Driver Input Research Articles

A method to measure the electric parameters of the driver in a fusion-relevant RF ion source

RF ion sources for the neutral beam injection application contain a part called the driver where the plasma is generated. Measurement of the driver's external electrical parameters, such as coil current Icoil and driver equivalent impedance ZD, is useful for assessing the RF power coupling process and estimating the internal plasma parameters. The direct measuring method using RF I-V sensors at the driver's input terminal is inconvenient since it requires the installation of I-V sensors with very high phase (difference) accuracy near the driver. Thus, an indirect measuring method is developed for the RF ion sources equipped with the transformer-isolated Γ-type matching network in this paper. The method uses the electric parameters measured before the matching network and an impedance matching model of the real-world matching network. In the matching model, the matching transformer is treated as a mutual inductance circuit, and the parasitic impedance of the matching network is considered. Then the method is applied to an RF ion source, HINT. With the real-time impedance and power measured before the matching network as inputs, the driver's electric parameters and the RF power transfer efficiency η of HINT are monitored. Without plasma discharge, Icoil and ZD measured indirectly are consistent with those measured directly. With discharges (at transmitted power of 5∼12 kW and filling pressure of 0.45∼0.7 Pa), the deviations of indirect measurements from direct measurements are below 10% in Icoil, and then below 0.06 (absolute) in η. The comparisons show that the indirect measuring method can be used as an alternative to evaluate the driver's electric parameters and η in HINT.

A Comprehensive Vehicle Stability Assessment System Based on Enabling Tire Force Estimation

This paper presents an enabling comprehensive vehicle stability assessment system covering vehicle longitudinal, yaw and roll stability. First, the longitudinal, lateral and vertical tire forces are separately estimated using the strong tracking unscented Kalman filter and the conventional Kalman filter based on low-cost on-board sensors. Then, a comprehensive vehicle longitudinal, yaw and roll stability space is established by utilizing the normalized tire friction ellipse and the Load Transfer Ratio value. Finally, the vehicle stability is determined and predicted based on current driver's inputs. The hardware-in-loop experimental results show that the proposed vehicle stability assessment system can accurately estimate the longitudinal, lateral and vertical tire forces with the normalized root mean square errors of 1.87 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\%$</tex-math></inline-formula> , 1.07 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\%$</tex-math></inline-formula> and 1.43 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\%$</tex-math></inline-formula> , and exhibits satisfying performance for vehicle longitudinal, yaw and roll stability evaluation and prediction. This bears significance for the efficient functioning of active control systems to improve vehicle safety under critical driving conditions.

Should Steering Settings be Changed by the Driver or by the Vehicle Itself?

Cars are increasingly computerized, and vehicle settings such as steering gain (SG) can now be altered during driving. However, it is unknown whether transitions in SG should be adaptable (i.e., triggered by driver input) or adaptive (i.e., triggered automatically). We examined this question for road segments expected to require different SG. This paper aimed to investigate whether SG mode changes should be made by the driver or automatically. Twenty-four participants drove under four conditions in a simulator: fixed low gain (FL), fixed high gain (FH), a machine-initiated steering system, which switched between the two SG levels at predetermined locations (MI), and a driver-initiated steering system, in which the SG level could be changed by pressing a button on the steering wheel (DI). Participants showed poorer lane-keeping and reported higher effort for FH compared to FL on straights, while the opposite held true on curved roads. On curved roads, the MI condition yielded better lane-keeping and lower subjective effort than the DI condition. However, a substantial portion of the drivers gave low preference rankings to the MI system. Drivers prefer and benefit from a steering system with a variable rather than fixed gain. Furthermore, although automatic SG transitions reduce effort, some drivers reject this concept. As the state of technology advances, MI transitions are becoming increasingly feasible, but whether drivers would want to delegate their decision-making authority to a machine remains a moot point.

Seamless mode shift control for a new Simpson planetary gearset based dual motor powertrain in electric vehicles

This paper proposes a seamless mode shift control strategy for a Simpson planetary gearset based dual motor powertrain (SPGDMP) which has 6 driving modes. The dynamic model of SPGDMP is built, where the rotational inertia of transmission components, the flexibility of shafts, dynamic response of motor torque and brake pressure, and stick-slipping friction phenomenon of brake are considered. A seamless mode shift control strategy is proposed to avoid power interruption and reduce the vehicle jerk. The mode shift is decoupled to the torque transition process and speed transition process, which lowers the control difficulty. The step function is used to produce the smooth transition trajectories of torque and speed, which eliminates the large vehicle jerk induced by the unsmooth driving torque. In the speed transition process, a combination of speed feedback and torque feedforward control strategy is proposed to track the designed motor speed trajectory and the driver's input torque simultaneously. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed mode shift control strategy can reduce the peak-to-peak value of vehicle jerk to a value below 2 m/s3.

Research on Energy Management Strategy of Pure Electric Vacuum Vehicle Based on Fuzzy Control

The current pure electric vacuum vehicle is equipped with main and auxiliary motors, and the two motors work independently without affecting each other. The traditional auxiliary motor usually operates with constant power while the main motor is only responsible for the vehicle driving. The lack of cooperation between the two motors results in high energy consumption. Therefore, formulating a reasonable strategy for the two motors has a significant effect on the performance of the vacuum vehicle. This paper takes a pure electric vacuum vehicle as an example to propose an energy management strategy based on fuzzy control. First, for the working motor, a fuzzy controller is designed by taking the vehicle speed and acceleration as input and motor speed and torque as output. Therefore, the vacuum vehicle can automatically adjust the operating power of the cleaning system according to the real-time road conditions; the driving motor control strategy adopts a closed-loop control strategy that combines driver input and vehicle state parameter feedback based on considering the operating motor. Finally, the effectiveness of the strategy is verified by simulation. The results show that the energy-saving control strategy effectively reduces the power consumption per 100 km and increases the driving range, which is of great significance to the development and design of the vacuum vehicle.

The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 and Connected Vehicles: A New Form of Panspectric Veillance Looming?

Abstract Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) currently exist in varying states of readiness to, at one end of the spectrum, assist the driver in normal driving activities and at the other operate in fully autonomous mode, requiring no driver input at all. In facilitating these features, CAVs create, give access to, and allow communication of the data produced. The further along the autonomous scale CAVs progress, the greater the data generated, which are being harvested by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), often unwittingly by the end user. The operation of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 gives government agencies power to compel the retention and access to these data. Here we argue that the definitions within the Act result in CAV OEMs being subject to retention notices of the data generated by these vehicles. This issue, its extent and potential for abuse, and the lack of protection for those associated with the use of CAVs, hitherto unexamined in the legal academic literature, is the focus of this paper.

From shifting gears to changing modes: The impact of driver inputs on plug-in hybrid electric vehicle energy use & emissions

This study measures the energy use and emission impacts of driver-induced changes to drivetrain configurations, known as drive modes. Drive modes allow drivers to alter their vehicles’ operating characteristics including propulsion energy sources, responsiveness of the steering wheel/accelerator pedal, etc. Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) can use energy from a combination of a battery and a fuel source to propel themselves, so drive modes that can shift vehicle propulsion power sources can directly impact energy usage and emissions in these vehicles. This study examines the use of drive modes in PHEVs. We use empirical, on-road vehicle data to explore whether drivers are using drive modes as intended by vehicle manufacturers and to develop a regression model and engine start analysis to quantify the impact of mode usage on PHEV energy efficiency and emissions. We find that incorrect use of drive modes leads to a 15–30% increase in energy usage and higher engine start emissions.

Adaptive Optimal Management of EV Battery Distributed Energy for Concurrent Services to Transportation and Power Grid in a Fleet System Under Dynamic Service Pricing

Deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) in a fleet system to deal with environmental issues has been at the center of attention over the past several years. While the battery of each EV offers small storage, hundreds of EVs collectively can offer large energy storage to serve a power grid. This article develops a model for a central controller in a fleet system that allows adaptive utilization of EV batteries distributed energy for concurrent services to the transportation and power grid. The optimization model integrates various slack variables and control parameters for managing real-time fare prices, adaptive energy, and reserve margin allocation, interaction with the grid operator, and meeting the fleet target revenue. The proposed model incorporates EV driver's input into the scheduling process to allow the driver to flexibly manage their battery capacities based on their availability and assessment of the transportation services demand. A dynamic pricing mechanism is developed for real-time calculation of fare rates to allow the EV fleet optimization problem to achieve a daily revenue target while limiting fare prices in a competitive market. Numerical results indicate that the model can manage several EVs for various services while enhancing the fleet financial metrics.

Cross-hierarchical plasticity of corticofugal projections to dLGN after neonatal monocular enucleation.

Perception is the result of interactions between the sensory periphery, thalamus, and cerebral cortex. Inputs from the retina project to the first‐order dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN), which projects to the primary visual cortex (V1). In return, the cortex innervates the thalamus. While layer 6 projections innervate all thalamic nuclei, cortical layer 5 neurons selectively project to the higher order lateral posterior nucleus (LP) and not to dLGN. It has been demonstrated that a subpopulation of layer 5 (Rbp4‐Cre+) projections rewires to dLGN after monocular or binocular enucleation in young postnatal mice. However, the exact cortical regional origin of these projections was not fully determined, and it remained unclear whether these changes persisted into adulthood. In this study, we report gene expression changes observed in the dLGN after monocular enucleation at birth using microarray, qPCR at P6, and in situ hybridization at P8. We report that genes that are normally enriched in dLGN, but not LP during development are preferentially downregulated in dLGN following monocular enucleation. Comparisons with developmental gene expression patters in dLGN suggest more immature and delayed gene expression in enucleated dLGN. Combined tracing and immuno‐histochemical analysis revealed that the induced layer 5 fibers that innervate enucleated dLGN originate from putative primary visual cortex and they retain increased VGluT1+ synapse formation into adulthood. Our results indicate a new form of plasticity when layer 5 driver input takes over the innervation of an originally first‐order thalamic nucleus after early sensory deficit.

Operational output-only data-driven control input estimation and low-order physical modeling for vehicle vibrations

Vehicle vibration is one of the most critical issues hindering the supply of attractive automobiles to customers. This study focuses on drivability related to longitudinal vehicle body vibration excited by driver input at tip-in acceleration. To understand and design the vibration, a physical model with necessary and sufficient fidelity for its reproduction is required. Moreover, estimation of the excitation input (control input) is also vital for this reproduction. However, achieving both the accurate measurement and modeling of the control input is difficult and labor intensive. Therefore, a novel low-order physical modeling approach with control input estimation using operational output-only measurement is proposed here. The proposed approach requires some assumptions, such as inertia information, but requires no input measurement, no preliminary testing, no limitation to a linear model, and no assumptions in estimating the control input. The basic concept is to regard the vehicle system as a relationship (called a vibration transfer structure) between rigid-body motions and restoring forces and moments (called transfer forces). The proposed approach is implemented in five steps: First, the operational output is measured during tip-in acceleration. Second, important motions are extracted from the output using tensor decomposition. Third, a simplified transfer structure is determined using the important motions. Fourth, the control input and the transfer forces are estimated as time-series data using the structure. Finally, by characterizing the transfer forces, a low-order physical dynamic model is obtained. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated using two sets of operational tip-in acceleration data.

Phase Portrait Trajectory of a Three Degree-of-Freedom Vehicular Dynamic Model

Abstract This article formulates a front-wheel-drive three degree-of-freedom (3DOF) four-wheel planar vehicle model with the Magic Formula tire model. The state variables' evolutions of the model, i.e., trajectories of the model under acceleration and deacceleration conditions, are analyzed. The process of evolution is divided into desirable and undesirable phases based on the response characteristics of the vehicle to the driver input during the process. The trajectories are categorized as unsaturated trajectories and saturated trajectories by the existence of saturated tires during these phases. The response of state variables to driver input under acceleration conditions during undesirable phases are zero or even opposite, while the response of undesirable phases under the deacceleration condition is partially positive. Besides, the existing yaw rate safety envelope is recalibrated by using a longitudinal and lateral tire force coupling model. A more accurate yaw rate safety envelope is obtained from the given driver input. Furthermore, a longitudinal speed safety envelope is proposed according to the relationships among slip angle, yaw rate, and longitudinal speed. These safety envelopes are determined by driver input, tire properties, and grip condition. After overlaying yaw rate and longitudinal speed safety envelopes in the state space, the feasibility of using the safety envelope as trajectory classification criteria is discussed.

Modeling and analysis of driver behaviour under shared control through weighted visual and haptic guidance

Driver–automation shared control through haptic steering is developed to reduce the workload of drivers while keeping them in the control loop. For the optimum design of a haptic steering system, an understanding of driver behaviour based on measurements and modeling is crucial early in the development process. This paper aims to propose a driver model using a weighting process of visual guidance from the road ahead and haptic guidance from a steering system for a lane-following task. The proposed weighting process describes the interaction and reliance of drivers in relation to haptic guidance steering. A driving simulator experiment is conducted to identify the model parameters for driving manually and with haptic guidance. The proposed driver model matched the driver input torque with reasonable fitness among 14 participants after considering individual differences. The validation results reveal that the output trajectory from the model effectively followed the driving course by matching the measured trajectory from the drivers. The model evaluation results reveal the potential of the proposed driver model to be applied to the design and evaluation of haptic guidance systems.

Real-Time Parking Surveillance System and Auto-Billing through The Internet of Things

This study describes a parking sensing system based on the internet of things (IoT) that uses robust outdoor vehicle localization and recognition algorithms. Although parking occupancy monitoring systems have come a long way, intelligent parking payment is rarely investigated in smart parking research. This study presents a revolutionary low-cost sensor system that allows for real-time parking occupancy monitoring and payment without user or driver input. The proposed onboard vehicle transceiver device (VTD) sensor will be implemented without the need for new components to be installed in each parking lot. It provides advantages in terms of detection and payment dependability and cost savings through reduced system complexity, infrastructure investment, and battery replacement costs. A two-fold sensing method is used to accomplish reliable vehicle detection and parking occupancy monitoring.

Evaluation of a dynamic blocking concept to mitigate driver distraction: Three simulator studies

In recent years, the number and complexity of in-vehicle infotainment systems has been steadily increasing. While these systems certainly improve the driving experience, they also increase the risk for driver distraction. International standards and guidelines provide methods of measuring this distraction along with test criteria that help automakers decide whether an interface task is too distracting to be used while driving. Any specific function failing this test should therefore be locked out for use by the driver. This study implemented and tested a dynamic approach to this blocking by algorithmically reacting to driver inputs and the pace of the interaction in order to prevent drivers from having prolonged or too intense sequences of in-vehicle interactions not directly related to driving. Three simulated driving experiments in Germany and the United States were conducted to evaluate this dynamic function blocking concept and also cater for differences in the status quo of either no blocking or static blocking. The experiments consisted of a car following scenario with various secondary interface tasks and always included a baseline condition where no blocking occurred as well as an implementation of the dynamic function blocking. While Experiments 1 and 3 were aimed at collecting and analyzing gaze and driving data from more than 20 participants, Experiment 2 focused on the user experience evaluation of different visual feedback implementations from 13 participants. The user experience as rated by these participants increased throughout the course of all three studies and helped further improve both the concept and feedback design. In the experiments the total glance time towards the road was significantly higher in the dynamic function blocking condition compared to the baseline, already accounting for the increase in total task time inherent to the dynamic condition. Participants developed two strategies of interacting with the dynamic function blocking. They either operated at their normal baseline speed and incurred task blockings or operated slower to avoid the blockings. In the latter strategy, participants chunked their interactions into smaller steps with the present data suggesting that they used the pauses in between chunks to look back onto the road ahead. Theoretical and practical implications of this first evaluation of a dynamic function blocking concept are discussed.

Stability analysis of the anti-lock braking system with time delay

A time delay exists between driver input and vehicle braking state response during the working process of the anti-lock braking system (ABS), and the braking performance of vehicles will be further reduced due to the delay of controllers. This paper investigates a systematic method of stability analysis for time delay ABS, and the analysis focuses on the stability and critical delay algorithm of ABS with delay time. Firstly, the dynamic structure and modelling process of ABS are briefly introduced, and PD control algorithm is adopted to improve the control performance. Then, dynamic models of ABS with time delay are derived, and the full delay stability interval and critical time delay algorithm of ABS are deduced by using the generalized Sturm criterion method. Finally, the validity of the critical delay algorithm by the proposed method and the stability and accuracy of ABS with time delay, different road conditions, vehicle speeds and control parameters are illustrated by numerical simulations, and the results show that the critical time delay algorithm of ABS can be verified under different conditions.

A Novel Adaptive Steering Torque Control Approach for Human–Machine Cooperation Autonomous Vehicles

Human–machine cooperation (HMC) driving can realize the sharing of vehicle control rights between drivers and autonomous driving systems. However, the system disturbances and parameter uncertainties introduced by HMC driving are also inevitable. To solve the above problems, this study proposes an HMC steering torque control method based on the model reference adaptive control (MRAC). First, to describe the driver’s operating behavior and the transient characteristics of the steering system and the vehicle, an HMC vehicle-road model with steering torque input is established. Then, the exponential decay function is taken as a reference model to increase the decay rate of road lateral deviation. Besides, for the problem of model parameter uncertainties, the parameter adaptive laws are designed in the control process, and the robust term is considered into the parameter adaption law to improve the robustness of the closed-loop system. Robust stability under bounded disturbances is guaranteed by boundary estimation of unknown disturbances between driver input and steering load. Finally, simulations and experiments are carried out to verify the proposed control strategy. The results demonstrate that the proposed control strategy can converge rapidly under the disturbances and parameter uncertainties introduced by HMC.

DESIGNING AN UPPER STAGE STEERING SYSTEM FOR A FORMULA FSAE CAR

The objective of this work is to design an upper stage steering system for the Formula FSAE car “Omega” that will effectively translate driver input force to the rack and pinion. The system consists of a steering wheel, steering shafts, universal joints, a quick release mechanism, and connection points to the car. Critical loads have been determined, and the final design has been validated using finite element analysis to ensure the safety of the assembly during normal operation and worst-scenario cases. The design key factors were performance, weight, cost, ergonomics, maintainability, manufacturability and reliability.

Detection System of Drowsiness for Car Driver Using Image Processing Completed with Multi Level Safety

The rate of road traffic accidents in the 38th and 39th week of 2020 has increased. Many factors influence the occurrence of accidents, one of the reasons is that the driver is sleepy. The parameters used to determine the condition of drowsiness are identifying the condition of the eyelids. With this identification, an image processing system can be utilized by applying the Haar Casecade Classifier and Circular Hough Transform methods with Find Countur using HSV parameters. The detection uses a camera with the driver's eye input, if the image detected is a drowsy eye, the system will wake up the driver by turning on a sound alarm, besides this system is equipped with an SMS gateway feature that will be sent to the driver's relatives, that the driver is sleepy. Message notification sent contains the condition and location of the rider. Based on system-wide testing, this system has a success rate of 100% against HSV1, 96% against HSV2 and HSV3, 89% against HSV4, and 88% against HSV5 on eye detection results and response time. The resulting error is because the lighting at a certain distance is not match with HSV set, the system experiences a freeze due to the buzzer sound delay that is too long and the performance of the PC is also less than optimal.

Development of Platooning Technology with Road Condition Monitoring

Abstract: In this paper, we present a complete platooning system using a time-delay algorithm. The platooning is achieved by measuring the driver inputs from the lead vehicle and sending these inputs to the trail vehicle with a time-delay so that the trail vehicle can exactly mimic the motion of the lead vehicle. This system also does a road condition monitor as an add-on benefit which will help in assisting the driver of the trail vehicle/vehicle which takes the same path. The function of this monitoring system is to analyse the road surface using a lead vehicle and acquire sensor data, this acquired sensor data helps in assisting drivers who take the same track. The combination of both this platooning method and road condition monitoring system could potentially reduce the current risk of utilising this semi-automated driving system. Index terms: Platooning, Semi-automated driving, Road condition monitoring, Time-delay algorithm.

Characterization and manipulation of Corticothalamic neurons in associative cortices using Syt6‐Cre transgenic mice

Corticothalamic interactions between associative cortices and higher order thalamic nuclei are involved in high-cognitive functions such as decision-making and working memory. Corticothalamic neurons (CTn) in the prefrontal cortex and other associative areas have been much less studied than their counterparts in the primary sensory areas. The availability of characterized transgenic tools to study CTn in associative areas will facilitate their study and contribute to overcome the scarcity of data about their properties, network dynamics, and contribution to cognitive functions. Here, we characterized the Syt6-Cre (KI148Gsat/Mmud) transgenic mouse line, by tracking expression of a Cre-mediated reporter. In this line, Cre-reporter is strongly expressed in the prefrontal, motor, cingulate, and retrosplenial cortices, as well as in other brain areas including the cerebellum and the olfactory tubercle. Cortical expression starts embryonically and reaches the adult expression pattern by postnatal day 15. In the cortex, Cre-reporter is expressed by layer 6-CTn and by layer 5-CTn to a lesser extent. We quantified Syt6-Cre+ CTn axon varicosities to estimate the distribution and density of putative corticothalamic driver and modulator inputs to thalamic nuclei in the medial, midline, intralaminar, anterior, and motor groups. Also, we characterized the effect of optogenetic stimulation of Syt6-Cre+ neurons in the activity of the prefrontal cortex. CTn stimulation in the prefrontal cortex induces an oscillatory activity in the local field potential that resembles the cortical downstates typically observed during slow-wave sleep or quiet wake.