Automotive safety test solutions provider Messring has introduced a state-of-the-art ADAS testing system that enables manufacturers to simulate differing wet weather conditions when testing new vehicle systems in a real-world environment.
When it comes to the safety of autonomous vehicles and complex driver assistance systems, it is paramount that vehicle sensors work in a multitude of circumstances and weather conditions. Messring states that weather has the greatest disturbing influence on the environmental measurement via camera, radar and lidar. Due to this they have developed the aptly named SprayMaker, a device capable of simulating a realistic and reproducible rainy weather situation to aid the vehicle world in testing ADAS sensors.
Messring says that the SprayMaker is simple to mount on most types of vehicle including the Euro NCAP and NHTSA Vehicle Targets, thanks to its belt attachment system. The ADAS tech features 12 nozzles attached to the sides and the rear of a chosen vehicle, which are then linked via a hose and pump set-up to a pair of 100-liter tanks fixed to the car’s interior.
The desired spray effect can be changed by way of an interchangeable nozzle kit, allowing the user to choose between a flow rate of either 1l/min or 2l/min per nozzle. The 12 nozzles enable a continuous spray of eight or 16 minutes, and depending on the manufacturer’s choice of nozzle, the SprayMaker sprays either a fine spray mist or a stronger spray cloud.
Dr Igor Doric, managing director of Messring Active Safety, added, “For the further development of the sensors and thus the future active safety of vehicles, the SprayMaker now offers an effective test tool for all suppliers and developers of sensors and driver assistance systems”.