. In addition to testing based on over-the-air methods and object lists, the insertion of raw data or target lists is of utmost importance for the validation of perception and fusion algorithms that are based on raw data.
The Environment Sensor Interface (ESI) Unit supports all relevant sensor interfaces and is important for closed-loop and open-loop testing. Advanced sensor simulation in combination with the ESI Unit makes it easy to provide synthetic sensor data under realistic conditions and with low latencies. This is useful for validating functions for autonomous driving in HIL simulation (closed- and open-loop).
If RTMaps (Graphical framework for multisensor application development.) is used as well, recorded sensor data can be replayed conveniently. A major advantage of the ESI Unit is that it can be used to process both data replay and sensor simulation simultaneously or sequentially and on the same HIL simulator.
Key Benefits
The ESI Unit supports the injection of raw data and target lists for HIL tests of camera, radar, and lidar ECUs as well as central processing units for autonomous driving.
- Raw data injection via ADI/Maxim GMSL1/2/3, TI FPD-Link III/IV, Sony GVIF2/3, or MIPI D-PHY/A-PHY, ASA-ML
- Prepared for next-generation ECUs, e.g., simulation of the latest sensors, including FPGA-based sensor models
- One ESI Unit allows the simulation of up to sixteen sensors synchronously and support of more than 50 Gbit/s of aggregated bandwidth.
- Multiple combined ESI Units allow for tests of functions for autonomous driving with dozens of different sensors
- Worldwide local support and customization of sensor models by dSPACE experts
Cooperations and Partners (Excerpt)
Technical Cooperation and Partnership with Tier2 suppliers is a key aspect for successfull ADAS HIL simulation projects.
With its cooperating partners, dSPACE offers a complete product portfolio for developing software for electronic control units and mechatronic controls.
Preconfigured ESI Units/Engineering and Support
dSPACE offers preconfigured ESI Units for specific, widely used application scenarios. All kits handle the simulation of 4 cameras using synthetic sensor data (with AURELION) and recorded sensor data (with RTMaps):
- ESI Kit YUV: Preconfigured Environment Sensor Interface Unit for YUV camera simulation (GMSL2 or FPD-Link III)
- ESI Kit DRIVE: Preconfigured Environment Sensor Interface Unit for NVIDIA® DRIVE.
Engineering and support: dSPACE has many years of experience in the realization of individual, customer-specific adaptations for the ESI Unit. The dSPACE regional companies can provide you with highly competent engineering and support worldwide.
Technical Details
| Parameter | Specification |
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| Memory |
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| Sensor interfaces |
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| Input interfaces |
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| Design |
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| Cooling |
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| Power supply |
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| Weight |
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| Size |
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| Camera |
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| Radar |
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| Lidar |
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1) Available on request
Optional Products
What our customers say
Without the ESI Unit from dSPACE, it is almost impossible to efficiently test sensors from different manufacturers. It is a valuable component of our validation solution.
We identified a practical approach by connecting the data replay servers for various sensors and our autonomous driving system (ADS) to the Environment Sensor Interface (ESI) unit, which in turn replays the real-world sensor data in HIL simulation and helps us validate our ADS.
With the sensor-realistic camera model, we can reliably simulate highly complex test tasks virtually.
