Development of advanced driving simulator for basic and advanced training of passenger car drivers

These are the project results:

1. 4DOF Motion Platform - it is a motion platform with four degrees of freedom. The motion system allows rotation about longitudinal and lateral axis. The rotary motion is defined by a supporting cardan joint mounted in the middle of the rotary construction. This basic motion system is further extended with mechanical construction allowing additional longitudinal motion. The motion platform is intended for motion cueing in car driving simulators.
2. Car Driving Simulator - car driving simulator represents a new design of a simulator with a 4DOF motion platform intended for teaching in car driving schools.
3. Functional sample of simulator - functional sample of the vehicle simulator is dedicated to the simulation of driving on the common Czech roads. The cockpit of the simulator is constructed based on the parts of lower-middle class car equipped with manual gearbox, fixed to the simulator body. The cockpit consists of dashboard (shortened at the front passenger side), central panel with the controls and radio, gear lever, handbrake, adjustable seat for driver with seatbelt, driver's flooring, left door upholstery, bracket with three pedals, steering wheel with controlled feedback, functional light controls, indicators, horn and rear mirror controls. Dashboard equipment, as speedometer, revolution counter and functional controls. The body is integrated into the construction of the simulator created with regard to the final location and the movable platform to provide so called moving impression of driving. To simulate the events in front of the car, there are three large-size LCD monitors. Side monitors are located at 60° to the front monitor. The LCDs provide all the picture information generated by the virtual reality system. View in the rear mirrors are realized. The control of the overall system and driving assessment is performed by the main computer. Virtual reality is provided by high-tech hardware of the graphic workstation assuring smooth picture operation. It serves for all sound and picture generation and movement data source. The audio system is connected to the virtual reality generator and creates sounds, which are typical for driving. The sound is reproduced by all-round loudspeakers.
4. Methodology for driver preparation for maginal traffic situation - methodology formulates the elementary principles for training, testing and objective assessment of drive using the advanced driving simulator. It is aimed at virtual reality scenario definition that can be used for advanced training and driving conditions setup (weather, road surface, type of road, exceptional situation definition). The methodology involves a simulator training proposal.
5. Methodology for driver preparation for advanced vehicle systems use training - the content of the methodology consists of elementary principles of training, testing and assessment of drive using advanced driving simulator. It is aimed at virtual reality scenario definition that can be used for advanced training. The methodology is aimed at use of advanced vehicle systems as adaptive cruise control or satellite navigation. Drivers hardly can use these systems during their training period in driver schools and can test it in the real environment only which can be highly dangerous for them as well as for the environment.
6. Advanced driving simulator for driver training - support for the evaluation of driver's actual performance - The advanced simulator for driver's training can reproduce all the impacts that are used to drive the vehicle. Elementary software equipment of the simulation system is represented by the model of vehicle behavior, virtual reality - sound and picture, scene control (event generator, plate movement control, drive recording). The simulation system involves even the support of momentary output in critical situation evaluation through recorded drives assessment (recording module). The result data offer wide range of useful information, among others the car position, steering wheel position, depression of the accelerator. The drive data are stored in a matrix in which the number of columns is equal to number of observed quantities and the length of rows depends on the length of drive. The matrix is exported from the simulator and is reworked by the software (reaction time analysis, vehicle trajectory analysis and the speed).