Analysis of the potential of a wheeled motion base with respect to applications of driving simulators

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Hermann Winner
• Subject Area: Automation, Mechatronics, Control Systems, Intelligent Technical Systems, Robotics ; Traffic and Transport Systems, Intelligent and Automated Traffic
• Term: from 2015 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 273857436

A driving simulator (DS) provides driving experience to a driver. Doing so, a DS performs motion in a limited workspace while the true world driving maneuver would require more space. State of the art DS show design immanent high system mass and costs. Thus, the world-wide use of such systems is very little and is in conflict with the recent trend of development of advanced driver assistant systems. New DS designs are required allowing for high driving experience quality and a wide range of maneuvers that can be performed while reducing costs significantly. The execution of the new DS design demands the analysis of open questions. Hence, the applicant did research since 2010 regarding feasibility of the new DS design by simulation and experimental test. As a result of this research a development environment of an omnidirectional motion base was developed that allows for further fundamental research. The research goals are the investigation of the new wheeled mobile DS design in order to explore new applications for driving simulation and the increase of the world-wide use due to the reduced costs. Furthermore, the gained knowledge enables the development of an unscaled prototype with extended visual representation system and a dome for the encapsulation of the test person.Central questions of research:a) Which dynamic limits result from the wheeled mobile DS design? Which influence quantities constitute those limits?b) Does the new design allow for the application on undergrounds with higher macro unevenness (conventional roads or proving grounds)? What chassis measures have to be considered to allow for application on pavements that provide less surface finish? Which compensatory measures have to be considered due to the introduced degrees of freedom of the chassis suspension in order to avoid unwanted interconnection with the seating platform of the driver?c) What possibilities exist to optimize the Motion Cueing for the usage within provided workspaces with different size? How does the quality of the provided driving experience depend on those measures?d) How does a general safety system for the new motion base look like when considering constraints like limited workspace and the carriage of humans with acceptable risk? Which detailed designs are suitable for implementation?e) What merits/drawbacks are to be expected when substituting the conventional visual representation system with head mounted displays?

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Major Instrumentation: Videobrille und Bewegungserfassungssystem zur visuellen Darstellung des Fahrszenarios
• Instrumentation Group: 2580 Zubehör und Aggregate für Kraftfahrzeuge
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Dr.-Ing. Ralph Bruder