System and Method for Testing Crash Avoidance Technologies

A Guided Soft Target (GST) system comprising:

• a subject vehicle (SV) with a SV position sensor;
• a dynamic motion element (DME) with a DME position sensor;
• a SV trajectory file representing the trajectory of the SV, comprising an array of SV waypoints and SV speeds;
• a DME trajectory file representing the trajectory of the DME, comprising a second array of DME waypoints and DME speeds, each DME waypoint and DME speed corresponds to a SV waypoint and SV speed in the SV trajectory file;
• a processor, adapted to perform the following steps:
• (a) determine a location of the SV from the SV position sensor and the position of the DME from the DME position sensor;
• (b) calculate the position of the SV along trajectory represented by the SV trajectory file and determine the SV waypoint for that position in the SV trajectory file;
• (c) determine the corresponding DME waypoint from the DME trajectory file;
• (d) calculate the longitudinal error of the DME;
• and
• (e) calculate a speed compensation based on the longitudinal error.