Network-Based Vehicle Collision Detection and Simulation

Abstract

Vehicle driving simulation, collision detection, and collision simulation of rigid bodies are not new concepts in physical-based simulations, but the integration of all these techniques is a challenging and interesting topic. This paper implements a network-based vehicle collision detection and response simulation system that has all the components that are required by a vehicle driving simulation. It supports vehicle-to-scene and vehicle-to-vehicle collision detection and response simulation in real-time required by a human-in-the-loop driving simulation. Additionally, it supports collaborative driving simulations for multiple vehicles in the same virtual environment operated from different physical locations. A network-based collision server is developed to provide consistent and realistic collision response for vehicles that collide. Implementation testing shows that the network-based collision simulation can provide a real-time, realistic and robust system in a network with relatively small time lags, such as a LAN or a city-wide network. The implementation has demonstrated it can support simultaneous collision simulation with up to 32 vehicles operating at 150miles/h in a high speed local area network.