Researchers in the US have developed software to test the operation of a complete driverless car using synthetic data (writes Nick Flaherty). The team, at Ohio State University, has applied for a US patent for its Vehicle-in-VirtualEnvironment (VVE) method. “With our software, we’re able to make the vehicle think it’s driving on actual roads while actually operating on a large open, safe test area,” said Prof Bilin Aksun-Guvenc, co-director of the university’s Automated Driving Lab. “This saves time and money, and there is no risk of fatal traffic accidents.” The VVE method replaces the output of the high-resolution sensors in a real vehicle with simulated data to connect its controls to a highly realistic 3D environment. After feeding the data into the autonomous driving system’s computers and synchronising the car’s real motion with the simulation, the researchers were able to show that it behaves as if the virtual environment were its true surroundings in real time. Because the method can be calibrated to maintain the properties of the real world while modelling edge events in the virtual environment, it could easily simulate extreme traffic scenarios. It can also use Bluetooth to communicate between a pedestrian with a mobile phone and a phone in the test vehicle. The researchers had a pedestrian dart across a simulated road a safe distance from the test vehicle, but the Bluetooth signal told the car that the person was right in front of it. “The method allows road users to share the same environment at the same time without being in the same location,” said Prof Aksun-Guvenc. Driverless cars Virtually real-world Dr Donough Wilson Dr Wilson is innovation lead at aviation, defence, and homeland security innovation consultants, VIVID/ futureVision. His defence innovations include the cockpit vision system that protects military aircrew from asymmetric high-energy laser attack. He was first to propose the automatic tracking and satellite download of airliner black box and cockpit voice recorder data in the event of an airliner’s unplanned excursion from its assigned flight level or track. For his ‘outstanding and practical contribution to the safer operation of aircraft’ he was awarded The Sir James Martin Award 2018/19, by the Honourable Company of Air Pilots. Paul Weighell Paul has been involved with electronics, computer design and programming since 1966. He has worked in the realtime and failsafe data acquisition and automation industry using mainframes, minis, micros and cloud-based hardware on applications as diverse as defence, Siberian gas pipeline control, UK nuclear power, robotics, the Thames Barrier, Formula One and automated financial trading systems. Ian Williams-Wynn Ian has been involved with uncrewed and autonomous systems for more than 20 years. He started his career in the military, working with early prototype uncrewed systems and exploiting imagery from a range of systems from global suppliers. He has also been involved in ground-breaking research including novel power and propulsion systems, sensor technologies, communications, avionics and physical platforms. His experience covers a broad spectrum of domains from space, air, maritime and ground, and in both defence and civil applications including, more recently, connected autonomous cars. Professor James Scanlan Professor Scanlan is the director of the Strategic Research Centre in Autonomous Systems at the University of Southampton, in the UK. He also co-directs the Rolls-Royce University Technical Centre in design at Southampton. He has an interest in design research, and in particular how complex systems (especially aerospace systems) can be optimised. More recently, he established a group at Southampton that undertakes research into uncrewed aircraft systems. He produced the world’s first ‘printed aircraft’, the SULSA, which was flown by the Royal Navy in the Antarctic in 2016. He also led the team that developed the ULTRA platform, the largest UK commercial UAV, which has flown BVLOS extensively in the UK. He is a qualified full-size aircraft pilot and also has UAV flight qualifications. Dr David Barrett Dr David Barrett’s career includes senior positions with companies such as iRobot and Walt Disney Imagineering. He has also held posts with research institutions including the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, MIT and Olin College, where he is now Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics, and Principal Investigator for the Olin Intelligent Vehicle Laboratory. He also serves in an advisory capacity on the boards of several robotics companies. Uncrewed Systems Technology’s consultants 16 October/November 2023 | Uncrewed Systems Technology The software makes a driverless car think it’s driving on actual roads
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