Some Information of Real Driving Simulator

I thought this new news group is a place to obtain information for recent simulator techniques. Unfortunately, it seems to me almost everyone talks about games. In fact, there are real vehicle simulators in the world. I would like to provide the following information: Mercedes Benz and Toyota have driving simulator in their research headquarters. (Both are very advanced wheeled vehicle simulators, you can actually sit in a hub and do simulated drives!) US army has a tracked vehicle simulator for combat vehicle design validation. Last year, Department of Transportation invested several million dollars in Iowa City to build a world-class driving simulator (with motion base) for medical, engineering, human behavior ... research use. This simulator will operate around 1996. (If interested, contact: Center for Simulation and Design Optimization, University of Iowa, Iowa CIty, IA 52242) Yes, we do need an advanced driving simulator in this country, (may be more than one?) I believe vehicle dynamics (to model motions of all vehcile subsystems), modern parallel computations, embedded control techniques, advanced vedio-quality computer graphics, and audio techniques should be integrated to provide real-time vehicle simulation ability. However, I think the future trend is not just integration of the above techniques but also how to make realistic simulators inexpensive for small business and institutions! =============================================================== Dr. Alex C. Chiang Rm M0101, Bldg. 89, CALCE EPRC, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20705 Phone: (301) 405-5338; FAX: (301) 314-9269 _____/ | / _____/ _____/ / / | / / / / ___ | / / _____/ / / | / / / ______/ _/ _| ______/ ______/ ______/ ===============================================================

writes: > I thought this new news group is a place to obtain information for recent > simulator techniques. Unfortunately, it seems to me almost everyone talks > about games. In fact, there are real vehicle simulators in the world. > I would like to provide the following information: > Mercedes Benz and Toyota have driving simulator in their research headquarters.

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> (Both are very advanced wheeled vehicle simulators, you can actually sit in a > hub and do simulated drives!) > US army has a tracked vehicle simulator for combat vehicle design validation. > Last year, Department of Transportation invested several million dollars in > Iowa City to build a world-class driving simulator (with motion base) for > medical, engineering, human behavior ... research use. This simulator will > operate around 1996. (If interested, contact: Center for Simulation and

Design > Optimization, University of Iowa, Iowa CIty, IA 52242) > Yes, we do need an advanced driving simulator in this country, (may be more > than one?) I believe vehicle dynamics (to model motions of all vehcile > subsystems), modern parallel computations, embedded control techniques, advanced

Quoted text (19 lines)

> vedio-quality computer graphics, and audio techniques should be integrated to > provide real-time vehicle simulation ability. However, I think the future > trend is not just integration of the above techniques but also how to make > realistic simulators inexpensive for small business and institutions! > =============================================================== > Dr. Alex C. Chiang > Rm M0101, Bldg. 89, CALCE EPRC, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering > University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20705 > Phone: (301) 405-5338; FAX: (301) 314-9269 > _____/ | / _____/ _____/ > / / | / / / > / ___ | / / _____/ > / / | / / / > ______/ _/ _| ______/ ______/ ______/ > ===============================================================

Back in '84-'85 I worked with a couple of guys who had been development engineers at Evans & Sutherland when development of the simulator for Damiler-Benz was underway. Apparently, the sim consisted of a rather large motion platform on which a MB 190 (baby benz) was attached (the entire car). To make the sensation complete, servos and such were attached to the controls of the car to give the sensation of varying rates of pressure on the wheel while turning, braking force, etc. Hmmm, I wonder how they simulate missing a shift and grinding a gear.... I digress... I don't recall the field of range of the display, but have been told that the sensation was pretty realistic (>180 degree field of vision). FWIW... -- -------------------------------------------------------- '93 RS America- GP White '82 911 SC - GP White

|> |> I thought this new news group is a place to obtain information for recent |> simulator techniques. Unfortunately, it seems to me almost everyone talks |> about games. In fact, there are real vehicle simulators in the world. This group is for discussion of ALL aspects of auto simulators. However, if there is a preponderance of game related posts it is not because of an attempt to prevent people posting about "real" simulators. Such discussion can only start if people, such as yourself, start them and tell colleagues, etc., that the group exists. I would very much like to see technical discussions of auto simulators here as well. Of course, this group has only been going for one week, so it will take time. (To people in general:) If your interests are in simulator techniques and you've been lukring in this group and discouraged by posting because of the postings about games, then speak out. Tell us you're here. -Afzal -- Please note that my signature has a negative number of lines so if the

I'm curious about these Real simulators. How are they used to test new car designs. It seems that the hard part is trying to create a simulator for an existing car. How can a slightly unrealistic simulator tell you about the car design?