Jan Berssenbrügge

Reconfigurable driving simulator for testing and training of advanced driver assistance systems

The development and test of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS)present a challenge due to their complexity and dependency on other vehicle systems, initial conditions and their environment. Testing ADAS under real conditions leads to significant efforts and costs. Therefore, virtual prototyping and simulation are widely used instruments for developing such complex systems. One of these useful virtual prototyping tools are driving simulators.Driving simulators are usually special purpose facilities, which are developed by suppliers individually for a specific application purpose. Most of the conventional driving simulators provide some flexibility for constructing new test scenarios, but do not allow users to change system arrangementor add or remove subsystems without indepth know-how of the driving simulator structure.This paper describes the concept and main idea of a reconfigurable driving simulator for testing ADAS. The key software, hardware, and resource components of the driving simulator are identified, the interfaces and the relationships between the key components are described, and the overall system structure for the reconfigurable driving simulator is introduced.

A Zoomable User Interface for Presenting Hierarchical Diagrams on Large Screens

We present the design, implementation and initial evaluation of a zoomable interface dedicated to present a large hierarchical design model of a complex mechatronic system. The large hierarchical structure of the model is illustrated by means of a visual notation and consists of over 800 elements. An efficient presentation of this complex model is realized by means of a zoomable user interface that is rendered on a large Virtual Reality wall with a high resolution (3860 x 2160). We assume that this visualization set-up combined with dedicated interaction techniques for selection and navigation reduces the cognitive workload of a passive audience and supports the understanding of complex hierarchical structures. To validate this assumption we have designed a small experiment that compares the traditional visualization techniques PowerPoint and paper sheets with this new presentation form.

A Night Drive Simulator for the Evaluation of a Predictive Advanced Front Lighting System

Summary form only given. This paper introduces a Virtual Reality-based night drive simulator that visualizes the complex lighting characteristics of automotive headlights in high detail and in real-time on a PC-based system. The user drives a simulated vehicle over a virtual test track at night, the vehicles motion directly influences the lighting direction of headlights, and the effect of the vehicle dynamics on the lighting can be evaluated directly in the simulator. The system is connected to the control algorithms of a P-AFS component to control the headlights swivelling for a close-to-reality simulation of a P-AFS based lighting system during the simulated night drive. That way, good combinations of the design variables can be found, based on virtual night drives in the simulator system, and the number of real test drives can be reduced significantly. Promising combinations of the design variables then can be validated in a test vehicle during a real test drive a night.

Light simulation in a distributed driving simulator

In this paper we present our work on modularizing and distributing a VR application – the Virtual Night Drive simulator. The main focus in our work is the simulation of headlights. The realistic but still interactive visualization of those lights is essential for a usable driving simulator at night. Modern techniques like pixel and vertex shaders and volume rendering help to realize the complex task of light simulation. But there are still scenarios, especially when having several cars with headlights in one scene, that require distributed setups to run the simulation in an interactive way. In this paper we present an architecture that supports several approaches of distributed light simulation, compare it to existing systems and give an outlook on what is left to do.

Virtual Prototyping of an Advanced Leveling Light System Using a Virtual Reality-Based Night Drive Simulator

This paper proposes to use a virtual reality-based night driving simulator as a tool to evaluate an advanced leveling light system. The night driving simulator visualizes the complex beam patterns of automotive headlights in high detail, while the vehicle motion directly affects the lighting direction of the headlights. The system is connected to the control algorithm of an advanced leveling light system, which controls the headlight tilting angle. Within the virtual prototyping process of the lighting system, good combinations of control parameter values can be identified, based on virtual test drives, and the number of real test drives can be reduced significantly.

Real-time representation of complex lighting data in a nightdrive simulation

For the development of new automobile lighting systems, special raytracing methods are used to completely simulate the illumination properties of the new product. For further evaluation, real test drives with real prototypes are still necessary. But changing weather and lighting conditions make the test drive results not fully comparable. Therefore, a high number of test drives have to be performed. This leads to a time-consuming and cost-intensive development process. Virtual test drives at night combined with a realistic simulation of a lighting systems illumination characteristics can minimize the number of real nightdrives and allow reproducible testing conditions as well as comparable results. A close-to-reality simulation poses high demands on the real-time method for calculating and displaying illumination data in a virtual scene. This paper introduces a real-time illumination method for use in a nightdrive simulation.

Interactive VR-based Visualization for Material Flow Simulations

The conventional way of visualizing the material flow in a production system is to use simulation tools and their integrated symbols and pictograms. By going this way, the reference to the real production system is very limited since conventional material flow models provide only an abstract view and are not very comprehensive for the user. This paper introduces a procedure which enables a Virtual Design Review of the planned process layout on a large-screen visualization facility. This enables production planners to conduct a virtual inspection of alternative concepts for a planned production system including the visualized material flow. As a result, planning certainty and system comprehension of all parties involved increase significantly, so that the presented procedure serves as a valuable decision support. This paper describes the steps to be taken from production data to an optimized material flow being verified by a Virtual Design Review.

Visualization of Headlight Illumination for the Virtual Prototyping of Light-Based Driver–Assistance Systems

Driving simulators that are capable of a simulation of a virtual drive at night are increasingly used for the virtual prototyping of light-based driver assistance systems. Here, the interplay between driver and assistance system, which enhances the illumination of the road ahead of the vehicle, is investigated. For such investigations, special driving simulators are applied that enable not only a standard driving simulation but also cover the special requirements for the visualization of a driving scenery at night, the simulation of automotive headlights during a virtual drive at night, and the interface to a headlight control module (HCM) that operates the physical headlight prototypes.In this paper, we present the visualization system of the reconfigurable driving simulator from the research project TRAFFIS. We describe the special application focus on the virtual prototyping of a light-based driver assistance system from our project partner Varroc Lighting Systems. The light-based DAS bases on a headlight prototype that combines a glare-free high beam (GFHB) function and a predictive adaptive frontlighting system (PAFS) for glare-free driving with maximized headlight time.Copyright

ARTiSt — An Augmented Reality Testbed for Intelligent Technical Systems

This paper describes a simulation and visualization environment called ARTiSt (Augmented Reality Testbed for intelligent technical Systems), which serves as a tool for developing extension modules for the miniature robot BeBot. It allows developers to simulate, visualize, analyze, and optimize new simulated components with existing, real system components. In ARTiSt real BeBots combined with virtual prototypes of a lifter- and a transporter-module, which are attached on top of the real BeBot. The simulation of the virtual components and the management of real BeBots are realized with MATLAB/Simulink. The determination of important parameters for the simulation of the real BeBots, such as real-world position and -rotation, is done using an Augmented Reality tracking system. A camera, installed on top of the testbed, continuously captures the testbed and determines the real-world transformation of the BeBots. The calculated transformations are the basis for further pathfinding within the simulation in MATLAB/Simulink.

Visualization of Headlight Illumination for the Virtual Prototyping of Light-Based Driver Assistance Systems

Driving simulators that are capable of a simulation of a virtual drive at night are increasingly used for the virtual prototyping of light-based driver assistance systems. Here, the interplay between driver and assistance system, which enhances the illumination of the road ahead of the vehicle, is investigated. For such investigations, special driving simulators are applied that enable not only a standard driving simulation but also cover the special requirements for the visualization of a driving scenery at night, the simulation of automotive headlights during a virtual drive at night, and the interface to a headlight control module (HCM) that operates the physical headlight prototypes.In this paper, we present the visualization system of the reconfigurable driving simulator from the research project TRAFFIS. We describe the special application focus on the virtual prototyping of a light-based driver assistance system from our project partner Varroc Lighting Systems. The light-based DAS bases on a headlight prototype that combines a glare-free high beam (GFHB) function and a predictive adaptive frontlighting system (PAFS) for glare-free driving with maximized headlight time.Copyright