From Space to Street – Transferring SAR to transform automotive sensing with realistic radar simulation

It has been used in space for decades – now it’s time for radar to come to the road. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), the technology behind some of the most precise earth observation satellites, is finally making its way into the automotive world as a key technology that makes autonomous vehicles safe and reliable.

Today’s radar sensors in the automotive world still struggle with resolution and performance in complex environments. fiveD is changing this by bringing the power of SAR from space to the road. Using a purpose-built simulation platform, fiveD can virtually test how SAR-based radar can dramatically improve perception in challenging driving scenarios – such as complex urban environments or fast-moving motorways. This enables faster and more cost-effective development of next-generation radar systems without relying on expensive physical prototypes. This solution lays the foundation for smarter, more powerful radar – helping to unlock the future of safe and fully autonomous mobility.

Benefits:

• By enabling physically accurate simulation early in the design process, users can explore and validate concepts before building hardware – leading to faster iteration cycles and significant cost savings.
• Engineers benefit from realistic modelling of wave-level radar effects, enabling them to develop better sensors, algorithms and perception systems.
• Simulation enables scalable generation of different data sets for AI training and improves performance in edge cases without costly real-world data collection.