An adaptable, low cost test-bed for unmanned vehicle systems research

Science.gov (United States)

Goppert, James M.

2011-12-01

An unmanned vehicle systems test-bed has been developed. The test-bed has been designed to accommodate hardware changes and various vehicle types and algorithms. The creation of this test-bed allows research teams to focus on algorithm development and employ a common well-tested experimental framework. The ArduPilotOne autopilot was developed to provide the necessary level of abstraction for multiple vehicle types. The autopilot was also designed to be highly integrated with the Mavlink protocol for Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) communication. Mavlink is the native protocol for QGroundControl, a MAV ground control program. Features were added to QGroundControl to accommodate outdoor usage. Next, the Mavsim toolbox was developed for Scicoslab to allow hardware-in-the-loop testing, control design and analysis, and estimation algorithm testing and verification. In order to obtain linear models of aircraft dynamics, the JSBSim flight dynamics engine was extended to use a probabilistic Nelder-Mead simplex method. The JSBSim aircraft dynamics were compared with wind-tunnel data collected. Finally, a structured methodology for successive loop closure control design is proposed. This methodology is demonstrated along with the rest of the test-bed tools on a quadrotor, a fixed wing RC plane, and a ground vehicle. Test results for the ground vehicle are presented.

Aeroelastic Ground Wind Loads Analysis Tool for Launch Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Ivanco, Thomas G.

2016-01-01

Launch vehicles are exposed to ground winds during rollout and on the launch pad that can induce static and dynamic loads. Of particular concern are the dynamic loads caused by vortex shedding from nearly-cylindrical structures. When the frequency of vortex shedding nears that of a lowly-damped structural mode, the dynamic loads can be more than an order of magnitude greater than mean drag loads. Accurately predicting vehicle response to vortex shedding during the design and analysis cycles is difficult and typically exceeds the practical capabilities of modern computational fluid dynamics codes. Therefore, mitigating the ground wind loads risk typically requires wind-tunnel tests of dynamically-scaled models that are time consuming and expensive to conduct. In recent years, NASA has developed a ground wind loads analysis tool for launch vehicles to fill this analytical capability gap in order to provide predictions for prelaunch static and dynamic loads. This paper includes a background of the ground wind loads problem and the current state-of-the-art. It then discusses the history and significance of the analysis tool and the methodology used to develop it. Finally, results of the analysis tool are compared to wind-tunnel and full-scale data of various geometries and Reynolds numbers.

2011 Ground Testing Highlights Article

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, James C.; Buchholz, Steven J.

2011-01-01

Two tests supporting development of the launch abort system for the Orion MultiPurpose Crew Vehicle were run in the NASA Ames Unitary Plan wind tunnel last year. The first test used a fully metric model to examine the stability and controllability of the Launch Abort Vehicle during potential abort scenarios for Mach numbers ranging from 0.3 to 2.5. The aerodynamic effects of the Abort Motor and Attitude Control Motor plumes were simulated using high-pressure air flowing through independent paths. The aerodynamic effects of the proximity to the launch vehicle during the early moments of an abort were simulated with a remotely actuated Service Module that allowed the position relative to the Crew Module to be varied appropriately. The second test simulated the acoustic environment around the Launch Abort Vehicle caused by the plumes from the 400,000-pound thrust, solid-fueled Abort Motor. To obtain the proper acoustic characteristics of the hot rocket plumes for the flight vehicle, heated Helium was used. A custom Helium supply system was developed for the test consisting of 2 jumbo high-pressure Helium trailers, a twelve-tube accumulator, and a 13MW gas-fired heater borrowed from the Propulsion Simulation Laboratory at NASA Glenn Research Center. The test provided fluctuating surface pressure measurements at over 200 points on the vehicle surface that have now been used to define the ground-testing requirements for the Orion Launch Abort Vehicle.

Low ground clearance vehicle detection and warning.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-01

A Low Ground Clearance Vehicle Detection : System (LGCVDS) determines if a commercial : motor vehicle can successfully clear a highwayrail : grade crossing and notifies the driver when : his or her vehicle cannot safely traverse the : crossing. That ...

Test bed for applications of heterogeneous unmanned vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Filiberto Muñoz Palacios

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This article addresses the development and implementation of a test bed for applications of heterogeneous unmanned vehicle systems. The test bed consists of unmanned aerial vehicles (Parrot AR.Drones versions 1 or 2, Parrot SA, Paris, France, and Bebop Drones 1.0 and 2.0, Parrot SA, Paris, France, ground vehicles (WowWee Rovio, WowWee Group Limited, Hong Kong, China, and the motion capture systems VICON and OptiTrack. Such test bed allows the user to choose between two different options of development environments, to perform aerial and ground vehicles applications. On the one hand, it is possible to select an environment based on the VICON system and LabVIEW (National Instruments or robotics operating system platforms, which make use the Parrot AR.Drone software development kit or the Bebop_autonomy Driver to communicate with the unmanned vehicles. On the other hand, it is possible to employ a platform that uses the OptiTrack system and that allows users to develop their own applications, replacing AR.Drone’s original firmware with original code. We have developed four experimental setups to illustrate the use of the Parrot software development kit, the Bebop Driver (AutonomyLab, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada, and the original firmware replacement for performing a strategy that involves both ground and aerial vehicle tracking. Finally, in order to illustrate the effectiveness of the developed test bed for the implementation of advanced controllers, we present experimental results of the implementation of three consensus algorithms: static, adaptive, and neural network, in order to accomplish that a team of multiagents systems move together to track a target.

TARDEC Ground Vehicle Robotics: Vehicle Dynamic Characterization and Research

Science.gov (United States)

2015-09-01

subassemblies that would be common on ground vehicles. Powertrain Systems: Gas Powered, Diesel , Turbo Diesel , Gas Turbine, Hybrid: Gas- Electric...PROPULSE (Hybrid Diesel - Electric System with Export Power), Command Zone (integrated vehicle control and diagnostic system), and TerraMax (Unmanned... Diesel -Electric, Series, Parallel. Power Distribution: RWD, FWD, AWD, open diff, LSD, Torsen diff, differential braking (traction control), drive by

Visiting Vehicle Ground Trajectory Tool

Science.gov (United States)

Hamm, Dustin

2013-01-01

The International Space Station (ISS) Visiting Vehicle Group needed a targeting tool for vehicles that rendezvous with the ISS. The Visiting Vehicle Ground Trajectory targeting tool provides the ability to perform both realtime and planning operations for the Visiting Vehicle Group. This tool provides a highly reconfigurable base, which allows the Visiting Vehicle Group to perform their work. The application is composed of a telemetry processing function, a relative motion function, a targeting function, a vector view, and 2D/3D world map type graphics. The software tool provides the ability to plan a rendezvous trajectory for vehicles that visit the ISS. It models these relative trajectories using planned and realtime data from the vehicle. The tool monitors ongoing rendezvous trajectory relative motion, and ensures visiting vehicles stay within agreed corridors. The software provides the ability to update or re-plan a rendezvous to support contingency operations. Adding new parameters and incorporating them into the system was previously not available on-the-fly. If an unanticipated capability wasn't discovered until the vehicle was flying, there was no way to update things.

Real-Time and High-Fidelity Simulation Environment for Autonomous Ground Vehicle Dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Cameron, Jonathan; Myint, Steven; Kuo, Calvin; Jain, Abhi; Grip, Havard; Jayakumar, Paramsothy; Overholt, Jim

2013-01-01

This paper reports on a collaborative project between U.S. Army TARDEC and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to develop a unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) simulation model using the ROAMS vehicle modeling framework. Besides modeling the physical suspension of the vehicle, the sensing and navigation of the HMMWV vehicle are simulated. Using models of urban and off-road environments, the HMMWV simulation was tested in several ways, including navigation in an urban environment with obstacle avoidance and the performance of a lane change maneuver.

Passive Earth Entry Vehicle Landing Test

Science.gov (United States)

Kellas, Sotiris

2017-01-01

Two full-scale passive Earth Entry Vehicles (EEV) with realistic structure, surrogate sample container, and surrogate Thermal Protection System (TPS) were built at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) and tested at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR). The main test objective was to demonstrate structural integrity and investigate possible impact response deviations of the realistic vehicle as compared to rigid penetrometer responses. With the exception of the surrogate TPS and minor structural differences in the back shell construction, the two test vehicles were identical in geometry and both utilized the Integrated Composite Stiffener Structure (ICoSS) structural concept in the forward shell. The ICoSS concept is a lightweight and highly adaptable composite concept developed at NASA LaRC specifically for entry vehicle TPS carrier structures. The instrumented test vehicles were released from a helicopter approximately 400 m above ground. The drop height was selected such that at least 98% of the vehicles terminal velocity would be achieved. While drop tests of spherical penetrometers and a low fidelity aerodynamic EEV model were conducted at UTTR in 1998 and 2000, this was the first time a passive EEV with flight-like structure, surrogate TPS, and sample container was tested at UTTR for the purpose of complete structural system validation. Test results showed that at a landing vertical speed of approximately 30 m/s, the test vehicle maintained structural integrity and enough rigidity to penetrate the sandy clay surface thus attenuating the landing load, as measured at the vehicle CG, to less than 600 g. This measured deceleration was found to be in family with rigid penetrometer test data from the 1998 and 2000 test campaigns. Design implications of vehicle structure/soil interaction with respect to sample container and sample survivability are briefly discussed.

Ground control station software design for micro aerial vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Walendziuk, Wojciech; Oldziej, Daniel; Binczyk, Dawid Przemyslaw; Slowik, Maciej

2017-08-01

This article describes the process of designing the equipment part and the software of a ground control station used for configuring and operating micro unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). All the works were conducted on a quadrocopter model being a commonly accessible commercial construction. This article contains a characteristics of the research object, the basics of operating the micro aerial vehicles (MAV) and presents components of the ground control station model. It also describes the communication standards for the purpose of building a model of the station. Further part of the work concerns the software of the product - the GIMSO application (Generally Interactive Station for Mobile Objects), which enables the user to manage the actions and communication and control processes from the UAV. The process of creating the software and the field tests of a station model are also presented in the article.

Numerical Investigation of Aerodynamic Braking for a Ground Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Devanuri, Jaya Krishna

2018-06-01

The purpose of this article is to observe the effect of an air brake on the aerodynamics of a ground vehicle and also to study the influence of change in the parameters like the velocity of the vehicle, the angle of inclination, height, and position of the air brake on the aerodynamics of the vehicle body. The test subject used is an Ahmed body which is a generic 3D car body as it retains all the aerodynamic characteristics of a ground vehicle. Numerical investigation has been carried out by RNG k-ɛ turbulence model. Results are presented in terms of streamlines and drag coefficient to understand the influence of pertinent parameters on flow physics. It is found that with the use of an air brake, though the drag coefficient remains more or less constant with velocity, it increases with the increase in height and angle of inclination of the air brake. But the effect of position of air brake on the coefficient of drag is surprising since for certain heights of the air brake the drag coefficient is maximum at the foremost point and as the air brake moves towards the rear it is first observed to decrease and then increase. It is also observed that with the increase in height of the air brake the drag coefficient monotonically decreases as the position of the air brake is moved towards the rear. Taguchi method has been employed with L16 orthogonal array to obtain the optimal configuration for the air brake. For each of the selected parameters, four different levels have been chosen to obtain the maximum drag coefficient value. The study could provide an invaluable database for the optimal design of an airbrake for a ground vehicle.

Autonomy-Enabled Fuel Savings for Military Vehicles: Report on 2016 Aberdeen Test Center Testing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ragatz, Adam [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Prohaska, Robert [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Gonder, Jeff [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2017-05-26

Fuel savings have never been the primary focus for autonomy-enabled military vehicles. However, studies have estimated that autonomy in passenger and commercial vehicles could improve fuel economy by as much as 22%-33% over various drive cycles. If even a fraction of this saving could be realized in military vehicles, significant cost savings could be realized each year through reduced fuel transport missions, reduced fuel purchases, less maintenance, fewer required personnel, and increased vehicle range. Researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory installed advanced data logging equipment and instrumentation on two autonomy-enabled convoy vehicles configured with Lockheed Martin's Autonomous Mobility Applique System to determine system performance and improve on the overall vehicle control strategies of the vehicles. Initial test results from testing conducted at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds are included in this report. Lessons learned from in-use testing and performance results have been provided to the project partners for continued system refinement.

Vehicle accelerated corrosion test procedures for automotive in Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anuar Liza

2017-01-01

Full Text Available An accelerated corrosion test, known as proving ground accelerated test, is commonly performed by automotive manufacturers to evaluate the corrosion performance of a vehicle. The test combines corrosion and durability inputs to detect potential failures that may occur during in-service conditions. Currently, the test is conducted at an external test center overseas. Such test is aimed to simulate the effects of one year accelerated corrosion in severe corrosive environment of the north-east and south east of America. However, the test results obtained do not correlate with the actual corrosion conditions observed in the Malaysian market, which is likely attributed to the different test environment of the tropical climate of vehicles in service. Therefore, a vehicle accelerated corrosion test procedure that suits the Malaysian market is proposed and benchmarked with other global car manufacturers that have their own dedicated corrosion test procedure. In the present work, a test track is used as the corrosion test ground and consists of various types of roads for structural durability exposures. Corrosion related facilities like salt trough, mud trough and gravel road are constructed as addition to the existing facilities. The establishment of accelerated corrosion test facilities has contributed to the development of initial accelerated corrosion test procedure for the national car manufacturer. The corrosion exposure is monitored by fitting test coupons at the underbody of test vehicle using mass loss technique so that the desired corrosion rate capable of simulating the real time corrosion effects for its target market.

Vehicle Test Facilities at Aberdeen Proving Ground

Science.gov (United States)

1981-07-06

warehouse and rough terrain forklifts. Two 5-ton-capacity manual chain hoists at the rear of the table regulate its slope from 0 to 40 percent. The overall...Capacity at 24-Inch Load Center. 5. TOP/ HTP 2-2-608, Braking, Wheeled Vehicles, 15 Jav.&ry 1971. 6. TOP 2-2-603, Vehicle Fuel Consumption, 1 November 1977. A-1 r -. ’,’

Ground Vehicle System Integration (GVSI) and Design Optimization Model

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Horton, William

1996-01-01

This report documents the Ground Vehicle System Integration (GVSI) and Design Optimization Model GVSI is a top-level analysis tool designed to support engineering tradeoff studies and vehicle design optimization efforts...

The 15th Annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition: Intelligent Ground Robots Created by Intelligent Students

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Theisen, Bernard L

2007-01-01

The Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC) is one of three, unmanned systems, student competitions that were founded by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) in the 1990s...

An investigation of drag reduction on box-shaped ground vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Muirhead, V. U.

1976-01-01

A wind tunnel investigation was conducted to determine the reduction in drag which could be obtained by making various configuration changes to a box-shaped ground vehicle. Tests were conducted at yaw (relative wind) angles of 0, 5, 10, 20, and 30 degrees and Reynolds numbers of 300,000 to 850,000. The power required to overcome the aerodynamic drag was reduced by a maximum of 73% for a head wind for the best configuration relative to the smooth bottom box-shape, or 75% relative to the rough bottom box-shape. The reduction for a 20 MPH wind at 30 deg to the vehicle path was, respectively, 77% and 79%.

Learning Mobility: Adaptive Control Algorithms for the Novel Unmanned Ground Vehicle (NUGV)

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Blackburn, Mike

2003-01-01

Mobility is a serious limiting factor in the usefulness of unmanned ground vehicles, This paper contains a description of our approach to develop control algorithms for the Novel Unmanned Ground Vehicle (NUGV...

Piecewise affine control for fast unmanned ground vehicles

OpenAIRE

Benine Neto , André; Grand , Christophe

2012-01-01

International audience; Unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) may experience skidding when moving at high speeds, and therefore have its safety jeopardized. For this reason the nonlinear dynamics of lateral tire forces must be taken into account into the design of steering controllers for autonomous vehicles. This paper presents the design of a state feedback piecewise affine controller applied to an UGV to coordinate the steering and torque distribution inputs in order to reduce vehicle skidding on...

Development of Ground Test System For RKX-200EB

Science.gov (United States)

Yudhi Irwanto, Herma

2018-04-01

After being postponed for seven years, the development of RKX-200EB now restarts by initiating a ground test, preceding the real flight test. The series of the development starts from simulation test using the real vehicle and its components, focusing on a flight sequence test using hardware in the loop simulation. The result of the simulation shows that the autonomous control system in development is able to control the X tail fin vehicle, since take off using booster, separating booster-sustainer, making flight maneuver using sustainer with average cruise speed of 1000 km/h, and doing bank to maneuver up to ±40 deg heading to the target. The simulation result also shows that the presence of sustainer in vehicle control can expand the distance range by 162% (12.6 km) from its ballistic range using only a booster.

Integrated System Test Approaches for the NASA Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Cockrell, Charles

2008-01-01

NASA is maturing test and evaluation plans leading to flight readiness of the Ares I crew launch vehicle. Key development, qualification, and verification tests are planned . Upper stage engine sea-level and altitude testing. First stage development and qualification motors. Upper stage structural and thermal development and qualification test articles. Main Propulsion Test Article (MPTA). Upper stage green run testing. Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Testing (IVGVT). Aerodynamic characterization testing. Test and evaluation supports initial validation flights (Ares I-Y and Orion 1) and design certification.

Space imaging infrared optical guidance for autonomous ground vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Akiyama, Akira; Kobayashi, Nobuaki; Mutoh, Eiichiro; Kumagai, Hideo; Yamada, Hirofumi; Ishii, Hiromitsu

2008-08-01

We have developed the Space Imaging Infrared Optical Guidance for Autonomous Ground Vehicle based on the uncooled infrared camera and focusing technique to detect the objects to be evaded and to set the drive path. For this purpose we made servomotor drive system to control the focus function of the infrared camera lens. To determine the best focus position we use the auto focus image processing of Daubechies wavelet transform technique with 4 terms. From the determined best focus position we transformed it to the distance of the object. We made the aluminum frame ground vehicle to mount the auto focus infrared unit. Its size is 900mm long and 800mm wide. This vehicle mounted Ackerman front steering system and the rear motor drive system. To confirm the guidance ability of the Space Imaging Infrared Optical Guidance for Autonomous Ground Vehicle we had the experiments for the detection ability of the infrared auto focus unit to the actual car on the road and the roadside wall. As a result the auto focus image processing based on the Daubechies wavelet transform technique detects the best focus image clearly and give the depth of the object from the infrared camera unit.

Teleoperated Visual Inspection and Surveillance with Unmanned Ground and Aerial Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viatcheslav Tretyakov

2008-11-01

Full Text Available This paper introduces our robotic system named UGAV (Unmanned Ground-Air Vehicle consisting of two semi-autonomous robot platforms, an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV and an Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV. The paper focuses on three topics of the inspection with the combined UGV and UAV: (A teleoperated control by means of cell or smart phones with a new concept of automatic configuration of the smart phone based on a RKI-XML description of the vehicles control capabilities, (B the camera and vision system with the focus to real time feature extraction e.g. for the tracking of the UAV and (C the architecture and hardware of the UAV

Force Limiting Vibration Tests Evaluated from both Ground Acoustic Tests and FEM Simulations of a Flight Like Vehicle System Assembly

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Andrew; LaVerde, Bruce; Waldon, James; Hunt, Ron

2014-01-01

Marshall Space Flight Center has conducted a series of ground acoustic tests with the dual goals of informing analytical judgment, and validating analytical methods when estimating vibroacoustic responses of launch vehicle subsystems. The process of repeatedly correlating finite element-simulated responses with test-measured responses has assisted in the development of best practices for modeling and post-processing. In recent work, force transducers were integrated to measure interface forces at the base of avionics box equipment. Other force data was indirectly measured using strain gauges. The combination of these direct and indirect force measurements has been used to support and illustrate the advantages of implementing the Force Limiting approach for equipment qualification tests. The comparison of force response from integrated system level tests to measurements at the same locations during component level vibration tests provides an excellent illustration. A second comparison of the measured response cases from the system level acoustic tests to finite element simulations has also produced some principles for assessing the suitability of Finite Element Models (FEMs) for making vibroacoustics estimates. The results indicate that when FEM models are employed to guide force limiting choices, they should include sufficient detail to represent the apparent mass of the system in the frequency range of interest.

Assessing the ground vibrations produced by a heavy vehicle traversing a traffic obstacle.

Science.gov (United States)

Ducarne, Loïc; Ainalis, Daniel; Kouroussis, Georges

2018-01-15

Despite advancements in alternative transport networks, road transport remains the dominant mode in many modern and developing countries. The ground-borne motions produced by the passage of a heavy vehicle over a geometric obstacle (e.g. speed hump, train tracks) pose a fundamental problem in transport annoyance in urban areas. In order to predict the ground vibrations generated by the passage of a heavy vehicle over a geometric obstacle, a two-step numerical model is developed. The first step involves simulating the dynamic loads generated by the heavy vehicle using a multibody approach, which includes the tyre-obstacle-ground interaction. The second step involves the simulation of the ground wave propagation using a three dimensional finite element model. The simulation is able to be decoupled due to the large difference in stiffness between the vehicle's tyres and the road. First, the two-step model is validated using an experimental case study available in the literature. A sensitivity analysis is then presented, examining the influence of various factors on the generated ground vibrations. Factors investigated include obstacle shape, obstacle dimensions, vehicle speed, and tyre stiffness. The developed model can be used as a tool in the early planning stages to predict the ground vibrations generated by the passage of a heavy vehicle over an obstacle in urban areas. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Platform for Testing Robotic Vehicles on Simulated Terrain

Science.gov (United States)

Lindemann, Randel

2006-01-01

The variable terrain tilt platform (VTTP) is a means of providing simulated terrain for mobility testing of engineering models of the Mars Exploration Rovers. The VTTP could also be used for testing the ability of other robotic land vehicles (and small vehicles in general) to move across terrain under diverse conditions of slope and surface texture, and in the presence of obstacles of various sizes and shapes. The VTTP consists mostly of a 16-ft-(4.88-m)-square tilt table. The tilt can be adjusted to any angle between 0 (horizontal) and 25 . The test surface of the table can be left bare; can be covered with hard, high-friction material; or can be covered with sand, gravel, and/or other ground-simulating material or combination of materials to a thickness of as much as 6 in. (approx. 15 cm). Models of rocks, trenches, and other obstacles can be placed on the simulated terrain. For example, for one of the Mars- Rover tests, a high-friction mat was attached to the platform, then a 6-in.- ( 15 cm) deep layer of dry, loose beach sand was deposited on the mat. The choice of these two driving surface materials was meant to bound the range of variability of terrain that the rover was expected to encounter on the Martian surface. At each of the different angles at which tests were performed, for some of the tests, rocklike concrete obstacles ranging in height from 10 to 25 cm were placed in the path of the rover (see figure). The development of the VTTP was accompanied by development of a methodology of testing to characterize the performance and modes of failure of a vehicle under test. In addition to variations in slope, ground material, and obstacles, testing typically includes driving up-slope, down-slope, cross-slope, and at intermediate angles relative to slope. Testing includes recording of drive-motor currents, wheel speeds, articulation of suspension mechanisms, and the actual path of the vehicle over the simulated terrain. The collected data can be used to

Systems Engineering Approach To Ground Combat Vehicle Survivability In Urban Operations

Science.gov (United States)

2016-09-01

GROUND COMBAT VEHICLE SURVIVABILITY IN URBAN OPERATIONS 5. FUNDING NUMBERS N/A 6. AUTHOR(S) Luhai Wong 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS...distance of 100m in the model , which is reasonable due to the constrained nature of an urban environment. This thesis also uses the key parameters...ENGINEERING APPROACH TO GROUND COMBAT VEHICLE SURVIVABILITY IN URBAN OPERATIONS by Luhai Wong September 2016 Thesis Advisor: Christopher A

Full-Scale Passive Earth Entry Vehicle Landing Tests: Methods and Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Littell, Justin D.; Kellas, Sotiris

2018-01-01

During the summer of 2016, a series of drop tests were conducted on two passive earth entry vehicle (EEV) test articles at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR). The tests were conducted to evaluate the structural integrity of a realistic EEV vehicle under anticipated landing loads. The test vehicles were lifted to an altitude of approximately 400m via a helicopter and released via release hook into a predesignated 61 m landing zone. Onboard accelerometers were capable of measuring vehicle free flight and impact loads. High-speed cameras on the ground tracked the free-falling vehicles and data was used to calculate critical impact parameters during the final seconds of flight. Additional sets of high definition and ultra-high definition cameras were able to supplement the high-speed data by capturing the release and free flight of the test articles. Three tests were successfully completed and showed that the passive vehicle design was able to withstand the impact loads from nominal and off-nominal impacts at landing velocities of approximately 29 m/s. Two out of three test resulted in off-nominal impacts due to a combination of high winds at altitude and the method used to suspend the vehicle from the helicopter. Both the video and acceleration data captured is examined and discussed. Finally, recommendations for improved release and instrumentation methods are presented.

A model predictive speed tracking control approach for autonomous ground vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Min; Chen, Huiyan; Xiong, Guangming

2017-03-01

This paper presents a novel speed tracking control approach based on a model predictive control (MPC) framework for autonomous ground vehicles. A switching algorithm without calibration is proposed to determine the drive or brake control. Combined with a simple inverse longitudinal vehicle model and adaptive regulation of MPC, this algorithm can make use of the engine brake torque for various driving conditions and avoid high frequency oscillations automatically. A simplified quadratic program (QP) solving algorithm is used to reduce the computational time, and the approach has been applied in a 16-bit microcontroller. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated via simulations and vehicle tests, which were carried out in a range of speed-profile tracking tasks. With a well-designed system structure, high-precision speed control is achieved. The system can robustly model uncertainty and external disturbances, and yields a faster response with less overshoot than a PI controller.

Investigations into near-real-time surveying for geophysical data collection using an autonomous ground vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Phelps, Geoffrey A.; Ippolito, C.; Lee, R.; Spritzer, R.; Yeh, Y.

2014-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are cooperatively investigating the utility of unmanned vehicles for near-real-time autonomous surveys of geophysical data collection. Initially focused on unmanned ground vehicle collection of magnetic data, this cooperative effort has brought unmanned surveying, precision guidance, near-real-time communication, on-the-fly data processing, and near-real-time data interpretation into the realm of ground geophysical surveying, all of which offer advantages over current methods of manned collection of ground magnetic data. An unmanned ground vehicle mission has demonstrated that these vehicles can successfully complete missions to collect geophysical data, and add advantages in data collection, processing, and interpretation. We view the current experiment as an initial phase in further unmanned vehicle data-collection missions, including aerial surveying.

Wavelet-based ground vehicle recognition using acoustic signals

Science.gov (United States)

Choe, Howard C.; Karlsen, Robert E.; Gerhart, Grant R.; Meitzler, Thomas J.

1996-03-01

We present, in this paper, a wavelet-based acoustic signal analysis to remotely recognize military vehicles using their sound intercepted by acoustic sensors. Since expedited signal recognition is imperative in many military and industrial situations, we developed an algorithm that provides an automated, fast signal recognition once implemented in a real-time hardware system. This algorithm consists of wavelet preprocessing, feature extraction and compact signal representation, and a simple but effective statistical pattern matching. The current status of the algorithm does not require any training. The training is replaced by human selection of reference signals (e.g., squeak or engine exhaust sound) distinctive to each individual vehicle based on human perception. This allows a fast archiving of any new vehicle type in the database once the signal is collected. The wavelet preprocessing provides time-frequency multiresolution analysis using discrete wavelet transform (DWT). Within each resolution level, feature vectors are generated from statistical parameters and energy content of the wavelet coefficients. After applying our algorithm on the intercepted acoustic signals, the resultant feature vectors are compared with the reference vehicle feature vectors in the database using statistical pattern matching to determine the type of vehicle from where the signal originated. Certainly, statistical pattern matching can be replaced by an artificial neural network (ANN); however, the ANN would require training data sets and time to train the net. Unfortunately, this is not always possible for many real world situations, especially collecting data sets from unfriendly ground vehicles to train the ANN. Our methodology using wavelet preprocessing and statistical pattern matching provides robust acoustic signal recognition. We also present an example of vehicle recognition using acoustic signals collected from two different military ground vehicles. In this paper, we will

41 CFR 101-39.307 - Grounds for withdrawal of vehicle.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... VEHICLES 39-INTERAGENCY FLEET MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS 39.3-Use and Care of GSA Interagency Fleet Management... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Grounds for withdrawal of vehicle. 101-39.307 Section 101-39.307 Public Contracts and Property Management Federal Property...

Unmanned Ground Vehicle for Autonomous Non-Destructive Testing of FRP Bridge Decks

Science.gov (United States)

Klinkhachorn, P.; Mercer, A. Scott; Halabe, Udaya B.; GangaRao, Hota V. S.

2007-03-01

Current non-destructive techniques for defect analysis of FRP bridge decks have a narrow scope. These techniques are very good at detecting certain types of defects but are not robust enough to detect all defects by themselves. For example, infrared thermography (IRT) can detect air filled defects and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is good at detecting water filled ones. These technologies can be combined to create a more robust defect detection scheme. To accomplish this, an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) has been designed that incorporates both IR and GPR analysis to create a comprehensive defect map of a bridge deck. The UGV autonomously surveys the deck surface and acquires data. The UGV has two 1.5 GHz ground coupled GPR antennas that are mounted on the front of the UGV to collect GPR data. It also incorporates an active heating source and a radiometric IR camera to capture IR images of the deck, even in less than ideal weather scenarios such as cold cloudy days. The UGV is designed so that it can collect data in an assembly line fashion. It moves in 1 foot increments. When moving, it collects GPR data from the two antennas. When it stops it heats a section of the deck. The next time it stops to heat a section, the IR camera is analyzing the preheated deck section while preparing for the next section. Because the data is being continually collected using this method, the UGV can survey the entire deck in an efficient and timely manner.

Advanced Vehicle Testing and Evaluation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garetson, Thomas [The Clarity Group, Incorporated, Chicago, IL (United States)

2013-03-31

The objective of the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy's (DOEs) Advanced Vehicle Testing and Evaluation (AVTE) project was to provide test and evaluation services for advanced technology vehicles, to establish a performance baseline, to determine vehicle reliability, and to evaluate vehicle operating costs in fleet operations.Vehicles tested include light and medium-duty vehicles in conventional, hybrid, and all-electric configurations using conventional and alternative fuels, including hydrogen in internal combustion engines. Vehicles were tested on closed tracks and chassis dynamometers, as well as operated on public roads, in fleet operations, and over prescribed routes. All testing was controlled by procedures developed specifically to support such testing.

The design and results of an algorithm for intelligent ground vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Duncan, Matthew; Milam, Justin; Tote, Caleb; Riggins, Robert N.

2010-01-01

This paper addresses the design, design method, test platform, and test results of an algorithm used in autonomous navigation for intelligent vehicles. The Bluefield State College (BSC) team created this algorithm for its 2009 Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC) robot called Anassa V. The BSC robotics team is comprised of undergraduate computer science, engineering technology, marketing students, and one robotics faculty advisor. The team has participated in IGVC since the year 2000. A major part of the design process that the BSC team uses each year for IGVC is a fully documented "Post-IGVC Analysis." Over the nine years since 2000, the lessons the students learned from these analyses have resulted in an ever-improving, highly successful autonomous algorithm. The algorithm employed in Anassa V is a culmination of past successes and new ideas, resulting in Anassa V earning several excellent IGVC 2009 performance awards, including third place overall. The paper will discuss all aspects of the design of this autonomous robotic system, beginning with the design process and ending with test results for both simulation and real environments.

Magneto-rheological suspensions for improving ground vehicle's ride comfort, stability, and handling

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmadian, Mehdi

2017-10-01

A state-of-the-art discussion on the applications of magneto-rheological (MR) suspensions for improving ride comfort, handling, and stability in ground vehicles is discussed for both road and rail applications. A historical perspective on the discovery and engineering development of MR fluids is presented, followed by some of the common methods for modelling their non-Newtonian behaviour. The common modes of the MR fluids are discussed, along with the application of the fluid in valve mode for ground vehicles' dampers (or shock absorbers). The applications span across nearly all road vehicles, including automobiles, trains, semi-trucks, motorcycles, and even bicycles. For each type of vehicle, the results of some of the past studies is presented briefly, with reference to the originating study. It is discussed that Past experimental and modelling studies have indicated that MR suspensions provide clear advantages for ground vehicles that far surpasses the performance of passive suspension. For rail vehicles, the primary advantage is in terms of increasing the speed at which the onset of hunting occurs, whereas for road vehicles - mainly automobiles - the performance improvements are in terms of a better balance between vehicle ride, handling, and stability. To further elaborate on this point, a single-suspension model is used to develop an index-based approach for studying the compromise that is offered by vehicle suspensions, using the H2 optimisation approach. Evaluating three indices based on the sprung-mass acceleration, suspension rattlespace, and tyre deflection, it is clearly demonstrated that MR suspensions significantly improve road vehicle's ride comfort, stability, and handling in comparison with passive suspensions. For rail vehicles, the simulation results indicate that using MR suspensions with an on-off switching control can increase the speed at which the on-set of hunting occurs by as much as 50% to more than 300%.

Unmanned Ground Vehicle Perception Using Thermal Infrared Cameras

Science.gov (United States)

Rankin, Arturo; Huertas, Andres; Matthies, Larry; Bajracharya, Max; Assad, Christopher; Brennan, Shane; Bellut, Paolo; Sherwin, Gary

2011-01-01

TIR cameras can be used for day/night Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) autonomous navigation when stealth is required. The quality of uncooled TIR cameras has significantly improved over the last decade, making them a viable option at low speed Limiting factors for stereo ranging with uncooled LWIR cameras are image blur and low texture scenes TIR perception capabilities JPL has explored includes: (1) single and dual band TIR terrain classification (2) obstacle detection (pedestrian, vehicle, tree trunks, ditches, and water) (3) perception thru obscurants

LWIR passive perception system for stealthy unmanned ground vehicle night operations

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Daren; Rankin, Arturo; Huertas, Andres; Nash, Jeremy; Ahuja, Gaurav; Matthies, Larry

2016-05-01

Resupplying forward-deployed units in rugged terrain in the presence of hostile forces creates a high threat to manned air and ground vehicles. An autonomous unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) capable of navigating stealthily at night in off-road and on-road terrain could significantly increase the safety and success rate of such resupply missions for warfighters. Passive night-time perception of terrain and obstacle features is a vital requirement for such missions. As part of the ONR 30 Autonomy Team, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed a passive, low-cost night-time perception system under the ONR Expeditionary Maneuver Warfare and Combating Terrorism Applied Research program. Using a stereo pair of forward looking LWIR uncooled microbolometer cameras, the perception system generates disparity maps using a local window-based stereo correlator to achieve real-time performance while maintaining low power consumption. To overcome the lower signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution of LWIR thermal imaging technologies, a series of pre-filters were applied to the input images to increase the image contrast and stereo correlator enhancements were applied to increase the disparity density. To overcome false positives generated by mixed pixels, noisy disparities from repeated textures, and uncertainty in far range measurements, a series of consistency, multi-resolution, and temporal based post-filters were employed to improve the fidelity of the output range measurements. The stereo processing leverages multi-core processors and runs under the Robot Operating System (ROS). The night-time passive perception system was tested and evaluated on fully autonomous testbed ground vehicles at SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific) and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. This paper describes the challenges, techniques, and experimental results of developing a passive, low-cost perception system for night-time autonomous navigation.

Aerodynamic Reconstruction Applied to Parachute Test Vehicle Flight Data Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Cassady, Leonard D.; Ray, Eric S.; Truong, Tuan H.

2013-01-01

The aerodynamics, both static and dynamic, of a test vehicle are critical to determining the performance of the parachute cluster in a drop test and for conducting a successful test. The Capsule Parachute Assembly System (CPAS) project is conducting tests of NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) parachutes at the Army Yuma Proving Ground utilizing the Parachute Test Vehicle (PTV). The PTV shape is based on the MPCV, but the height has been reduced in order to fit within the C-17 aircraft for extraction. Therefore, the aerodynamics of the PTV are similar, but not the same as, the MPCV. A small series of wind tunnel tests and computational fluid dynamics cases were run to modify the MPCV aerodynamic database for the PTV, but aerodynamic reconstruction of the flights has proven an effective source for further improvements to the database. The acceleration and rotational rates measured during free flight, before parachute inflation but during deployment, were used to con rm vehicle static aerodynamics. A multibody simulation is utilized to reconstruct the parachute portions of the flight. Aerodynamic or parachute parameters are adjusted in the simulation until the prediction reasonably matches the flight trajectory. Knowledge of the static aerodynamics is critical in the CPAS project because the parachute riser load measurements are scaled based on forebody drag. PTV dynamic damping is critical because the vehicle has no reaction control system to maintain attitude - the vehicle dynamics must be understood and modeled correctly before flight. It will be shown here that aerodynamic reconstruction has successfully contributed to the CPAS project.

Hyper-X Mach 7 Scramjet Design, Ground Test and Flight Results

Science.gov (United States)

Ferlemann, Shelly M.; McClinton, Charles R.; Rock, Ken E.; Voland, Randy T.

2005-01-01

The successful Mach 7 flight test of the Hyper-X (X-43) research vehicle has provided the major, essential demonstration of the capability of the airframe integrated scramjet engine. This flight was a crucial first step toward realizing the potential for airbreathing hypersonic propulsion for application to space launch vehicles. However, it is not sufficient to have just achieved a successful flight. The more useful knowledge gained from the flight is how well the prediction methods matched the actual test results in order to have confidence that these methods can be applied to the design of other scramjet engines and powered vehicles. The propulsion predictions for the Mach 7 flight test were calculated using the computer code, SRGULL, with input from computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and wind tunnel tests. This paper will discuss the evolution of the Mach 7 Hyper-X engine, ground wind tunnel experiments, propulsion prediction methodology, flight results and validation of design methods.

Mesh Optimization for Ground Vehicle Aerodynamics

OpenAIRE

Adrian Gaylard; Essam F Abo-Serie; Nor Elyana Ahmad

2010-01-01

Mesh optimization strategy for estimating accurate drag of a ground vehicle is proposed based on examining the effect of different mesh parameters.  The optimized mesh parameters were selected using design of experiment (DOE) method to be able to work in a...

Deployment of Shaped Charges by a Semi-Autonomous Ground Vehicle

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Herkamp, John F

2007-01-01

.... BigFoot incorporates improved communication range over previous Autonomous Ground Vehicles and an updated user interface that includes controls for the arm and camera by interfacing multiple microprocessor...

The 15th Annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition: Intelligent Ground Robots Created by Intelligent Students

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Theisen, Bernard L

2007-01-01

..., and mobile platform fundamentals to design and build an unmanned system. Teams from around the world focus on developing a suite of dual-use technologies to equip ground vehicles of the future with intelligent driving capabilities...

Exploring the mechanisms of vehicle front-end shape on pedestrian head injuries caused by ground impact.

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Sha; Li, Jiani; Xu, Jun

2017-09-01

In pedestrian-vehicle accidents, pedestrians typically suffer from secondary impact with the ground after the primary contact with vehicles. However, information about the fundamental mechanism of pedestrian head injury from ground impact remains minimal, thereby hindering further improvement in pedestrian safety. This study addresses this issue by using multi-body modeling and computation to investigate the influence of vehicle front-end shape on pedestrian safety. Accordingly, a simulation matrix is constructed to vary bonnet leading-edge height, bonnet length, bonnet angle, and windshield angle. Subsequently, a set of 315 pedestrian-vehicle crash simulations are conducted using the multi-body simulation software MADYMO. Three vehicle velocities, i.e., 20, 30, and 40km/h, are set as the scenarios. Results show that the top governing factor is bonnet leading-edge height. The posture and head injury at the instant of head ground impact vary dramatically with increasing height because of the significant rise of the body bending point and the movement of the collision point. The bonnet angle is the second dominant factor that affects head-ground injury, followed by bonnet length and windshield angle. The results may elucidate one of the critical barriers to understanding head injury caused by ground impact and provide a solid theoretical guideline for considering pedestrian safety in vehicle design. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ground Vehicle Power and Mobility Overview - Germany Visit

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-10

the current and future force Survivability Robotics – Intelligent Systems Vehicle Electronics & Architecture Fuel, Water, Bridging ...Test Cell • Engine Generator Test Lab • Full Vehicle Environmental Test Cell • Hybrid Electric Reconfigurable Moveable Integration Testbed (HERMIT...Converter Conducted competitive runoff evaluations on Bridging Boat engine candidates Completed independent durability assessment of OEM

Hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle performance testing by the US Department of Energy Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity

Science.gov (United States)

Karner, Donald; Francfort, James

The Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity (AVTA), part of the U.S. Department of Energy's FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies Program, has conducted testing of advanced technology vehicles since August 1995 in support of the AVTA goal to provide benchmark data for technology modeling, and vehicle development programs. The AVTA has tested full size electric vehicles, urban electric vehicles, neighborhood electric vehicles, and hydrogen internal combustion engine powered vehicles. Currently, the AVTA is conducting baseline performance, battery benchmark and fleet tests of hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). Testing has included all HEVs produced by major automotive manufacturers and spans over 2.5 million test miles. Testing is currently incorporating PHEVs from four different vehicle converters. The results of all testing are posted on the AVTA web page maintained by the Idaho National Laboratory.

Impact of mesh tracks and low-ground-pressure vehicle use on blanket peat hydrology

Science.gov (United States)

McKendrick-Smith, Kathryn; Holden, Joseph; Parry, Lauren

2016-04-01

Peatlands are subject to multiple uses including drainage, farming and recreation. Low-ground-pressure vehicle access is desirable by land owners and tracks facilitate access. However, there is concern that such activity may impact peat hydrology and so granting permission for track installation has been problematic, particularly without evidence for decision-making. We present the first comprehensive study of mesh track and low-ground-pressure vehicle impacts on peatland hydrology. In the sub-arctic oceanic climate of the Moor House World Biosphere Reserve in the North Pennines, UK, a 1.5 km long experimental track was installed to investigate hydrological impacts. Surface vegetation was cut and the plastic mesh track pinned into the peat surface. The experimental track was split into 7 treatments, designed to reflect typical track usage (0 - 5 vehicle passes per week) and varying vehicle weight. The greatest hydrological impacts were expected for sections of track subject to more frequent vehicle use and in close proximity to the track. In total 554 dipwells (including 15 automated recording at 15-min intervals) were monitored for water-table depth, positioned to capture potential spatial variability in response. Before track installation, samples for vertical and lateral hydraulic conductivity (Ks) analysis (using the modified cube method) were taken at 0-10 cm depth from a frequently driven treatment (n = 15), an infrequently driven treatment (0.5 passes per week) (n = 15) and a control site with no track/driving (n = 15). The test was repeated after 16 months of track use. We present a spatially and temporally rich water-table dataset from the study site showing how the impacts of the track on water table are spatially highly variable. Water-table depths across the site were shallow, typically within the upper 10 cm of the peat profile for > 75% of the time. We show that mesh track and low-ground-pressure vehicle impacts on water-table depth were small except

A pose estimation method for unmanned ground vehicles in GPS denied environments

Science.gov (United States)

Tamjidi, Amirhossein; Ye, Cang

2012-06-01

This paper presents a pose estimation method based on the 1-Point RANSAC EKF (Extended Kalman Filter) framework. The method fuses the depth data from a LIDAR and the visual data from a monocular camera to estimate the pose of a Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) in a GPS denied environment. Its estimation framework continuy updates the vehicle's 6D pose state and temporary estimates of the extracted visual features' 3D positions. In contrast to the conventional EKF-SLAM (Simultaneous Localization And Mapping) frameworks, the proposed method discards feature estimates from the extended state vector once they are no longer observed for several steps. As a result, the extended state vector always maintains a reasonable size that is suitable for online calculation. The fusion of laser and visual data is performed both in the feature initialization part of the EKF-SLAM process and in the motion prediction stage. A RANSAC pose calculation procedure is devised to produce pose estimate for the motion model. The proposed method has been successfully tested on the Ford campus's LIDAR-Vision dataset. The results are compared with the ground truth data of the dataset and the estimation error is ~1.9% of the path length.

Hybrid Map-Based Navigation Method for Unmanned Ground Vehicle in Urban Scenario

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huiyan Chen

2013-07-01

Full Text Available To reduce the data size of metric map and map matching computational cost in unmanned ground vehicle self-driving navigation in urban scenarios, a metric-topological hybrid map navigation system is proposed in this paper. According to the different positioning accuracy requirements, urban areas are divided into strong constraint (SC areas, such as roads with lanes, and loose constraint (LC areas, such as intersections and open areas. As direction of the self-driving vehicle is provided by traffic lanes and global waypoints in the road network, a simple topological map is fit for the navigation in the SC areas. While in the LC areas, the navigation of the self-driving vehicle mainly relies on the positioning information. Simultaneous localization and mapping technology is used to provide a detailed metric map in the LC areas, and a window constraint Markov localization algorithm is introduced to achieve accurate position using laser scanner. Furthermore, the real-time performance of the Markov algorithm is enhanced by using a constraint window to restrict the size of the state space. By registering the metric maps into the road network, a hybrid map of the urban scenario can be constructed. Real unmanned vehicle mapping and navigation tests demonstrated the capabilities of the proposed method.

Saturn V First Stage Lowered to the Ground After Static Test

Science.gov (United States)

1966-01-01

This vintage photograph shows the 138-foot long first stage of the Saturn V being lowered to the ground following a successful static test firing at Marshall Space flight Center's S-1C test stand. The firing provided NASA engineers information on the booster's systems. The towering 363-foot Saturn V was a multi-stage, multi-engine launch vehicle standing taller than the Statue of Liberty. Altogether, the Saturn V engines produced as much power as 85 Hoover Dams.

Research on application of LADAR in ground vehicle recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Lan, Jinhui; Shen, Zhuoxun

2009-11-01

For the requirement of many practical applications in the field of military, the research of 3D target recognition is active. The representation that captures the salient attributes of a 3D target independent of the viewing angle will be especially useful to the automatic 3D target recognition system. This paper presents a new approach of image generation based on Laser Detection and Ranging (LADAR) data. Range image of target is obtained by transformation of point cloud. In order to extract features of different ground vehicle targets and to recognize targets, zernike moment properties of typical ground vehicle targets are researched in this paper. A technique of support vector machine is applied to the classification and recognition of target. The new method of image generation and feature representation has been applied to the outdoor experiments. Through outdoor experiments, it can be proven that the method of image generation is stability, the moments are effective to be used as features for recognition, and the LADAR can be applied to the field of 3D target recognition.

Ground testing and simulation. II - Aerodynamic testing and simulation: Saving lives, time, and money

Science.gov (United States)

Dayman, B., Jr.; Fiore, A. W.

1974-01-01

The present work discusses in general terms the various kinds of ground facilities, in particular, wind tunnels, which support aerodynamic testing. Since not all flight parameters can be simulated simultaneously, an important problem consists in matching parameters. It is pointed out that there is a lack of wind tunnels for a complete Reynolds-number simulation. Using a computer to simulate flow fields can result in considerable reduction of wind-tunnel hours required to develop a given flight vehicle.

Estimating Hedonic Price Indices for Ground Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-01

I N S T I T U T E F O R D E F E N S E A N A L Y S E S Estimating Hedonic Price Indices for Ground Vehicles (Presentation) David M. Tate Stanley...gathering and maintaining the data needed , and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any...currently valid OMB control number. 1. REPORT DATE JUN 2015 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Estimating Hedonic Price

The Apache Longbow-Hellfire Missile Test at Yuma Proving Ground: Ecological Risk Assessment for Tracked Vehicle Movement across Desert Pavement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peterson, Mark J; Efroymson, Rebecca Ann; Hargrove, William Walter

2008-01-01

A multiple stressor risk assessment was conducted at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, as a demonstration of the Military Ecological Risk Assessment Framework. The focus was a testing program at Cibola Range, which involved an Apache Longbow helicopter firing Hellfire missiles at moving targets, M60-A1 tanks. This paper describes the ecological risk assessment for the tracked vehicle movement component of the testing program. The principal stressor associated with tracked vehicle movement was soil disturbance, and a resulting, secondary stressor was hydrological change. Water loss to washes and wash vegetation was expected to result from increased infiltration and/or evaporation associated with disturbances to desert pavement. The simulated exposure of wash vegetation to water loss was quantified using estimates of exposed land area from a digital ortho quarter quad aerial photo and field observations, a 30 30 m digital elevation model, the flow accumulation feature of ESRI ArcInfo, and a two-step process in which runoff was estimated from direct precipitation to a land area and from water that flowed from upgradient to a land area. In all simulated scenarios, absolute water loss decreased with distance from the disturbance, downgradient in the washes; however, percentage water loss was greatest in land areas immediately downgradient of a disturbance. Potential effects on growth and survival of wash trees were quantified by using an empirical relationship derived from a local unpublished study of water infiltration rates. The risk characterization concluded that neither risk to wash vegetation growth or survival nor risk to mule deer abundance and reproduction was expected. The risk characterization was negative for both the incremental risk of the test program and the combination of the test and pretest disturbances

Eco-Test at Vehicle Testing Centres

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nada Štrumberger

2003-09-01

Full Text Available Following the world conference on sustainable developmentof ecology, the care for the environment has to be strictlycomplied with, and this should be the task both of every individualand of the society as an organised whole. The work presentsconcrete measurements from practice and the indicators of thesituation regarding motor vehicles in Croatia. The EGO-TESThas been performed in Croatia according to the European Uniondirectives; first on the vehicles with petrol engines. Now, it isstarting to be applied on the vehicles with Diesel engines as well.Compliance with the EGO TEST regarding motor vehicles inCroatia will take into consideration the guidelines provided bythe European Union and thus reduce the harm from exhaustgases and noise pollution, and increase the possibility of usingmotor vehicles in order to reduce the danger and increase thesafety on the roads by excluding old vehicles from traffic.

The on-line electric vehicle wireless electric ground transportation systems

CERN Document Server

Cho, Dong

2017-01-01

This book details the design and technology of the on-line electric vehicle (OLEV) system and its enabling wireless power-transfer technology, the “shaped magnetic field in resonance” (SMFIR). The text shows how OLEV systems can achieve their three linked important goals: reduction of CO2 produced by ground transportation; improved energy efficiency of ground transportation; and contribution to the amelioration or prevention of climate change and global warming. SMFIR provides power to the OLEV by wireless transmission from underground cables using an alternating magnetic field and the reader learns how this is done. This cable network will in future be part of any local smart grid for energy supply and use thereby exploiting local and renewable energy generation to further its aims. In addition to the technical details involved with design and realization of a fleet of vehicles combined with extensive subsurface charging infrastructure, practical issues such as those involved with pedestrian safety are c...

The 21st annual intelligent ground vehicle competition: robotists for the future

Science.gov (United States)

Theisen, Bernard L.

2013-12-01

The Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC) is one of four, unmanned systems, student competitions that were founded by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). The IGVC is a multidisciplinary exercise in product realization that challenges college engineering student teams to integrate advanced control theory, machine vision, vehicular electronics and mobile platform fundamentals to design and build an unmanned system. Teams from around the world focus on developing a suite of dual-use technologies to equip ground vehicles of the future with intelligent driving capabilities. Over the past 21 years, the competition has challenged undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. students with real world applications in intelligent transportation systems, the military and manufacturing automation. To date, teams from over 80 universities and colleges have participated. This paper describes some of the applications of the technologies required by this competition and discusses the educational benefits. The primary goal of the IGVC is to advance engineering education in intelligent vehicles and related technologies. The employment and professional networking opportunities created for students and industrial sponsors through a series of technical events over the fourday competition are highlighted. Finally, an assessment of the competition based on participation is presented.

Application of parallelized software architecture to an autonomous ground vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Shakya, Rahul; Wright, Adam; Shin, Young Ho; Momin, Orko; Petkovsek, Steven; Wortman, Paul; Gautam, Prasanna; Norton, Adam

2011-01-01

This paper presents improvements made to Q, an autonomous ground vehicle designed to participate in the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC). For the 2010 IGVC, Q was upgraded with a new parallelized software architecture and a new vision processor. Improvements were made to the power system reducing the number of batteries required for operation from six to one. In previous years, a single state machine was used to execute the bulk of processing activities including sensor interfacing, data processing, path planning, navigation algorithms and motor control. This inefficient approach led to poor software performance and made it difficult to maintain or modify. For IGVC 2010, the team implemented a modular parallel architecture using the National Instruments (NI) LabVIEW programming language. The new architecture divides all the necessary tasks - motor control, navigation, sensor data collection, etc. into well-organized components that execute in parallel, providing considerable flexibility and facilitating efficient use of processing power. Computer vision is used to detect white lines on the ground and determine their location relative to the robot. With the new vision processor and some optimization of the image processing algorithm used last year, two frames can be acquired and processed in 70ms. With all these improvements, Q placed 2nd in the autonomous challenge.

Vehicle test report: Battronic pickup truck

Science.gov (United States)

Price, T. W.; Shain, T. W.; Freeman, R. J.; Pompa, M. F.

1982-01-01

An electric pickup truck was tested to characterize certain parameters and to provide baseline data that can be used for the comparison of improved batteries that may be incorporated into the vehicle at a later time. The vehicle tests were concentrated on the electrical drive subsystem; i.e., the batteries, controller, and motor. The tests included coastdowns to characterize the road load and range evaluations for both cyclic and constant speed conditions. A qualitative evaluation of the vehicle's performance was made by comparing its constant speed range performance with other vehicles.

Constraint Embedding for Vehicle Suspension Dynamics

OpenAIRE

Jain Abhinandan; Kuo Calvin; Jayakumar Paramsothy; Cameron Jonathan

2016-01-01

The goal of this research is to achieve close to real-time dynamics performance for allowing auto-pilot in-the-loop testing of unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) for urban as well as off-road scenarios. The overall vehicle dynamics performance is governed by the multibody dynamics model for the vehicle, the wheel/terrain interaction dynamics and the onboard control system. The topic of this paper is the development of computationally efficient and accurate dynamics model for ground vehicles with ...

Probabilistic Tracking and Trajectory Planning for Autonomous Ground Vehicles in Urban Environments

Science.gov (United States)

2016-03-05

Vehicles in Urban Environments The views, opinions and/or findings contained in this report are those of the author(s) and should not contrued as an...Pine Tree Road Ithaca, NY 14850 -2820 ABSTRACT Probabilistic Tracking and Trajectory Planning for Autonomous Ground Vehicles in Urban Environments...Probabilistic Anticipation for Autonomous Robots in Urban Environments, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, (04 2014): 0. doi: 10.1109/TRO.2013.2291620 Isaac

PhoneSat: Ground Testing of a Phone-Based Prototype Bus

Science.gov (United States)

Felix, Carmen; Howard, Benjamin; Reyes, Matthew; Snarskiy, Fedor; Hickman, Ryan; Boshuizen, Christopher; Marshall, William

2010-01-01

Most of the key capabilities that are requisite of a satellite bus are housed in today's smart phones. PhoneSat refers to an initiative to build a ground-based prototype vehicle that could all the basic functionality of a satellite, including attitude control, using a smart Phone as its central hardware. All components used were also low cost Commercial off the Shelf (COTS). In summer 2009, an initial prototype was created using the LEGO Mindstorm toolkit demonstrating simple attitude control. Here we report on a follow up initiative to design, build and test a vehicle based on the Google s smart phone Nexus One. The report includes results from initial thermal-vacuum chamber tests and low altitude sub-orbital rocket flights which show that, at least for short durations, the Nexus One phone is able to withstand key aspects of the space environment without failure. We compare the sensor data from the Phone's accelerometers and magnetometers with that of an external microelectronic inertial measurement unit.

INERTIAL TECHNOLOGIES IN SYSTEMS FOR STABILIZATION OF GROUND VEHICLES EQUIPMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olha Sushchenko

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The vibratory inertial technology is a recent modern inertial technology. It represents the most perspective approach to design of inertial sensors, which can be used in stabilization and tracking systems operated on vehicles of the wide class. The purpose of the research is to consider advantages of this technology in comparison with laser and fiber-optic ones. Operation of the inertial sensors on the ground vehicles requires some improvement of the Coriolis vibratory gyroscope with the goal to simplify information processing, increase reliability, and compensate bias. Methods: Improvement of the Coriolis vibratory gyroscope includes introducing of the phase detector and additional excitation unit. The possibility to use the improved Coriolis vibratory gyroscope in the stabilization systems operated on the ground vehicles is shown by means of analysis of gyroscope output signal. To prove efficiency of the Coriolis vibratory gyroscope in stabilization system the simulation technique is used. Results: The scheme of the improved Coriolis vibratory gyroscope including the phase detector and additional excitation unit is developed and analyzed. The way to compensate bias is determined. Simulation of the stabilization system with the improved Coriolis vibratory gyroscope is carried out. Expressions for the output signals of the improved Coriolis vibratory gyroscope are derived. The error of the output signal is estimated and the possibility to use the modified Coriolis vibratory gyroscope in stabilization systems is proved. The results of stabilization system simulation are given. Their analysis is carried out. Conclusions: The represented results prove efficiency of the proposed technical decisions. They can be useful for design of stabilization platform with instrumental equipment operated on moving vehicles of the wide class.

Ground vibration test results for Drones for Aerodynamic and Structural Testing (DAST)/Aeroelastic Research Wing (ARW-1R) aircraft

Science.gov (United States)

Cox, T. H.; Gilyard, G. B.

1986-01-01

The drones for aerodynamic and structural testing (DAST) project was designed to control flutter actively at high subsonic speeds. Accurate knowledge of the structural model was critical for the successful design of the control system. A ground vibration test was conducted on the DAST vehicle to determine the structural model characteristics. This report presents and discusses the vibration and test equipment, the test setup and procedures, and the antisymmetric and symmetric mode shape results. The modal characteristics were subsequently used to update the structural model employed in the control law design process.

Vehicle test report: Electric Vehicle Associates electric conversion of an AMC Pacer

Science.gov (United States)

Price, T. W.; Wirth, V. A., Jr.; Pompa, M. F.

1981-01-01

Tests were performed to characterize certain parameters of the EVA Pacer and to provide baseline data that can be used for the comparison of improved batteries that may be incorporated into the vehicle at a later time. The vehicle tests were concentrated on the electrical drive subsystem; i.e., the batteries, controller and motor. The tests included coastdowns to characterize the road load, and range evaluations for both cyclic and constant speed conditions. A qualitative evaluation of the vehicle's performance was made by comparing its constant speed range performance with other electric and hybrid vehicles. The Pacer performance was approximately equal to the majority of those vehicles assessed in 1977.

The 20th annual intelligent ground vehicle competition: building a generation of robotists

Science.gov (United States)

Theisen, Bernard L.; Kosinski, Andrew

2013-01-01

The Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC) is one of four, unmanned systems, student competitions that were founded by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). The IGVC is a multidisciplinary exercise in product realization that challenges college engineering student teams to integrate advanced control theory, machine vision, vehicular electronics and mobile platform fundamentals to design and build an unmanned system. Teams from around the world focus on developing a suite of dual-use technologies to equip ground vehicles of the future with intelligent driving capabilities. Over the past 20 years, the competition has challenged undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. students with real world applications in intelligent transportation systems, the military and manufacturing automation. To date, teams from over 80 universities and colleges have participated. This paper describes some of the applications of the technologies required by this competition and discusses the educational benefits. The primary goal of the IGVC is to advance engineering education in intelligent vehicles and related technologies. The employment and professional networking opportunities created for students and industrial sponsors through a series of technical events over the four-day competition are highlighted. Finally, an assessment of the competition based on participation is presented.

The development of ground unmanned vehicles, driver assistance systems and components according to patent publications

Science.gov (United States)

Saykin, A. M.; Tuktakiev, G. S.; Zhuravlev, A. V.; Zaitseva, E. P.

2018-02-01

The paper contains the analysis of the main trends in the patenting of ground unmanned vehicles, driver assistance systems (ADAS) and unmanned vehicle components abroad during the period from 2010 to 2016. The conclusion was made that the intensity of their patenting abroad increased.

Single Fuel Concept for Croatian Army Ground Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Spudić

2008-05-01

Full Text Available During the process of approaching the European associationsand NATO the Republic of Croatia has accepted the singlefuel concept for all ground vehicles of the Croatian Army.Croatia has also undertaken to insure that all aircraft, motorvehicles and equipment with turbo-engines or with pressurizedfuel injection, for participation in NATO and PfP led operationscan • operate using the kerosene-based aviation fuel(NATO F-34. The paper gives a brief overview and the resultsof the earned out activities in the Armed Forces of the Republicof Croatia, the expected behaviour of the motor vehicle andpossible delays caused by the use of kerosene fuel (NATOF-34 as fuel for motor vehicles. The paper also gives the advantagesand the drawbacks of the single fuel concept. By acquiringnew data in the Croatian Armed Forces and experienceexchange with other nations about the method of using fuelF-34, the development of the technologies of engine manufacturingand its vital parts or by introducing new standards in theproductjon of fuels and additives new knowledge will certainlybe acquired for providing logistics support in the area of operations,and its final implementation will be a big step forward forthe Republic of Croatia towards Europe and NATO.

Effect of vertical ground motion on earthquake-induced derailment of railway vehicles over simply-supported bridges

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Zhibin; Pei, Shiling; Li, Xiaozhen; Liu, Hongyan; Qiang, Shizhong

2016-11-01

The running safety of railway vehicles on bridges can be negatively affected by earthquake events. This phenomenon has traditionally been investigated with only the lateral ground excitation component considered. This paper presented results from a numerical investigation on the contribution of vertical ground motion component to the derailment of vehicles on simply-supported bridges. A full nonlinear wheel-rail contact model was used in the investigation together with the Hertzian contact theory and nonlinear creepage theory, which allows the wheel to jump vertically and separate from the rail. The wheel-rail relative displacement was used as the criterion for derailment events. A total of 18 ground motion records were used in the analysis to account for the uncertainty of ground motions. The results showed that inclusion of vertical ground motion will likely increase the chance of derailment. It is recommended to include vertical ground motion component in earthquake induced derailment analysis to ensure conservative estimations. The derailment event on bridges was found to be more closely related to the deck acceleration rather than the ground acceleration.

Integrated vehicle control and guidance systems in unmanned ground vehicles for commercial applications

Science.gov (United States)

Kenyon, Chase H.

1995-01-01

While there is a lot of recent development in the entire IVHS field, very few have had the opportunity to combine the many areas of development into a single integrated `intelligent' unmanned vehicle. One of our systems was developed specifically to serve a major automobile manufacturer's need for an automated vehicle chassis durability test facility. Due to the severity of the road surface human drivers could not be used. A totally automated robotic vehicle driver and guidance system was necessary. In order to deliver fixed price commercial projects now, it was apparent system and component costs were of paramount importance. Cyplex has developed a robust, cost effective single wire guidance system. This system has inherent advantages in system simplicity. Multi-signal (per vehicle lane) systems complicate path planning and layout when multiple lanes and lane changes are required, as on actual highways. The system has demonstrated high enough immunity to rain and light snow cover that normal safety reductions in speed are adequate to stay within the required system performance envelope. This system and it's antenna interface have shown the ability to guide the vehicle at slow speeds (10 MPH) with a tracking repeatability of plus or minus 1/8 of an inch. The basic guide and antenna system has been tested at speeds up to 80 mph. The system has inherently superior abilities for lane changes and precision vehicle placement. The operation of this system will be described and the impact of a system that is commercially viable now for highway and off road use will be discussed.

Yeager Airport Hydrogen Vehicle Test Project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Davis, Williams [West Virginia University Research Corporation, Morgantown, WV (United States)

2015-10-01

The scope of this project was changed during the course of the project. Phase I of the project was designed to have the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC), together with its partners, manage the Hydrogen Vehicle Test Project at the Yeager Airport in conjunction with the Central West Virginia Regional Airport Authority (CWVRAA) in coordination with the United States Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory (U.S. DOE NETL). This program would allow testing and evaluation of the use of hydrogen vehicles in the state of West Virginia utilizing the hydrogen fueling station at Yeager Airport. The NAFTC and CWVRAA to raise awareness and foster a greater understanding of hydrogen fuel and hydrogen-powered vehicles through a targeted utilization and outreach and education effort. After initial implementation of the project, the project added, determine the source(s) of supply for hydrogen powered vehicles that could be used for the testing. After completion of this, testing was begun at Yeager Airport. During the course of the project, the station at Yeager Airport was closed and moved to Morgantown and the West Virginia University Research Corporation. The vehicles were then moved to Morgantown and a vehicle owned by the CWVRAA was purchased to complete the project at the new location. Because of a number of issues detailed in the report for DE-FE0002994 and in this report, this project did not get to evaluate the effectiveness of the vehicles as planned.

Determining Damping Trends from a Range of Cable Harness Assemblies on a Launch Vehicle Panel from Test Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Andrew; Davis, R. Ben; LaVerde, Bruce; Jones, Douglas

2012-01-01

The team of authors at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has been investigating estimating techniques for the vibration response of launch vehicle panels excited by acoustics and/or aero-fluctuating pressures. Validation of the approaches used to estimate these environments based on ground tests of flight like hardware is of major importance to new vehicle programs. The team at MSFC has recently expanded upon the first series of ground test cases completed in December 2010. The follow on tests recently completed are intended to illustrate differences in damping that might be expected when cable harnesses are added to the configurations under test. This validation study examines the effect on vibroacoustic response resulting from the installation of cable bundles on a curved orthogrid panel. Of interest is the level of damping provided by the installation of the cable bundles and whether this damping could be potentially leveraged in launch vehicle design. The results of this test are compared with baseline acoustic response tests without cables. Damping estimates from the measured response data are made using a new software tool that employs a finite element model (FEM) of the panel in conjunction with advanced optimization techniques. This paper will report on the \\damping trend differences. observed from response measurements for several different configurations of cable harnesses. The data should assist vibroacoustics engineers to make more informed damping assumptions when calculating vibration response estimates when using model based analysis approach. Achieving conservative estimates that have more flight like accuracy is desired. The paper may also assist analysts in determining how ground test data may relate to expected flight response levels. Empirical response estimates may also need to be adjusted if the measured response used as an input to the study came from a test article without flight like cable harnesses.

40 CFR 205.57-3 - Test vehicle preparation.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 24 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Test vehicle preparation. 205.57-3... PROGRAMS TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT NOISE EMISSION CONTROLS Medium and Heavy Trucks § 205.57-3 Test vehicle preparation. (a) Prior to the official test, the test vehicle selected in accordance with § 205-57-2 shall not...

Intelligence algorithms for autonomous navigation in a ground vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Petkovsek, Steve; Shakya, Rahul; Shin, Young Ho; Gautam, Prasanna; Norton, Adam; Ahlgren, David J.

2012-01-01

This paper will discuss the approach to autonomous navigation used by "Q," an unmanned ground vehicle designed by the Trinity College Robot Study Team to participate in the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC). For the 2011 competition, Q's intelligence was upgraded in several different areas, resulting in a more robust decision-making process and a more reliable system. In 2010-2011, the software of Q was modified to operate in a modular parallel manner, with all subtasks (including motor control, data acquisition from sensors, image processing, and intelligence) running simultaneously in separate software processes using the National Instruments (NI) LabVIEW programming language. This eliminated processor bottlenecks and increased flexibility in the software architecture. Though overall throughput was increased, the long runtime of the image processing process (150 ms) reduced the precision of Q's realtime decisions. Q had slow reaction times to obstacles detected only by its cameras, such as white lines, and was limited to slow speeds on the course. To address this issue, the image processing software was simplified and also pipelined to increase the image processing throughput and minimize the robot's reaction times. The vision software was also modified to detect differences in the texture of the ground, so that specific surfaces (such as ramps and sand pits) could be identified. While previous iterations of Q failed to detect white lines that were not on a grassy surface, this new software allowed Q to dynamically alter its image processing state so that appropriate thresholds could be applied to detect white lines in changing conditions. In order to maintain an acceptable target heading, a path history algorithm was used to deal with local obstacle fields and GPS waypoints were added to provide a global target heading. These modifications resulted in Q placing 5th in the autonomous challenge and 4th in the navigation challenge at IGVC.

Robust H∞ output-feedback control for path following of autonomous ground vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Chuan; Jing, Hui; Wang, Rongrong; Yan, Fengjun; Chadli, Mohammed

2016-03-01

This paper presents a robust H∞ output-feedback control strategy for the path following of autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs). Considering the vehicle lateral velocity is usually hard to measure with low cost sensor, a robust H∞ static output-feedback controller based on the mixed genetic algorithms (GA)/linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach is proposed to realize the path following without the information of the lateral velocity. The proposed controller is robust to the parametric uncertainties and external disturbances, with the parameters including the tire cornering stiffness, vehicle longitudinal velocity, yaw rate and road curvature. Simulation results based on CarSim-Simulink joint platform using a high-fidelity and full-car model have verified the effectiveness of the proposed control approach.

Impact of Friction Reduction Technologies on Fuel Economy for Ground Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

2009-08-13

UNCLAS: Dist A. Approved for public release IMPACT OF FRICTION REDUCTION TECHNOLOGIES ON FUEL ECONOMY FOR GROUND VEHICLES G. R. Fenske , R. A. Erck...PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) G.R. Fenske ; R.A. Erck; O.O. Ajayi; A. Masoner’ A.S. Confort 5d. PROJECT NUMBER 5e. TASK NUMBER 5f. WORK UNIT

Unmanned Ground Vehicle Navigation and Coverage Hole Patching in Wireless Sensor Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Guyu

2013-01-01

This dissertation presents a study of an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) navigation and coverage hole patching in coordinate-free and localization-free Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Navigation and coverage maintenance are related problems since coverage hole patching requires effective navigation in the sensor network environment. A…

Design, testing, and performance of a hybrid micro vehicle---The Hopping Rotochute

Science.gov (United States)

Beyer, Eric W.

The Hopping Rotochute is a new hybrid micro vehicle that has been developed to robustly explore environments with rough terrain while minimizing energy consumption over long periods of time. The device consists of a small coaxial rotor system housed inside a lightweight cage. The vehicle traverses an area by intermittently powering a small electric motor which drives the rotor system, allowing the vehicle to hop over obstacles of various shapes and sizes. A movable internal mass controls the direction of travel while the egg-like exterior shape and low mass center allows the vehicle to passively reorient itself to an upright attitude when in contact with the ground. This dissertation presents the design, fabrication, and testing of a radio-controlled Hopping Rotochute prototype as well as an analytical study of the flight performance of the device. The conceptual design iterations are first outlined which were driven by the mission and system requirements assigned to the vehicle. The aerodynamic, mechanical, and electrical design of a prototype is then described, based on the final conceptual design, with particular emphasis on the fundamental trades that must be negotiated for this type of hopping vehicle. The fabrication and testing of this prototype is detailed as well as experimental results obtained from a motion capture system. Basic flight performance of the prototype are reported which demonstrates that the Hopping Rotochute satisfies all appointed system requirements. A dynamic model of the Hopping Rotochute is also developed in this thesis and employed to predict the flight performance of the vehicle. The dynamic model includes aerodynamic loads from the body and rotor system as well as a soft contact model to estimate the forces and moments during ground contact. The experimental methods used to estimate the dynamic model parameters are described while comparisons between measured and simulated motion are presented. Good correlation between these motions

Transportable Emissions Testing Laboratory for Alternative Vehicles Emissions Testing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Clark, Nigel

2012-01-31

The overall objective of this project was to perform research to quantify and improve the energy efficiency and the exhaust emissions reduction from advanced technology vehicles using clean, renewable and alternative fuels. Advanced vehicle and alternative fuel fleets were to be identified, and selected vehicles characterized for emissions and efficiency. Target vehicles were to include transit buses, school buses, vocational trucks, delivery trucks, and tractor-trailers. Gaseous species measured were to include carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, hydrocarbons, and particulate matter. An objective was to characterize particulate matter more deeply than by mass. Accurate characterization of efficiency and emissions was to be accomplished using a state-of-the-art portable emissions measurement system and an accompanying chassis dynamometer available at West Virginia University. These two units, combined, are termed the Transportable Laboratory. An objective was to load the vehicles in a real-world fashion, using coast down data to establish rolling resistance and wind drag, and to apply the coast down data to the dynamometer control. Test schedules created from actual vehicle operation were to be employed, and a specific objective of the research was to assess the effect of choosing a test schedule which the subject vehicle either cannot follow or can substantially outperform. In addition the vehicle loading objective was to be met better with an improved flywheel system.

Modeling and Simulation of an Unmanned Ground Vehicle Power System

Science.gov (United States)

2014-03-28

Wilhelm, A. N., Surgenor, B. W., and Pharoah, J. G., “Design and evaluation of a micro-fuel-cell-based power system for a mobile robot,” Mechatronics ... Embedded Control Systems ], Control Engineering, 91–116, Birkhuser Boston (2005). [12] Alur, R., Courcoubetis, C., Halbwachs, N., Henzinger, T., Ho, P.-H...Modeling and Simulation of an Unmanned Ground Vehicle Power System John Brodericka∗, Jack Hartnerb, Dawn Tilburya, and Ella Atkinsa aThe University

Recent Ground Hold and Rapid Depressurization Testing of Multilayer Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Wesley L.

2014-01-01

In the development of flight insulation systems for large cryogenic orbital storage (spray on foam and multilayer insulation), testing need include all environments that are experienced during flight. While large efforts have been expended on studying, bounding, and modeling the orbital performance of the insulation systems, little effort has been expended on the ground hold and ascent phases of a mission. Historical cryogenic in-space systems that have flown have been able to ignore these phases of flight due to the insulation system being within a vacuum jacket. In the development phase of the Nuclear Mars Vehicle and the Shuttle Nuclear Vehicle, several insulation systems were evaluated for the full mission cycle. Since that time there had been minimal work on these phases of flight until the Constellation program began investigating cryogenic service modules and long duration upper stages. With the inception of the Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer Technology Demonstration Mission, a specific need was seen for the data and as such, several tests were added to the Cryogenic Boil-off Reduction System liquid hydrogen test matrix to provide more data on a insulation system. Testing was attempted with both gaseous nitrogen (GN2) and gaseous helium (GHe) backfills. The initial tests with nitrogen backfill were not successfully completed due to nitrogen liquefaction and solidification preventing the rapid pumpdown of the vacuum chamber. Subsequent helium backfill tests were successful and showed minimal degradation. The results are compared to the historical data.

The Ares I-1 Flight Test--Paving the Road for the Ares I Crew Launch Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Stephan R.; Tinker, Michael L.; Tuma, Meg

2007-01-01

In accordance with the U.S. Vision for Space Exploration and the nation's desire to again send humans to explore beyond Earth orbit, NASA has been tasked to send human beings to the moon, Mars, and beyond. It has been 30 years since the United States last designed and built a human-rated launch vehicle. NASA is now building the Ares I crew launch vehicle, which will loft the Orion crew exploration vehicle into orbit, and the Ares V cargo launch vehicle, which will launch the Lunar Surface Access Module and Earth departure stage to rendezvous Orion for missions to the moon. NASA has marshaled unique resources from the government and private sectors to perform the technically and programmatically complex work of delivering astronauts to orbit early next decade, followed by heavy cargo late next decade. Our experiences with Saturn and the Shuttle have taught us the value of adhering to sound systems engineering, such as the "test as you fly" principle, while applying aerospace best practices and lessons learned. If we are to fly humans safely aboard a launch vehicle, we must employ a variety of methodologies to reduce the technical, schedule, and cost risks inherent in the complex business of space transportation. During the Saturn development effort, NASA conducted multiple demonstration and verification flight tests to prove technology in its operating environment before relying upon it for human spaceflight. Less testing on the integrated Shuttle system did not reduce cost or schedule. NASA plans a progressive series of demonstration (ascent), verification (orbital), and mission flight tests to supplement ground research and high-altitude subsystem testing with real-world data, factoring the results of each test into the next one. In this way, sophisticated analytical models and tools, many of which were not available during Saturn and Shuttle, will be calibrated and we will gain confidence in their predictions, as we gain hands-on experience in operating the first

Application of a distributed systems architecture for increased speed in image processing on an autonomous ground vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Adam A.; Momin, Orko; Shin, Young Ho; Shakya, Rahul; Nepal, Kumud; Ahlgren, David J.

2010-01-01

This paper presents the application of a distributed systems architecture to an autonomous ground vehicle, Q, that participates in both the autonomous and navigation challenges of the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition. In the autonomous challenge the vehicle is required to follow a course, while avoiding obstacles and staying within the course boundaries, which are marked by white lines. For the navigation challenge, the vehicle is required to reach a set of target destinations, known as way points, with given GPS coordinates and avoid obstacles that it encounters in the process. Previously the vehicle utilized a single laptop to execute all processing activities including image processing, sensor interfacing and data processing, path planning and navigation algorithms and motor control. National Instruments' (NI) LabVIEW served as the programming language for software implementation. As an upgrade to last year's design, a NI compact Reconfigurable Input/Output system (cRIO) was incorporated to the system architecture. The cRIO is NI's solution for rapid prototyping that is equipped with a real time processor, an FPGA and modular input/output. Under the current system, the real time processor handles the path planning and navigation algorithms, the FPGA gathers and processes sensor data. This setup leaves the laptop to focus on running the image processing algorithm. Image processing as previously presented by Nepal et. al. is a multi-step line extraction algorithm and constitutes the largest processor load. This distributed approach results in a faster image processing algorithm which was previously Q's bottleneck. Additionally, the path planning and navigation algorithms are executed more reliably on the real time processor due to the deterministic nature of operation. The implementation of this architecture required exploration of various inter-system communication techniques. Data transfer between the laptop and the real time processor using UDP packets

Vehicle test report: Jet Industries Electra Van 600

Science.gov (United States)

Price, T. W.; Wirth, V. A., Jr.

1982-01-01

The Electra Van 600, an electric vehicle, was tested. Tests were performed to characterize parameters of the Electra Van 600 and to provide baseline data to be used for comparison of improved batteries and to which will be incorporated into the vehicle. The vehicle tests concentrated on the electrical drive subsystem, the batteries, controller, and motor; coastdowns to characterize the road load and range evaluation for cyclic and constant speed conditions; and qualitative performance was evaluated. It is found that the Electra Van 600 range performance is approximately equal to the majority of the vehicles tested previously.

Constraint Embedding for Vehicle Suspension Dynamics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jain Abhinandan

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The goal of this research is to achieve close to real-time dynamics performance for allowing auto-pilot in-the-loop testing of unmanned ground vehicles (UGV for urban as well as off-road scenarios. The overall vehicle dynamics performance is governed by the multibody dynamics model for the vehicle, the wheel/terrain interaction dynamics and the onboard control system. The topic of this paper is the development of computationally efficient and accurate dynamics model for ground vehicles with complex suspension dynamics. A challenge is that typical vehicle suspensions involve closed-chain loops which require expensive DAE integration techniques. In this paper, we illustrate the use the alternative constraint embedding technique to reduce the cost and improve the accuracy of the dynamics model for the vehicle.

Test and evaluation of Chrysler T115 electric vehicle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1987-03-01

Three Chrysler T115 mini vans were converted to electric drive in the spring of 1984 and tested in test track, chassis dynamometer, and urban road settings. Vehicle dc energy consumption and driving range were measured on the Society of Automotive Engineers J227a C schedule driving cycle, and at constant speed at the Blainville, Quebec test track. Other tests measured top speed, maximum acceleration, hill climbing, and braking performance of the vehicle. The vehicle's performance achieved the expected results. Net energy consumption, when compared to gasoline powered vehicles, was very favourable. The test program showed that the vehicle electrics and drive system are reliable. However, the acceleration and maximum speed were limited by the voltage output of the lead acid battery. The performance of the vehicle was not adversely affected by wide range as in ambient temperature, due to the thermal management battery system in the vehicle. The range of the vehicle was limited to 80 km due to the power output of the lead acid battery. When tested with the prototype sodium sulphur battery the range exceeded 200 km. With this range, market acceptance of this vehicle will be significantly enhanced. The overall vehicle efficiency of the T115 electric van was calculated to be 58%. This compared very favourably to the gasoline-powered vehicle which has an efficiency of approximately 17%. Results of this program confirmed the fact that until suitable advanced batteries are available, commercial applications of electric vehicles will be limited. 8 refs., 18 figs., 20 tabs.

On-Track Testing as a Validation Method of Computational Fluid Dynamic Simulations of a Formula SAE Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Weingart, Robert

This thesis is about the validation of a computational fluid dynamics simulation of a ground vehicle by means of a low-budget coast-down test. The vehicle is built to the standards of the 2014 Formula SAE rules. It is equipped with large wings in the front and rear of the car; the vertical loads on the tires are measured by specifically calibrated shock potentiometers. The coast-down test was performed on a runway of a local airport and is used to determine vehicle specific coefficients such as drag, downforce, aerodynamic balance, and rolling resistance for different aerodynamic setups. The test results are then compared to the respective simulated results. The drag deviates about 5% from the simulated to the measured results. The downforce numbers show a deviation up to 18% respectively. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis of inlet velocities, ride heights, and pitch angles was performed with the help of the computational simulation.

Development of a Ground Test and Analysis Protocol for NASA's NextSTEP Phase 2 Habitation Concepts

Science.gov (United States)

Gernhardt, Michael L.; Beaton, Kara H.; Chappell, Steven P.; Bekdash, Omar S.; Abercromby, Andrew F. J.

2018-01-01

The NASA Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) program is a public-private partnership model that seeks commercial development of deep space exploration capabilities to support human spaceflight missions around and beyond cislunar space. NASA first issued the Phase 1 NextSTEP Broad Agency Announcement to U.S. industries in 2014, which called for innovative cislunar habitation concepts that leveraged commercialization plans for low-Earth orbit. These habitats will be part of the Deep Space Gateway (DSG), the cislunar space station planned by NASA for construction in the 2020s. In 2016, Phase 2 of the NextSTEP program selected five commercial partners to develop ground prototypes. A team of NASA research engineers and subject matter experts (SMEs) have been tasked with developing the ground-test protocol that will serve as the primary means by which these Phase 2 prototypes will be evaluated. Since 2008, this core test team has successfully conducted multiple spaceflight analog mission evaluations utilizing a consistent set of operational tools, methods, and metrics to enable the iterative development, testing, analysis, and validation of evolving exploration architectures, operations concepts, and vehicle designs. The purpose of implementing a similar evaluation process for the Phase 2 Habitation Concepts is to consistently evaluate different commercial partner ground prototypes to provide data-driven, actionable recommendations for Phase 3. This paper describes the process by which the ground test protocol was developed and the objectives, methods, and metrics by which the NextSTEP Phase 2 Habitation Concepts will be rigorously and systematically evaluated. The protocol has been developed using both a top-down and bottom-up approach. Top-down development began with the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) exploration objectives and ISS Exploration Capability Study Team (IECST) candidate flight objectives. Strategic

On the radar cross section (RCS) prediction of vehicles moving on the ground

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sabihi, Ahmad [Department of Mathematical Sciences, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2014-12-10

As readers should be aware, Radar Cross Section depends on the factors such as: Wave frequency and polarization, Target dimension, angle of ray incidence, Target’s material and covering, Type of radar system as monostatic or bistatic, space in which contains target and propagating waves, and etc. Having moved or stationed in vehicles can be effective in RCS values. Here, we investigate effective factors in RCS of moving targets on the ground or sea. Image theory in electromagnetic applies to be taken into account RCS of a target over the ground or sea.

On the radar cross section (RCS) prediction of vehicles moving on the ground

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sabihi, Ahmad

2014-01-01

As readers should be aware, Radar Cross Section depends on the factors such as: Wave frequency and polarization, Target dimension, angle of ray incidence, Target’s material and covering, Type of radar system as monostatic or bistatic, space in which contains target and propagating waves, and etc. Having moved or stationed in vehicles can be effective in RCS values. Here, we investigate effective factors in RCS of moving targets on the ground or sea. Image theory in electromagnetic applies to be taken into account RCS of a target over the ground or sea

Design considerations of the irradiation test vehicle for the advanced test reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tsai, H.; Gomes, I.C.; Smith, D.L. [Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)] [and others

1997-08-01

An irradiation test vehicle (ITV) for the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is being jointly developed by the Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Company (LMIT) and the U.S. Fusion Program. The vehicle is intended for neutron irradiation testing of candidate structural materials, including vanadium-based alloys, silicon carbide composites, and low activation steels. It could possibly be used for U.S./Japanese collaboration in the Jupiter Program. The first test train is scheduled to be completed by September 1998. In this report, we present the functional requirements for the vehicle and a preliminary design that satisfies these requirements.

Design considerations of the irradiation test vehicle for the advanced test reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsai, H.; Gomes, I.C.; Smith, D.L.

1997-01-01

An irradiation test vehicle (ITV) for the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is being jointly developed by the Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Company (LMIT) and the U.S. Fusion Program. The vehicle is intended for neutron irradiation testing of candidate structural materials, including vanadium-based alloys, silicon carbide composites, and low activation steels. It could possibly be used for U.S./Japanese collaboration in the Jupiter Program. The first test train is scheduled to be completed by September 1998. In this report, we present the functional requirements for the vehicle and a preliminary design that satisfies these requirements

Development of an Autonomous Navigation Technology Test Vehicle

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Tobler, Chad K

2004-01-01

.... In order to continue these research activities at CIMAR, a new Kawasaki Mule All-Terrain Vehicle was chosen to be automated as a test-bed for the purpose of developing and testing autonomous vehicle technologies...

Flow Characteristics of Ground Vehicle Wake and Its Response to Flow Control

Science.gov (United States)

Sellappan, Prabu; McNally, Jonathan; Alvi, Farrukh

2017-11-01

Air pollution, fuel shortages, and cost savings are some of the many incentives for improving the aerodynamics of vehicles. Reducing wake-induced aerodynamic drag, which is dependent on flow topology, on modern passenger vehicles is important for improving fuel consumption rates which directly affect the environment. In this research, an active flow control technique is applied on a generic ground vehicle, a 25°Ahmed model, to investigate its effect on the flow topology in the near-wake. The flow field of this canonical bluff body is extremely rich, with complex and unsteady flow features such as trailing wake vortices and c-pillar vortices. The spatio-temporal response of these flow features to the application of steady microjet actuators is investigated. The responses are characterized independently through time-resolved and volumetric velocity field measurements. The accuracy and cost of volumetric measurements in this complex flow field through Stereoscopic- and Tomographic- Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) will also be commented upon. National Science Foundation PIRE Program.

Stability control for high speed tracked unmanned vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Pape, Olivier; Morillon, Joel G.; Houbloup, Philippe; Leveque, Stephane; Fialaire, Cecile; Gauthier, Thierry; Ropars, Patrice

2005-05-01

The French Military Robotic Study Program (introduced in Aerosense 2003), sponsored by the French Defense Procurement Agency and managed by Thales as the prime contractor, focuses on about 15 robotic themes which can provide an immediate "operational add-on value". The paper details the "automatic speed adjustment" behavior (named SYR4), developed by Giat Industries Company, which main goal is to secure the teleoperated mobility of high speed tracked vehicles on rough grounds; more precisely, the validated low level behavior continuously adjusts the vehicle speed taking into account the teleperator wish AND the maximum speed that the vehicle can manage safely according to the commanded radius of curvature. The algorithm is based on a realistic physical model of the ground-tracks relation, taking into account many vehicle and ground parameters (such as ground adherence and dynamic specificities of tracked vehicles). It also deals with the teleoperator-machine interface, providing a balanced strategy between both extreme behaviors: a) maximum speed reduction before initiating the commanded curve; b) executing the minimum possible radius without decreasing the commanded speed. The paper presents the results got from the military acceptance tests performed on tracked SYRANO vehicle (French Operational Demonstrator).

Personnel and Vehicle Data Collection at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG) and its Distribution for Research

Science.gov (United States)

2015-10-01

28 Magnetometer Applied Physics Model 1540-digital 3-axis fluxgate 5 Amplifiers Alligator Technologies USBPGF-S1 programmable instrumentation...Acoustic, Seismic, magnetic, footstep, vehicle, magnetometer , geophone, unattended ground sensor (UGS) 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION

Advanced Testing Method for Ground Thermal Conductivity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Xiaobing [ORNL; Clemenzi, Rick [Geothermal Design Center Inc.; Liu, Su [University of Tennessee (UT)

2017-04-01

A new method is developed that can quickly and more accurately determine the effective ground thermal conductivity (GTC) based on thermal response test (TRT) results. Ground thermal conductivity is an important parameter for sizing ground heat exchangers (GHEXs) used by geothermal heat pump systems. The conventional GTC test method usually requires a TRT for 48 hours with a very stable electric power supply throughout the entire test. In contrast, the new method reduces the required test time by 40%–60% or more, and it can determine GTC even with an unstable or intermittent power supply. Consequently, it can significantly reduce the cost of GTC testing and increase its use, which will enable optimal design of geothermal heat pump systems. Further, this new method provides more information about the thermal properties of the GHEX and the ground than previous techniques. It can verify the installation quality of GHEXs and has the potential, if developed, to characterize the heterogeneous thermal properties of the ground formation surrounding the GHEXs.

Achieving integrated convoys: cargo unmanned ground vehicle development and experimentation

Science.gov (United States)

Zych, Noah; Silver, David; Stager, David; Green, Colin; Pilarski, Thomas; Fischer, Jacob

2013-05-01

The Cargo UGV project was initiated in 2010 with the aim of developing and experimenting with advanced autonomous vehicles capable of being integrated unobtrusively into manned logistics convoys. The intent was to validate two hypotheses in complex, operationally representative environments: first, that unmanned tactical wheeled vehicles provide a force protection advantage by creating standoff distance to warfighters during ambushes or improvised explosive device attacks; and second, that these UGVs serve as force multipliers by enabling a single operator to control multiple unmanned assets. To assess whether current state-of-the-art autonomous vehicle technology was sufficiently capable to permit resupply missions to be executed with decreased risk and reduced manpower, and to assess the effect of UGVs on customary convoy tactics, the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory and the Joint Ground Robotics Enterprise sponsored Oshkosh Defense and the National Robotics Engineering Center to equip two standard Marine Corps cargo trucks for autonomous operation. This paper details the system architecture, hardware implementation, and software modules developed to meet the vehicle control, perception, and planner requirements compelled by this application. Additionally, the design of a custom human machine interface and an accompanying training program are described, as is the creation of a realistic convoy simulation environment for rapid system development. Finally, results are conveyed from a warfighter experiment in which the effectiveness of the training program for novice operators was assessed, and the impact of the UGVs on convoy operations was observed in a variety of scenarios via direct comparison to a fully manned convoy.

Vehicle brake testing system

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, Samuel S [Harriman, TN; Hodgson, Jeffrey W [Lenoir City, TN

2002-11-19

This invention relates to a force measuring system capable of measuring forces associated with vehicle braking and of evaluating braking performance. The disclosure concerns an invention which comprises a first row of linearly aligned plates, a force bearing surface extending beneath and beside the plates, vertically oriented links and horizontally oriented links connecting each plate to a force bearing surface, a force measuring device in each link, a transducer coupled to each force measuring device, and a computing device coupled to receive an output signal from the transducer indicative of measured force in each force measuring device. The present invention may be used for testing vehicle brake systems.

Research of Obstacle Recognition Technology in Cross-Country Environment for Unmanned Ground Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhao Yibing

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Being aimed at the obstacle recognition problem of unmanned ground vehicles in cross-country environment, this paper uses monocular vision sensor to realize the obstacle recognition of typical obstacles. Firstly, median filtering algorithm is applied during image preprocessing that can eliminate the noise. Secondly, image segmentation method based on the Fisher criterion function is used to segment the region of interest. Then, morphological method is used to process the segmented image, which is preparing for the subsequent analysis. The next step is to extract the color feature S, color feature a and edge feature “verticality” of image are extracted based on the HSI color space, the Lab color space, and two value images. Finally multifeature fusion algorithm based on Bayes classification theory is used for obstacle recognition. Test results show that the algorithm has good robustness and accuracy.

Magnetic Sensor for Detection of Ground Vehicles Based on Microwave Spin Wave Generation in Ferrite Films

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Slavin, A; Tiberkevich, V; Bankowski, E

2006-01-01

We propose to use the magnetic signatures, formed either by the residual magnetization or by deformation of the local Earth's magnetic field by large metal masses, for distant detection of ground vehicles...

Infrared stereo calibration for unmanned ground vehicle navigation

Science.gov (United States)

Harguess, Josh; Strange, Shawn

2014-06-01

The problem of calibrating two color cameras as a stereo pair has been heavily researched and many off-the-shelf software packages, such as Robot Operating System and OpenCV, include calibration routines that work in most cases. However, the problem of calibrating two infrared (IR) cameras for the purposes of sensor fusion and point could generation is relatively new and many challenges exist. We present a comparison of color camera and IR camera stereo calibration using data from an unmanned ground vehicle. There are two main challenges in IR stereo calibration; the calibration board (material, design, etc.) and the accuracy of calibration pattern detection. We present our analysis of these challenges along with our IR stereo calibration methodology. Finally, we present our results both visually and analytically with computed reprojection errors.

Electric vehicle test report Cutler-Hammer Corvette

Science.gov (United States)

1981-01-01

Vehicles were characterized for the state of the art assessment of electric vehicles. The vehicle evaluated was a Chevrolet Corvette converted to electric operation. The original internal combustion engine was replaced by an electric traction motor. Eighteen batteries supplied the electrical energy. A controller, an onboard battery charger, and several dashboard instruments completed the conversion. The emphasis was on the electrical portion of the drive train, although some analysis and discussion of the mechanical elements are included. Tests were conducted both on the road (actually a mile long runway) and in a chassis dynamometer equipped laboratory. The majority of the tests performed were according to SAE Procedure J227a and included maximum effort accelerations, constant speed range, and cyclic range. Some tests that are not a part of the SAE Procedure J227a are described and the analysis of the data from all tests is discussed.

Design And Ground Testing For The Expert PL4/PL5 'Natural And Roughness Induced Transition'

Science.gov (United States)

Masutti, Davie; Chazot, Olivier; Donelli, Raffaele; de Rosa, Donato

2011-05-01

Unpredicted boundary layer transition can impact dramatically the stability of the vehicle, its aerodynamic coefficients and reduce the efficiency of the thermal protection system. In this frame, ESA started the EXPERT (European eXPErimental Reentry Testbed) program to pro- vide and perform in-flight experiments in order to obtain aerothermodynamic data for the validation of numerical models and of ground-to-flight extrapolation methodologies. Considering the boundary layer transition investigation, the EXPERT vehicle is equipped with two specific payloads, PL4 and PL5, concerning respectively the study of the natural and roughness induced transition. The paper is a survey on the design process of these two in-flight experiments and it covers the major analyses and findings encountered during the development of the payloads. A large amount of transition criteria have been investigated and used to estimate either the dangerousness of the height of the distributed roughness, arising due to nose erosion, or the effectiveness of height of the isolated roughness element forcing the boundary layer transition. Supporting the PL4 design, linear stability computations and CFD analyses have been performed by CIRA on the EXPERT flight vehicle to determine the amplification factor of the boundary layer instabilities at different point of the re-entry trajectory. Ground test experiments regarding the PL5 are carried on in the Mach 6 VKI H3 Hypersonic Wind Tunnel with a Reynolds numbers ranging from 18E6/m to 26E6/m. Infrared measurements (Stanton number) and flow visualization are used on a 1/16 scaled model of the EXPERT vehicle and a flat plate to validate the Potter and Whitfield criterion as a suitable methodology for ground-to-flight extrapolation and the payload design.

Integrated vehicle-based safety systems light-vehicle field operational test key findings report.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

"This document presents key findings from the light-vehicle field operational test conducted as part of the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems program. These findings are the result of analyses performed by the University of Michigan Transportat...

Reusable LH2 tank technology demonstration through ground test

Science.gov (United States)

Bianca, C.; Greenberg, H. S.; Johnson, S. E.

1995-01-01

The paper presents the project plan to demonstrate, by March 1997, the reusability of an integrated composite LH2 tank structure, cryogenic insulation, and thermal protection system (TPS). The plan includes establishment of design requirements and a comprehensive trade study to select the most suitable Reusable Hydrogen Composite Tank system (RHCTS) within the most suitable of 4 candidate structural configurations. The 4 vehicles are winged body with the capability to deliver 25,000 lbs of payload to a circular 220 nm, 51.6 degree inclined orbit (also 40,000 lbs to a 28.5 inclined 150 nm orbit). A prototype design of the selected RHCTS is established to identify the construction, fabrication, and stress simulation and test requirements necessary in an 8 foot diameter tank structure/insulation/TPS test article. A comprehensive development test program supports the 8 foot test article development and involves the composite tank itself, cryogenic insulation, and integrated tank/insulation/TPS designs. The 8 foot diameter tank will contain the integrated cryogenic insulation and TPS designs resulting from this development and that of the concurrent lightweight durable TPS program. Tank ground testing will include 330 cycles of LH2 filling, pressurization, body loading, depressurization, draining, and entry heating.

Vehicle to Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Smart Grid Communications Interface Research and Testing Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kevin Morrow; Dimitri Hochard; Jeff Wishart

2011-09-01

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), including battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, and extended range electric vehicles, are under evaluation by the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity (AVTA) and other various stakeholders to better understand their capability and potential petroleum reduction benefits. PEVs could allow users to significantly improve fuel economy over a standard hybrid electric vehicles, and in some cases, depending on daily driving requirements and vehicle design, PEVs may have the ability to eliminate petroleum consumption entirely for daily vehicle trips. The AVTA is working jointly with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) to assist in the further development of standards necessary for the advancement of PEVs. This report analyzes different methods and available hardware for advanced communications between the electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) and the PEV; particularly Power Line Devices and their physical layer. Results of this study are not conclusive, but add to the collective knowledge base in this area to help define further testing that will be necessary for the development of the final recommended SAE communications standard. The Idaho National Laboratory and the Electric Transportation Applications conduct the AVTA for the United States Department of Energy's Vehicle Technologies Program.

40 CFR 86.429-78 - Maintenance, unscheduled; test vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

..., repair, removal, disassembly, cleaning, or replacement on vehicles shall be performed only with the... malfunction, or the repair of such failure or malfunction, does not render the vehicle unrepresentative of... maintenance under paragraph (a)(1)(i) of this section. (b) Repairs to vehicle components of test vehicles...

General Vehicle Test Plan (GVTP) for Urban Rail Transit Cars

Science.gov (United States)

1977-09-01

The General Vehicle Test Plan provides a system for general vehicle testing and for documenting and utilizing data and information in the testing of urban rail transit cars. Test procedures are defined for nine categories: (1) Performance; (2) Power ...

40 CFR 85.1509 - Final admission of modification and test vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... test vehicles. 85.1509 Section 85.1509 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) CONTROL OF AIR POLLUTION FROM MOBILE SOURCES Importation of Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Engines § 85.1509 Final admission of modification and test vehicles. (a) Except...

Feasibility of Turing-Style Tests for Autonomous Aerial Vehicle "Intelligence"

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Larry A.

2007-01-01

A new approach is suggested to define and evaluate key metrics as to autonomous aerial vehicle performance. This approach entails the conceptual definition of a "Turing Test" for UAVs. Such a "UAV Turing test" would be conducted by means of mission simulations and/or tailored flight demonstrations of vehicles under the guidance of their autonomous system software. These autonomous vehicle mission simulations and flight demonstrations would also have to be benchmarked against missions "flown" with pilots/human-operators in the loop. In turn, scoring criteria for such testing could be based upon both quantitative mission success metrics (unique to each mission) and by turning to analog "handling quality" metrics similar to the well-known Cooper-Harper pilot ratings used for manned aircraft. Autonomous aerial vehicles would be considered to have successfully passed this "UAV Turing Test" if the aggregate mission success metrics and handling qualities for the autonomous aerial vehicle matched or exceeded the equivalent metrics for missions conducted with pilots/human-operators in the loop. Alternatively, an independent, knowledgeable observer could provide the "UAV Turing Test" ratings of whether a vehicle is autonomous or "piloted." This observer ideally would, in the more sophisticated mission simulations, also have the enhanced capability of being able to override the scripted mission scenario and instigate failure modes and change of flight profile/plans. If a majority of mission tasks are rated as "piloted" by the observer, when in reality the vehicle/simulation is fully- or semi- autonomously controlled, then the vehicle/simulation "passes" the "UAV Turing Test." In this regards, this second "UAV Turing Test" approach is more consistent with Turing s original "imitation game" proposal. The overall feasibility, and important considerations and limitations, of such an approach for judging/evaluating autonomous aerial vehicle "intelligence" will be discussed from a

Development of a Model-Based Systems Engineering Application for the Ground Vehicle Robotics Sustainment Industrial Base

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-04

Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering Technology Symposium HC Human Capital HIIT Helsinki Institute of Information Technology UNCLASSIFIED vii...Technology (TKK), and the Helsinki Institute of Information Technology ( HIIT ), the report introduced the concept and the state-of-the-art in the market

Characterization Test Procedures for Intersection Collision Avoidance Systems Based on Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications

Science.gov (United States)

2015-12-01

Characterization test procedures have been developed to quantify the performance of intersection collision avoidance (ICA) systems based on vehicle-to-vehicle communications. These systems warn the driver of an imminent crossing-path collision at a r...

Near-term electric test vehicle ETV-2. Phase II. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1981-04-01

A unique battery-powered passenger vehicle has been developed that provides a significant improvement over conventional electric vehicle performance, particularly during stop-and-go driving. The vehicle is unique in two major respects: (1) the power system incorporates a flywheel that stores energy during regenerative braking and makes possible the acceleration capability needed to keep up with traffic without reducing range to unacceptable values; and (2) lightweight plastic materials are used for the vehicle unibody to minimize weight and increase range. These features were analyzed and demonstrated in an electric test vehicle, ETV-2. Characteristics of this vehicle are summarized. Information is presented on: vehicle design, fabrication, safety testing, and performance testing; power system design and operation; flywheel; battery pack performance; and controls and electronic equipment. (LCL)

NASA Planning for Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle Ground Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Letchworth, Gary; Schlierf, Roland

2011-01-01

tools included Kaizen/Lean events, mockups and human factors analysis. The majority of products developed by this team are applicable as KSC prepares 21st Century Ground Systems for the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and Space Launch System.

Integrated vehicle-based safety systems light-vehicle field operational test, methodology and results report.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-01

"This document presents the methodology and results from the light-vehicle field operational test conducted as part of the Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems program. These findings are the result of analyses performed by the University of Michi...

Unmanned Ground Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

2001-11-01

Systems ( JAUGS ). JAUGS is a JRP technology initiative under the cognizance of the Aviation and Missile Command Research, Development and Engineering Center...AMRDEC). The JAUGS focus is on developing a high-level command and control architecture for UGVs. As defined in the JRP Glossary, “ JAUGS is an upper...vehicle platforms and missions. JAUGS uses the Society of Automotive Engineers Generic Open Architecture framework to classify UGV interfaces and

76 FR 28947 - Bus Testing: Calculation of Average Passenger Weight and Test Vehicle Weight, and Public Meeting...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-19

...-0015] RIN 2132-AB01 Bus Testing: Calculation of Average Passenger Weight and Test Vehicle Weight, and... of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) regarding the calculation of average passenger weights and test vehicle... passenger weights and actual transit vehicle loads. Specifically, FTA proposed to change the average...

Executive Summary of Propulsion on the Orion Abort Flight-Test Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Daniel S.; Brooks, Syri J.; Barnes, Marvin W.; McCauley, Rachel J.; Wall, Terry M.; Reed, Brian D.; Duncan, C. Miguel

2012-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Orion Flight Test Office was tasked with conducting a series of flight tests in several launch abort scenarios to certify that the Orion Launch Abort System is capable of delivering astronauts aboard the Orion Crew Module to a safe environment, away from a failed booster. The first of this series was the Orion Pad Abort 1 Flight-Test Vehicle, which was successfully flown on May 6, 2010 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. This report provides a brief overview of the three propulsive subsystems used on the Pad Abort 1 Flight-Test Vehicle. An overview of the propulsive systems originally planned for future flight-test vehicles is also provided, which also includes the cold gas Reaction Control System within the Crew Module, and the Peacekeeper first stage rocket motor encased within the Abort Test Booster aeroshell. Although the Constellation program has been cancelled and the operational role of the Orion spacecraft has significantly evolved, lessons learned from Pad Abort 1 and the other flight-test vehicles could certainly contribute to the vehicle architecture of many future human-rated space launch vehicles

Ground test for vibration control demonstrator

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, C.; Prodigue, J.; Broux, G.; Cantinaud, O.; Poussot-Vassal, C.

2016-09-01

In the objective of maximizing comfort in Falcon jets, Dassault Aviation is developing an innovative vibration control technology. Vibrations of the structure are measured at several locations and sent to a dedicated high performance vibration control computer. Control laws are implemented in this computer to analyse the vibrations in real time, and then elaborate orders sent to the existing control surfaces to counteract vibrations. After detailing the technology principles, this paper focuses on the vibration control ground demonstration that was performed by Dassault Aviation in May 2015 on Falcon 7X business jet. The goal of this test was to attenuate vibrations resulting from fixed forced excitation delivered by shakers. The ground test demonstrated the capability to implement an efficient closed-loop vibration control with a significant vibration level reduction and validated the vibration control law design methodology. This successful ground test was a prerequisite before the flight test demonstration that is now being prepared. This study has been partly supported by the JTI CleanSky SFWA-ITD.

Modeling Human Steering Behavior During Path Following in Teleoperation of Unmanned Ground Vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Mirinejad, Hossein; Jayakumar, Paramsothy; Ersal, Tulga

2018-04-01

This paper presents a behavioral model representing the human steering performance in teleoperated unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). Human steering performance in teleoperation is considerably different from the performance in regular onboard driving situations due to significant communication delays in teleoperation systems and limited information human teleoperators receive from the vehicle sensory system. Mathematical models capturing the teleoperation performance are a key to making the development and evaluation of teleoperated UGV technologies fully simulation based and thus more rapid and cost-effective. However, driver models developed for the typical onboard driving case do not readily address this need. To fill the gap, this paper adopts a cognitive model that was originally developed for a typical highway driving scenario and develops a tuning strategy that adjusts the model parameters in the absence of human data to reflect the effect of various latencies and UGV speeds on driver performance in a teleoperated path-following task. Based on data collected from a human subject test study, it is shown that the tuned model can predict both the trend of changes in driver performance for different driving conditions and the best steering performance of human subjects in all driving conditions considered. The proposed model with the tuning strategy has a satisfactory performance in predicting human steering behavior in the task of teleoperated path following of UGVs. The established model is a suited candidate to be used in place of human drivers for simulation-based studies of UGV mobility in teleoperation systems.

Emerging Needs for Pervasive Passive Wireless Sensor Networks on Aerospace Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, William C.; Juarez, Peter D.

2014-01-01

NASA is investigating passive wireless sensor technology to reduce instrumentation mass and volume in ground testing, air flight, and space exploration applications. Vehicle health monitoring systems (VHMS) are desired on all aerospace programs to ensure the safety of the crew and the vehicles. Pervasive passive wireless sensor networks facilitate VHMS on aerospace vehicles. Future wireless sensor networks on board aerospace vehicles will be heterogeneous and will require active and passive network systems. Since much has been published on active wireless sensor networks, this work will focus on the need for passive wireless sensor networks on aerospace vehicles. Several passive wireless technologies such as microelectromechanical systems MEMS, SAW, backscatter, and chipless RFID techniques, have all shown potential to meet the pervasive sensing needs for aerospace VHMS applications. A SAW VHMS application will be presented. In addition, application areas including ground testing, hypersonic aircraft and spacecraft will be explored along with some of the harsh environments found in aerospace applications.

Integrated vehicle-based safety systems (IVBSS) : light vehicle platform field operational test data analysis plan.

Science.gov (United States)

2009-12-22

This document presents the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institutes plan to : perform analysis of data collected from the light vehicle platform field operational test of the : Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems (IVBSS) progr...

Flight Testing a Real-Time Hazard Detection System for Safe Lunar Landing on the Rocket-Powered Morpheus Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Trawny, Nikolas; Huertas, Andres; Luna, Michael E.; Villalpando, Carlos Y.; Martin, Keith E.; Carson, John M.; Johnson, Andrew E.; Restrepo, Carolina; Roback, Vincent E.

2015-01-01

The Hazard Detection System (HDS) is a component of the ALHAT (Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology) sensor suite, which together provide a lander Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) system with the relevant measurements necessary to enable safe precision landing under any lighting conditions. The HDS consists of a stand-alone compute element (CE), an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), and a gimbaled flash LIDAR sensor that are used, in real-time, to generate a Digital Elevation Map (DEM) of the landing terrain, detect candidate safe landing sites for the vehicle through Hazard Detection (HD), and generate hazard-relative navigation (HRN) measurements used for safe precision landing. Following an extensive ground and helicopter test campaign, ALHAT was integrated onto the Morpheus rocket-powered terrestrial test vehicle in March 2014. Morpheus and ALHAT then performed five successful free flights at the simulated lunar hazard field constructed at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at Kennedy Space Center, for the first time testing the full system on a lunar-like approach geometry in a relevant dynamic environment. During these flights, the HDS successfully generated DEMs, correctly identified safe landing sites and provided HRN measurements to the vehicle, marking the first autonomous landing of a NASA rocket-powered vehicle in hazardous terrain. This paper provides a brief overview of the HDS architecture and describes its in-flight performance.

Potential use of battery packs from NCAP tested vehicles.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lamb, Joshua; Orendorff, Christopher J.

2013-10-01

Several large electric vehicle batteries available to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are candidates for use in future safety testing programs. The batteries, from vehicles subjected to NCAP crashworthiness testing, are considered potentially damaged due to the nature of testing their associated vehicles have been subjected to. Criteria for safe shipping to Sandia is discussed, as well as condition the batteries must be in to perform testing work. Also discussed are potential tests that could be performed under a variety of conditions. The ultimate value of potential testing performed on these cells will rest on the level of access available to the battery pack, i.e. external access only, access to the on board monitoring system/CAN port or internal electrical access to the battery. Greater access to the battery than external visual and temperature monitoring would likely require input from the battery manufacturer.

US Department of Energy Hybrid Electric Vehicle Battery and Fuel Economy Testing

Science.gov (United States)

Karner, Donald; Francfort, James

The advanced vehicle testing activity (AVTA), part of the US Department of Energy's FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies Program, has conducted testing of advanced technology vehicles since August 1995 in support of the AVTA goal to provide benchmark data for technology modelling, and research and development programs. The AVTA has tested over 200 advanced technology vehicles including full-size electric vehicles, urban electric vehicles, neighborhood electric vehicles, and internal combustion engine vehicles powered by hydrogen. Currently, the AVTA is conducting a significant evaluation of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) produced by major automotive manufacturers. The results are posted on the AVTA web page maintained by the Idaho National Laboratory. Through the course of this testing, the fuel economy of HEV fleets has been monitored and analyzed to determine the 'real world' performance of their hybrid energy systems, particularly the battery. The initial fuel economy of these vehicles has typically been less than that determined by the manufacturer and also varies significantly with environmental conditions. Nevertheless, the fuel economy and, therefore, battery performance, has remained stable over the life of a given vehicle (160 000 miles).

40 CFR 86.152-98 - Vehicle preparation; refueling test.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Vehicle preparation; refueling test... PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) CONTROL OF EMISSIONS FROM NEW AND IN-USE HIGHWAY VEHICLES AND ENGINES Emission Regulations for 1977 and Later Model Year New Light-Duty Vehicles and New Light-Duty Trucks and New Otto-Cycle...

Contamination and decontamination of vehicles driven in radioactive areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ulvsand, T.; Nygren, U.

1999-03-01

There is reason to ask whether it is beneficial to decontaminate vehicles, in view of the great effort applied. If the level of contamination is low before the decontamination process, then the cost is not motivated, even if the decontamination is shown to be effective in relative terms. The report describes two trials at the National NBC Defence School in Umeaa and one trial at the French test site in Bourges. The aim is to investigate how vehicles are contaminated and at which ground deposition levels troublesome levels of contamination will arise. In the trials, a non-radioactive agent substituting real radioactivity was used. The trials in Sweden so far have used the oversnow vehicle BV 206, during both winter and summer conditions. The vehicles were driven a specific distance along a road on which a known amount of the test substance had been dispersed. Samples were taken on pre-determined areas on one side of the vehicles to measure the amount of test substance. Later, the vehicles continued along a 'clean' road where additional samples were taken, but on the other side of the vehicles. The largest amount of test substance was collected on the tracks and on the back of the vehicle. The tracks and mud-flaps were effectively decontaminated when the vehicles were driven along a clean road, while most of the contamination remained on the backside. The purpose of the trials in France was to compare the results from our non-radioactive and their radioactive method, based on the radioactive La-140. Due to ground conditions, the level of contamination on the vehicles was much less than in the trials in Umeaa, but the effect decontamination could be measured after all

Efficiency Test Method for Electric Vehicle Chargers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kieldsen, Andreas; Thingvad, Andreas; Martinenas, Sergejus

2016-01-01

This paper investigates different methods for measuring the charger efficiency of mass produced electric vehicles (EVs), in order to compare the different models. The consumers have low attention to the loss in the charger though the impact on the driving cost is high. It is not a high priority...... different vehicles. A unified method for testing the efficiency of the charger in EVs, without direct access to the component, is presented. The method is validated through extensive tests of the models Renault Zoe, Nissan LEAF and Peugeot iOn. The results show a loss between 15 % and 40 %, which is far...

Ballistic Resistance of Armored Passenger Vehicles: Test Protocols and Quality Methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jeffrey M. Lacy; Robert E. Polk

2005-07-01

This guide establishes a test methodology for determining the overall ballistic resistance of the passenger compartment of assembled nontactical armored passenger vehicles (APVs). Because ballistic testing of every piece of every component of an armored vehicle is impractical, if not impossible, this guide describes a testing scheme based on statistical sampling of exposed component surface areas. Results from the test of the sampled points are combined to form a test score that reflects the probability of ballistic penetration into the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

Vehicle test report: South Coast technology electric conversion of a Volkswagen Rabbit

Science.gov (United States)

Price, T. W.; Shain, T. W.; Bryant, J. A.

1981-01-01

The South Coast Technology Volkswagen Rabbit, was tested at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's (JPL) dynamometer facility and at JPL's Edwards Test Station (ETS). The tests were performed to characterize certain parameters of the South Coast Rabbit and to provide baseline data that will be used for the comparison of near term batteries that are to be incorporated into the vehicle. The vehicle tests were concentrated on the electrical drive system; i.e., the batteries, controller, and motor. The tests included coastdowns to characterize the road load, maximum effort acceleration, and range evaluation for both cyclic and constant speed conditions. A qualitative evaluation of the vehicle was made by comparing its constant speed range performance with those vehicles described in the document 'state of the Art assessment of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles'. The Rabbit performance was near to the best of the 1977 vehicles.

Single-event effect ground test issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koga, R.

1996-01-01

Ground-based single event effect (SEE) testing of microcircuits permits characterization of device susceptibility to various radiation induced disturbances, including: (1) single event upset (SEU) and single event latchup (SEL) in digital microcircuits; (2) single event gate rupture (SEGR), and single event burnout (SEB) in power transistors; and (3) bit errors in photonic devices. These characterizations can then be used to generate predictions of device performance in the space radiation environment. This paper provides a general overview of ground-based SEE testing and examines in critical depth several underlying conceptual constructs relevant to the conduct of such tests and to the proper interpretation of results. These more traditional issues are contrasted with emerging concerns related to the testing of modern, advanced microcircuits

TARDEC Overview: Ground Vehicle Power and Mobility

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-04

Fuel & Water Distribution • Force Sustainment • Construction Equipment • Bridging • Assured Mobility Systems Robotics • TALON • PackBot • MARCbot...Equipment • Mechanical Countermine Equipment • Tactical Bridging Intelligent Ground Systems • Autonomous Robotics Systems • Safe Operations...Test Cell • Hybrid Electric Reconfigurable Moveable Integration Testbed (HERMIT) • Electro-chemical Analysis and Research Lab (EARL) • Battery Lab • Air

Irradiation Testing Vehicles for Fast Reactors from Open Test Assemblies to Closed Loops

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sienicki, James J. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Grandy, Christopher [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

2016-12-15

A review of irradiation testing vehicle approaches and designs that have been incorporated into past Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactors (SFRs) or envisioned for incorporation has been carried out. The objective is to understand the essential features of the approaches and designs so that they can inform test vehicle designs for a future U.S. Fast Test Reactor. Fast test reactor designs examined include EBR-II, FFTF, JOYO, BOR-60, PHÉNIX, JHR, and MBIR. Previous designers exhibited great ingenuity in overcoming design and operational challenges especially when the original reactor plant’s mission changed to an irradiation testing mission as in the EBRII reactor plant. The various irradiation testing vehicles can be categorized as: Uninstrumented open assemblies that fit into core locations; Instrumented open test assemblies that fit into special core locations; Self-contained closed loops; and External closed loops. A special emphasis is devoted to closed loops as they are regarded as a very desirable feature of a future U.S. Fast Test Reactor. Closed loops are an important technology for irradiation of fuels and materials in separate controlled environments. The impact of closed loops on the design of fast reactors is also discussed in this report.

Shock-tunnel combustor testing for hypersonic vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Loomis, Mark P.

1994-01-01

Proposed configurations for the next generation of transatmospheric vehicles will rely on air breathing propulsion systems during all or part of their mission. At flight Mach numbers greater than about 7 these engines will operate in the supersonic combustion ramjet mode (scramjet). Ground testing of these engine concepts above Mach 8 requires high pressure, high enthalpy facilities such as shock tunnels and expansion tubes. These impulse, or short duration facilities have test times on the order of a millisecond, requiring high speed instrumentation and data systems. One such facility ideally suited for scramjet testing is the NASA-Ames 16-Inch shock tunnel, which over the last two years has completed a series of tests for the NASP (National Aero-Space Plane) program at simulated flight Mach numbers ranging from 12-16. The focus of the experimental programs consisted of a series of classified tests involving a near-full scale hydrogen fueled scramjet combustor model in the semi-free jet method of engine testing whereby the compressed forebody flow ahead of the cowl inlet is reproduced (see appendix A). The AIMHYE-1 (Ames Integrated Modular Hypersonic Engine) test entry for the NASP program was completed in April 1993, while AIMHYE-2 was completed in May 1994. The test entries were regarded as successful, resulting in some of the first data of its kind on the performance of a near full scale scramjet engine at Mach 12-16. The data was distributed to NASP team members for use in design system verification and development. Due to the classified nature of the hardware and data, the data reports resulting from this work are classified and have been published as part of the NASP literature. However, an unclassified AIAA paper resulted from the work and has been included as appendix A. It contains an overview of the test program and a description of some of the important issues.

Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Program

Science.gov (United States)

Freeman, Delma C., Jr.; Talay, Theodore A.; Austin, R. Eugene

1997-01-01

Industry/NASA reusable launch vehicle (RLV) technology program efforts are underway to design, test, and develop technologies and concepts for viable commercial launch systems that also satisfy national needs at acceptable recurring costs. Significant progress has been made in understanding the technical challenges of fully reusable launch systems and the accompanying management and operational approaches for achieving a low cost program. This paper reviews the current status of the RLV technology program including the DC-XA, X-33 and X-34 flight systems and associated technology programs. It addresses the specific technologies being tested that address the technical and operability challenges of reusable launch systems including reusable cryogenic propellant tanks, composite structures, thermal protection systems, improved propulsion and subsystem operability enhancements. The recently concluded DC-XA test program demonstrated some of these technologies in ground and flight test. Contracts were awarded recently for both the X-33 and X-34 flight demonstrator systems. The Orbital Sciences Corporation X-34 flight test vehicle will demonstrate an air-launched reusable vehicle capable of flight to speeds of Mach 8. The Lockheed-Martin X-33 flight test vehicle will expand the test envelope for critical technologies to flight speeds of Mach 15. A propulsion program to test the X-33 linear aerospike rocket engine using a NASA SR-71 high speed aircraft as a test bed is also discussed. The paper also describes the management and operational approaches that address the challenge of new cost effective, reusable launch vehicle systems.

Automated Search-Based Robustness Testing for Autonomous Vehicle Software

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin M. Betts

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Autonomous systems must successfully operate in complex time-varying spatial environments even when dealing with system faults that may occur during a mission. Consequently, evaluating the robustness, or ability to operate correctly under unexpected conditions, of autonomous vehicle control software is an increasingly important issue in software testing. New methods to automatically generate test cases for robustness testing of autonomous vehicle control software in closed-loop simulation are needed. Search-based testing techniques were used to automatically generate test cases, consisting of initial conditions and fault sequences, intended to challenge the control software more than test cases generated using current methods. Two different search-based testing methods, genetic algorithms and surrogate-based optimization, were used to generate test cases for a simulated unmanned aerial vehicle attempting to fly through an entryway. The effectiveness of the search-based methods in generating challenging test cases was compared to both a truth reference (full combinatorial testing and the method most commonly used today (Monte Carlo testing. The search-based testing techniques demonstrated better performance than Monte Carlo testing for both of the test case generation performance metrics: (1 finding the single most challenging test case and (2 finding the set of fifty test cases with the highest mean degree of challenge.

An assessment of testing requirement impacts on nuclear thermal propulsion ground test facility design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shipers, L.R.; Ottinger, C.A.; Sanchez, L.C.

1993-01-01

Programs to develop solid core nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) systems have been under way at the Department of Defense (DoD), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Department of Energy (DOE). These programs have recognized the need for a new ground test facility to support development of NTP systems. However, the different military and civilian applications have led to different ground test facility requirements. The Department of Energy (DOE) in its role as landlord and operator of the proposed research reactor test facilities has initiated an effort to explore opportunities for a common ground test facility to meet both DoD and NASA needs. The baseline design and operating limits of the proposed DoD NTP ground test facility are described. The NASA ground test facility requirements are reviewed and their potential impact on the DoD facility baseline is discussed

Monocular Camera/IMU/GNSS Integration for Ground Vehicle Navigation in Challenging GNSS Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dennis Akos

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Low-cost MEMS-based IMUs, video cameras and portable GNSS devices are commercially available for automotive applications and some manufacturers have already integrated such facilities into their vehicle systems. GNSS provides positioning, navigation and timing solutions to users worldwide. However, signal attenuation, reflections or blockages may give rise to positioning difficulties. As opposed to GNSS, a generic IMU, which is independent of electromagnetic wave reception, can calculate a high-bandwidth navigation solution, however the output from a self-contained IMU accumulates errors over time. In addition, video cameras also possess great potential as alternate sensors in the navigation community, particularly in challenging GNSS environments and are becoming more common as options in vehicles. Aiming at taking advantage of these existing onboard technologies for ground vehicle navigation in challenging environments, this paper develops an integrated camera/IMU/GNSS system based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF. Our proposed integration architecture is examined using a live dataset collected in an operational traffic environment. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed integrated system provides accurate estimations and potentially outperforms the tightly coupled GNSS/IMU integration in challenging environments with sparse GNSS observations.

Monocular camera/IMU/GNSS integration for ground vehicle navigation in challenging GNSS environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Tianxing; Guo, Ningyan; Backén, Staffan; Akos, Dennis

2012-01-01

Low-cost MEMS-based IMUs, video cameras and portable GNSS devices are commercially available for automotive applications and some manufacturers have already integrated such facilities into their vehicle systems. GNSS provides positioning, navigation and timing solutions to users worldwide. However, signal attenuation, reflections or blockages may give rise to positioning difficulties. As opposed to GNSS, a generic IMU, which is independent of electromagnetic wave reception, can calculate a high-bandwidth navigation solution, however the output from a self-contained IMU accumulates errors over time. In addition, video cameras also possess great potential as alternate sensors in the navigation community, particularly in challenging GNSS environments and are becoming more common as options in vehicles. Aiming at taking advantage of these existing onboard technologies for ground vehicle navigation in challenging environments, this paper develops an integrated camera/IMU/GNSS system based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF). Our proposed integration architecture is examined using a live dataset collected in an operational traffic environment. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed integrated system provides accurate estimations and potentially outperforms the tightly coupled GNSS/IMU integration in challenging environments with sparse GNSS observations.

Monocular Camera/IMU/GNSS Integration for Ground Vehicle Navigation in Challenging GNSS Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Tianxing; Guo, Ningyan; Backén, Staffan; Akos, Dennis

2012-01-01

Low-cost MEMS-based IMUs, video cameras and portable GNSS devices are commercially available for automotive applications and some manufacturers have already integrated such facilities into their vehicle systems. GNSS provides positioning, navigation and timing solutions to users worldwide. However, signal attenuation, reflections or blockages may give rise to positioning difficulties. As opposed to GNSS, a generic IMU, which is independent of electromagnetic wave reception, can calculate a high-bandwidth navigation solution, however the output from a self-contained IMU accumulates errors over time. In addition, video cameras also possess great potential as alternate sensors in the navigation community, particularly in challenging GNSS environments and are becoming more common as options in vehicles. Aiming at taking advantage of these existing onboard technologies for ground vehicle navigation in challenging environments, this paper develops an integrated camera/IMU/GNSS system based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF). Our proposed integration architecture is examined using a live dataset collected in an operational traffic environment. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed integrated system provides accurate estimations and potentially outperforms the tightly coupled GNSS/IMU integration in challenging environments with sparse GNSS observations. PMID:22736999

Advanced protection technology for ground combat vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Bosse, Timothy G

2012-01-01

Just as highway drivers use radar detectors to attempt to stay ahead of police armed with the latest radar technology, the Armed Forces are locked in a spiral to protect combat vehicles and their crews against the latest threats in both the contemporary operating environment and the anticipated operating environment (ie, beyond 2020). In response to bigger, heavier, or better-protected vehicles, adversaries build and deploy larger explosive devices or bombs. However, making improvements to combat vehicles is much more expensive than deploying larger explosives. In addition, demand is increasing for lighter-weight vehicles capable of rapid deployment. Together, these two facts give the threat a clear advantage in the future. To protect vehicles and crews, technologies focusing on detection and hit avoidance, denial of penetration, and crew survivability must be combined synergistically to provide the best chance of survival on the modern battlefield.

Legacy Vehicle Fuel System Testing with Intermediate Ethanol Blends

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Davis, G. W.; Hoff, C. J.; Borton, Z.; Ratcliff, M. A.

2012-03-01

The effects of E10 and E17 on legacy fuel system components from three common mid-1990s vintage vehicle models (Ford, GM, and Toyota) were studied. The fuel systems comprised a fuel sending unit with pump, a fuel rail and integrated pressure regulator, and the fuel injectors. The fuel system components were characterized and then installed and tested in sample aging test rigs to simulate the exposure and operation of the fuel system components in an operating vehicle. The fuel injectors were cycled with varying pulse widths during pump operation. Operational performance, such as fuel flow and pressure, was monitored during the aging tests. Both of the Toyota fuel pumps demonstrated some degradation in performance during testing. Six injectors were tested in each aging rig. The Ford and GM injectors showed little change over the aging tests. Overall, based on the results of both the fuel pump testing and the fuel injector testing, no major failures were observed that could be attributed to E17 exposure. The unknown fuel component histories add a large uncertainty to the aging tests. Acquiring fuel system components from operational legacy vehicles would reduce the uncertainty.

Contamination and decontamination of vehicles when driven in radioactive areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ulvsand, T.; Nygren, U.

1999-10-01

There is reason to ask whether it is beneficial to decontaminate vehicles, in view of the great effort applied. If the level of contamination is low before the decontamination process, then the cost is not motivated, even if the decontamination is shown to be effective in relative terms. The report describes two trials at the National NBC Defence School in Umeaa and one trial at the French test site in Bourges. The aim is to investigate how vehicles are contaminated and at which ground deposition levels troublesome levels of contamination will arise. In the trials, a non-radioactive agent substituting real radioactivity was used. The trials in Sweden so far have used the oversnow vehicle BV 206, during both winter and summer conditions. The vehicles were driven a specific distance along a road on which a known amount of the test substance had been dispersed. Samples were taken on pre-determined areas on one side of the vehicles to measure the amount of test substance. Later, the vehicles continued along a 'clean' road where additional samples were taken, but on the other side of the vehicles. The largest amount of test substance was collected on the tracks and on the back of the vehicle. The tracks and mud-flaps were effectively decontaminated when the vehicles were driven along a clean road, while most of the contamination remained on the backside. The purpose of the trials in France was to compare the results from our non-radioactive and their radioactive method, based on the radioactive La-140. Due to ground conditions, the level of contamination on the vehicles was much less than in the trials in Umeaa, but the effect decontamination could be measured after all

Wind Tunnel and Hover Performance Test Results for Multicopter UAS Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, Carl R.; Jung, Jaewoo; Willink, Gina; Glasner, Brett

2016-01-01

There is currently a lack of published data for the performance of multicopter unmanned aircraft system (UAS) vehicles, such as quadcopters and octocopters, often referred to collectively as drones. With the rapidly increasing popularity of multicopter UAS, there is interest in better characterizing the performance of this type of aircraft. By studying the performance of currently available vehicles, it will be possible to develop models for vehicles at this scale that can accurately predict performance and model trajectories. This paper describes a wind tunnel test that was recently performed in the U.S. Army's 7- by 10-ft Wind Tunnel at NASA Ames Research Center. During this wind tunnel entry, five multicopter UAS vehicles were tested to determine forces and moments as well as electrical power as a function of wind speed, rotor speed, and vehicle attitude. The test is described here in detail, and a selection of the key results from the test is presented.

Closed Loop In-Reactor Assembly (CLIRA): a fast flux test facility test vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oakley, D.J.

1978-01-01

The Closed Loop In-Reactor Assembly (CLIRA) is a test vehicle for in-core material and fuel experiments in the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF). The FFTF is a fast flux nuclear test reactor operated for the Department of Energy (DOE) by Westinghouse Hanford Company in Richland, Washington. The CLIRA is a removable/replaceable part of the Closed Loop System (CLS) which is a sodium coolant system providing flow and temperature control independent of the reactor coolant system. The primary purpose of the CLIRA is to provide a test vehicle which will permit testing of nuclear fuels and materials at conditions more severe than exist in the FTR core, and to isolate these materials from the reactor core

Baseline tests of the C. H. Waterman DAF electric passenger vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Sargent, N. B.; Maslowski, E. A.; Soltis, R. F.; Schuh, R. M.

1977-01-01

An electric vehicle was tested as part of an Energy Research Development Administration (ERDA) project to characterize the state-of-the-art of electric vehicles. The Waterman vehicle performance test results are presented in this report. The vehicle is a converted four-passenger DAF 46 sedan. It is powered by sixteen 6-volt traction batteries through a three-step contactor controller actuated by a foot throttle to change the voltage applied to the 6.7 kW motor. The braking system is a conventional hydraulic braking system.

Remotely detected vehicle mass from engine torque-induced frame twisting

Science.gov (United States)

McKay, Troy R.; Salvaggio, Carl; Faulring, Jason W.; Sweeney, Glenn D.

2017-06-01

Determining the mass of a vehicle from ground-based passive sensor data is important for many traffic safety requirements. This work presents a method for calculating the mass of a vehicle using ground-based video and acoustic measurements. By assuming that no energy is lost in the conversion, the mass of a vehicle can be calculated from the rotational energy generated by the vehicle's engine and the linear acceleration of the vehicle over a period of time. The amount of rotational energy being output by the vehicle's engine can be calculated from its torque and angular velocity. This model relates remotely observed, engine torque-induced frame twist to engine torque output using the vehicle's suspension parameters and engine geometry. The angular velocity of the engine is extracted from the acoustic emission of the engine, and the linear acceleration of the vehicle is calculated by remotely observing the position of the vehicle over time. This method combines these three dynamic signals; engine induced-frame twist, engine angular velocity, and the vehicle's linear acceleration, and three vehicle specific scalar parameters, into an expression that describes the mass of the vehicle. This method was tested on a semitrailer truck, and the results demonstrate a correlation of 97.7% between calculated and true vehicle mass.

Reference architecture for interoperability testing of Electric Vehicle charging

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lehfuss, F.; Nohrer, M.; Werkmany, E.; Lopezz, J.A.; Zabalaz, E.

2015-01-01

This paper presents a reference architecture for interoperability testing of electric vehicles as well as their support equipment with the smart grid and the e-Mobility environment. Pan-European Electric Vehicle (EV)-charging is currently problematic as there are compliance and interoperability

AMMONIA EMISSIONS FROM THE EPA'S LIGHT DUTY TEST VEHICLE

Science.gov (United States)

The paper discusses measurements of ammonia (NH3) emissions from EPA's light duty test vehicle while operated on a dynamometer. The vehicle's (1993 Chevrolet equipped with a three-way catalyst) emissions were measured for three transient (urban driving, highway fuel economy, and ...

Battery Test Manual For 48 Volt Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Walker, Lee Kenneth [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2017-03-01

This manual details the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium and U.S. Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Program goals, test methods, and analysis techniques for a 48 Volt Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicle system. The test methods are outlined stating with characterization tests, followed by life tests. The final section details standardized analysis techniques for 48 V systems that allow for the comparison of different programs that use this manual. An example test plan is included, along with guidance to filling in gap table numbers.

Battery Test Manual For 48 Volt Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walker, Lee Kenneth

2017-01-01

This manual details the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium and U.S. Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Program goals, test methods, and analysis techniques for a 48 Volt Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicle system. The test methods are outlined stating with characterization tests, followed by life tests. The final section details standardized analysis techniques for 48 V systems that allow for the comparison of different programs that use this manual. An example test plan is included, along with guidance to filling in gap table numbers.

Ground testing of an SP-100 prototypic reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Motwani, K.; Pflasterer, G.R.; Upton, H.; Lazarus, J.D.; Gluck, R.

1988-01-01

SP-100 is a space power system which is being developed by GE to meet future space electrical power requirements. The ground testing of an SP-100 prototypic reactor system will be conducted at the Westinghouse Hanford Company site located at Richland, Washington. The objective of this test is to demonstrate the performance of a full scale prototypic reactor system, including the reactor, control system and flight shield. The ground test system is designed to simulate the flight operating conditions while meeting all the necessary nuclear safety requirements in a gravity environment. The goal of the reactor ground test system is to establish confidence in the design maturity of the SP-100 space reactor power system and resolve the technical issues necessary for the development of a flight mission design

Vibration test of 1/5 scale H-II launch vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Morino, Yoshiki; Komatsu, Keiji; Sano, Masaaki; Minegishi, Masakatsu; Morita, Toshiyuki; Kohsetsu, Y.

In order to predict dynamic loads on the newly designed Japanese H-II launch vehicle, the adequacy of prediction methods has been assessed by the dynamic scale model testing. The three-dimensional dynamic model was used in the analysis to express coupling effects among axial, lateral (pitch and yaw) and torsional vibrations. The liquid/tank interaction was considered by use of a boundary element method. The 1/5 scale model of the H-II launch vehicle was designed to simulate stiffness and mass properties of important structural parts, such as core/SRB junctions, first and second stage Lox tanks and engine mount structures. Modal excitation of the test vehicle was accomplished with 100-1000 N shakers which produced random or sinusoidal vibrational forces. The vibrational response of the test vehicle was measured at various locations with accelerometers and pressure sensor. In the lower frequency range, corresmpondence between analysis and experiment was generally good. The basic procedures in analysis seem to be adequate so far, but some improvements in mathematical modeling are suggested by comparison of test and analysis.

The Application of the Human Engineering Modeling and Performance Laboratory for Space Vehicle Ground Processing Tasks at Kennedy Space Center

Science.gov (United States)

Woodbury, Sarah K.

2008-01-01

The introduction of United Space Alliance's Human Engineering Modeling and Performance Laboratory began in early 2007 in an attempt to address the problematic workspace design issues that the Space Shuttle has imposed on technicians performing maintenance and inspection operations. The Space Shuttle was not expected to require the extensive maintenance it undergoes between flights. As a result, extensive, costly resources have been expended on workarounds and modifications to accommodate ground processing personnel. Consideration of basic human factors principles for design of maintenance is essential during the design phase of future space vehicles, facilities, and equipment. Simulation will be needed to test and validate designs before implementation.

Crewed Space Vehicle Battery Safety Requirements

Science.gov (United States)

Jeevarajan, Judith A.; Darcy, Eric C.

2014-01-01

This requirements document is applicable to all batteries on crewed spacecraft, including vehicle, payload, and crew equipment batteries. It defines the specific provisions required to design a battery that is safe for ground personnel and crew members to handle and/or operate during all applicable phases of crewed missions, safe for use in the enclosed environment of a crewed space vehicle, and safe for use in launch vehicles, as well as in unpressurized spaces adjacent to the habitable portion of a space vehicle. The required provisions encompass hazard controls, design evaluation, and verification. The extent of the hazard controls and verification required depends on the applicability and credibility of the hazard to the specific battery design and applicable missions under review. Evaluation of the design and verification program results shall be completed prior to certification for flight and ground operations. This requirements document is geared toward the designers of battery systems to be used in crewed vehicles, crew equipment, crew suits, or batteries to be used in crewed vehicle systems and payloads (or experiments). This requirements document also applies to ground handling and testing of flight batteries. Specific design and verification requirements for a battery are dependent upon the battery chemistry, capacity, complexity, charging, environment, and application. The variety of battery chemistries available, combined with the variety of battery-powered applications, results in each battery application having specific, unique requirements pertinent to the specific battery application. However, there are basic requirements for all battery designs and applications, which are listed in section 4. Section 5 includes a description of hazards and controls and also includes requirements.

Vehicle Impact Testing of Snow Roads at McMurdo Station, Antarctica

Science.gov (United States)

2014-06-01

especially during warm weather when their high flotation tires al- low greater over-snow mobility. Table 2. Test vehicle information. Vehicle Vehicle...potential danger to the vehicle and pax 16 ERDC/CRREL TR-14-9 51 GO SLOWTI-U<OtJG-ISBTFOR YOLH?. SAFETY LANE C SCOTT BASE TRANSIT/ONTO SILVER

Orion Crew Module / Service Module Structural Weight and Center of Gravity Simulator and Vehicle Motion Simulator Hoist Structure for Orion Service Module Umbilical Testing

Science.gov (United States)

Ascoli, Peter A.; Haddock, Michael H.

2014-01-01

An Orion Crew Module Service Module Structural Weight and Center of Gravity Simulator and a Vehicle Motion Simulator Hoist Structure for Orion Service Module Umbilical Testing were designed during a summer 2014 internship in Kennedy Space Centers Structures and Mechanisms Design Branch. The simulator is a structure that supports ballast, which will be integrated into an existing Orion mock-up to simulate the mass properties of the Exploration Mission-1 flight vehicle in both fueled and unfueled states. The simulator mimics these configurations through the use of approximately 40,000 lbf of steel and water ballast, and a steel support structure. Draining four water tanks, which house the water ballast, transitions the simulator from the fueled to unfueled mass properties. The Ground Systems Development and Operations organization will utilize the simulator to verify and validate equipment used to maneuver and transport the Orion spacecraft in its fueled and unfueled configurations. The second design comprises a cantilevered tripod hoist structure that provides the capability to position a large Orion Service Module Umbilical in proximity to the Vehicle Motion Simulator. The Ground Systems Development and Operations organization will utilize the Vehicle Motion Simulator, with the hoist structure attached, to test the Orion Service Module Umbilical for proper operation prior to installation on the Mobile Launcher. Overall, these two designs provide NASA engineers viable concepts worthy of fabricating and placing into service to prepare for the launch of Orion in 2017.

Novel Field Test Equipment for Lithium-Ion Batteries in Hybrid Electrical Vehicle Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Goran Lindbergh

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Lifetime testing of batteries for hybrid-electrical vehicles (HEV is usually performed in the lab, either at the cell, module or battery pack level. Complementary field tests of battery packs in vehicles are also often performed. There are, however, difficulties related to field testing of battery-packs. Some examples are cost issues and the complexity of continuously collecting battery performance data, such as capacity fade and impedance increase. In this paper, a novel field test equipment designed primarily for lithium-ion battery cell testing is presented. This equipment is intended to be used on conventional vehicles, not hybrid vehicles, as a cheaper and faster field testing method for batteries, compared to full scale HEV testing. The equipment emulates an HEV environment for the tested battery cell by using real time vehicle sensor information and the existing starter battery as load and source. In addition to the emulated battery cycling, periodical capacity and pulse testing capability are implemented as well. This paper begins with presenting some background information about hybrid electrical vehicles and describing the limitations with today’s HEV battery testing. Furthermore, the functionality of the test equipment is described in detail and, finally, results from verification of the equipment are presented and discussed.

Development of vehicle model test-bending of a simple structural surfaces model for automotive vehicle sedan

Science.gov (United States)

Nor, M. K. Mohd; Noordin, A.; Ruzali, M. F. S.; Hussen, M. H.; Mustapa@Othman, N.

2017-04-01

Simple Structural Surfaces (SSS) method is offered as a means of organizing the process for rationalizing the basic vehicle body structure load paths. The application of this simplified approach is highly beneficial in the development of modern passenger car structure design. In Malaysia, the SSS topic has been widely adopted and seems compulsory in various automotive programs related to automotive vehicle structures in many higher education institutions. However, there is no real physical model of SSS available to gain considerable insight and understanding into the function of each major subassembly in the whole vehicle structures. Based on this motivation, a real physical SSS of sedan model and the corresponding model vehicle tests of bending is proposed in this work. The proposed approach is relatively easy to understand as compared to Finite Element Method (FEM). The results prove that the proposed vehicle model test is useful to physically demonstrate the importance of providing continuous load path using the necessary structural components within the vehicle structures. It is clearly observed that the global bending stiffness reduce significantly when more panels are removed from the complete SSS model. The analysis shows the front parcel shelf is an important subassembly to sustain bending load.

Aerodynamic drag reduction tests on a box-shaped vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, R. L.; Sandlin, D. R.

1981-01-01

The intent of the present experiment is to define a near optimum value of drag coefficient for a high volume type of vehicle through the use of a boattail, on a vehicle already having rounded front corners and an underbody seal, or fairing. The results of these tests will constitute a baseline for later follow-on studies to evaluate candidate methods of obtaining afterbody drag coefficients approaching the boattail values, but without resorting to such impractical afterbody extensions. The current modifications to the box-shaped vehicle consisted of a full and truncated boattail in conjunction with the faired and sealed underbody. Drag results from these configurations are compared with corresponding wind tunnel results of a 1/10 scale model. Test velocities ranged up to 96.6 km/h (60 mph) and the corresponding Reynolds numbers ranged up to 1.3 x 10 to the 7th power based on the vehicles length which includes the boattail. A simple coast-down technique was used to define drag.

Standards and Specifications for Ground Processing of Space Vehicles: From an Aviation-Based Shuttle Project to Global Application

Science.gov (United States)

Ingalls, John; Cipolletti, John

2011-01-01

Proprietary or unique designs and operations are expected early in any industry's development, and often provide a competitive early market advantage. However, there comes a time when a product or industry requires standardization for the whole industry to advance...or survive. For the space industry, that time has come. Here, we will focus on standardization of ground processing for space vehicles and their ground systems. With the retirement of the Space Shuttle, and emergence of a new global space race, affordability and sustainability are more important now than ever. The growing commercialization of the space industry and current global economic environment are driving greater need for efficiencies to save time and money. More RLV's (Reusable Launch Vehicles) are being developed for the gains of reusability not achievable with traditional ELV's (Expendable Launch Vehicles). More crew/passenger vehicles are also being developed. All of this calls for more attention needed for ground processing-repeatedly before launch and after landing/recovery. RLV's should provide more efficiencies than ELV's, as long as MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) is well-planned-even for the unplanned problems. NASA's Space Shuttle is a primary example of an RLV which was supposed to thrive on reusability savings with efficient ground operations, but lessons learned show that costs were (and still are) much greater than expected. International standards and specifications can provide the commonality needed to simplify design and manufacturing as well as to improve safety, quality, maintenance, and operability. There are standards organizations engaged in the space industry, but ground processing is one of the areas least addressed. Challenges are encountered due to various factors often not considered during development. Multiple vehicle elements, sites, customers, and contractors pose various functional and integration difficulties. Resulting technical publication structures

Research on optimization of test cycles for comfort to the special vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Mitroi, Marian; Chiru, Anghel

2017-10-01

The comfort of vehicles, regardless of their type is represent a requirement to by fulfilled in the context of current technological developments special vehicles generally move under different soil, time, or season conditions, and the land in which the vehicles move is complex and varied in the physical structure. Due to the high level of involvement in the driveability, safety and comfort of automotive, suspension system is a key factor with major implications for vibration and noise, affecting the human body. The objective of the research is related to determining the test cycles of special vehicles that are approaching real situations, to determine the level of comfort. The evaluate of the degree of comfort will be realized on acceleration values recorded, especially the vertical ones that have the highest influence on the human body. Thus, in this way the tests can be established needed to determine the level of comfort required for each particular type of special vehicle. The utility of the test cycles to optimize comfort is given to the accurate identification of the specific test needs, depending on the each vehicle.

Vehicle for transporting instruments for testing against a wall

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hyde, E.A.; Goldsmith, H.A.; Proudlove, M.J.

1981-01-01

This invention relates to a non-destructive testing apparatus and, in particular, to a vehicle that can be moved at will, for transporting instruments for testing against a surface remote from the operator. Under this invention a vehicle is intended, for instance, for testing the vessel of an installation containing a liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor of the pond type. Such an installation includes a nuclear reactor comprising an assembly containing a nuclear fuel immersed in a pond of liquid metal coolant, located in a vessel which is itself placed in a concrete containment vessel [fr

X-36 on Ground after Radio and Telemetry Tests

Science.gov (United States)

1996-01-01

A UH-1 helicopter lowers the X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft to the ground after radio frequency and telemetry tests above Rogers Dry Lake at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, in November 1996. The purpose of taking the X-36 aloft for the radio and telemetry system checkouts was to test the systems more realistically while airborne. More taxi and radio frequency tests were conducted before the aircraft's first flight in early 1997. The NASA/Boeing X-36 Tailless Fighter Agility Research Aircraft program successfully demonstrated the tailless fighter design using advanced technologies to improve the maneuverability and survivability of possible future fighter aircraft. The program met or exceeded all project goals. For 31 flights during 1997 at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, the project team examined the aircraft's agility at low speed / high angles of attack and at high speed / low angles of attack. The aircraft's speed envelope reached up to 206 knots (234 mph). This aircraft was very stable and maneuverable. It handled very well. The X-36 vehicle was designed to fly without the traditional tail surfaces common on most aircraft. Instead, a canard forward of the wing was used as well as split ailerons and an advanced thrust-vectoring nozzle for directional control. The X-36 was unstable in both pitch and yaw axes, so an advanced, single-channel digital fly-by-wire control system (developed with some commercially available components) was put in place to stabilize the aircraft. Using a video camera mounted in the nose of the aircraft and an onboard microphone, the X-36 was remotely controlled by a pilot in a ground station virtual cockpit. A standard fighter-type head-up display (HUD) and a moving-map representation of the vehicle's position within the range in which it flew provided excellent situational awareness for the pilot. This pilot-in-the-loop approach eliminated the need for expensive and

Development of a Ground Test and Analysis Protocol to Support NASA's NextSTEP Phase 2 Habitation Concepts

Science.gov (United States)

Beaton, Kara H.; Chappell, Steven P.; Bekdash, Omar S.; Gernhardt, Michael L.

2018-01-01

The NASA Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) program is a public-private partnership model that seeks commercial development of deep space exploration capabilities to support extensive human spaceflight missions around and beyond cislunar space. NASA first issued the Phase 1 NextSTEP Broad Agency Announcement to U.S. industries in 2014, which called for innovative cislunar habitation concepts that leveraged commercialization plans for low Earth orbit. These habitats will be part of the Deep Space Gateway (DSG), the cislunar space station planned by NASA for construction in the 2020s. In 2016, Phase 2 of the NextSTEP program selected five commercial partners to develop ground prototypes. A team of NASA research engineers and subject matter experts have been tasked with developing the ground test protocol that will serve as the primary means by which these Phase 2 prototype habitats will be evaluated. Since 2008, this core test team has successfully conducted multiple spaceflight analog mission evaluations utilizing a consistent set of operational products, tools, methods, and metrics to enable the iterative development, testing, analysis, and validation of evolving exploration architectures, operations concepts, and vehicle designs. The purpose of implementing a similar evaluation process for the NextSTEP Phase 2 Habitation Concepts is to consistently evaluate the different commercial partner ground prototypes to provide data-driven, actionable recommendations for Phase 3.

History of ground motion programs at the Nevada Test Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Banister, J.R.

1984-01-01

Some measurements were made in the atmospheric testing era, but the study of ground motion from nuclear tests became of wider interest after the instigation of underground testing. The ground motion generated by underground nuclear test has been investigated for a number of reasons including understanding basic phenomena, operational and safety concerns, yield determination, stimulation of earthquake concerns, and developing methods to aid in treaty verifications. This history of ground motion programs will include discussing early studies, high yield programs, Peaceful Nuclear Explosions tests, and some more recent developments. 6 references, 10 figures

A study on model fidelity for model predictive control-based obstacle avoidance in high-speed autonomous ground vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jiechao; Jayakumar, Paramsothy; Stein, Jeffrey L.; Ersal, Tulga

2016-11-01

This paper investigates the level of model fidelity needed in order for a model predictive control (MPC)-based obstacle avoidance algorithm to be able to safely and quickly avoid obstacles even when the vehicle is close to its dynamic limits. The context of this work is large autonomous ground vehicles that manoeuvre at high speed within unknown, unstructured, flat environments and have significant vehicle dynamics-related constraints. Five different representations of vehicle dynamics models are considered: four variations of the two degrees-of-freedom (DoF) representation as lower fidelity models and a fourteen DoF representation with combined-slip Magic Formula tyre model as a higher fidelity model. It is concluded that the two DoF representation that accounts for tyre nonlinearities and longitudinal load transfer is necessary for the MPC-based obstacle avoidance algorithm in order to operate the vehicle at its limits within an environment that includes large obstacles. For less challenging environments, however, the two DoF representation with linear tyre model and constant axle loads is sufficient.

Innovative control systems for tracked vehicle platforms

CERN Document Server

2014-01-01

 This book has been motivated by an urgent need for designing and implementation of innovative control algorithms and systems for tracked vehicles. Nowadays the unmanned vehicles are becoming more and more common. Therefore there is a need for innovative mechanical constructions capable of adapting to various applications regardless the ground, air or water/underwater environment. There are multiple various activities connected with tracked vehicles. They can be distributed among three main groups: design and control algorithms, sensoric and vision based in-formation, construction and testing mechanical parts of unmanned vehicles. Scientists and researchers involved in mechanics, control algorithms, image processing, computer vision, data fusion, or IC will find this book useful.

Trends in Aggregate Vehicle Emissions: Do We Need To Emissions Test?

OpenAIRE

Matthew Kahn

1995-01-01

Vehicle emissions are falling. As the oldest vehicles in the fleet are scrapped and are replaced by cleaner vehicles, aggregate emissions decline. Given this trend, must costly used car regulation continue? The Clean Air Act of 1990 requires more stringent used car testing without considering the counter-factual of how aggregate emissions would evolve in the absence of more regulation. This paper use data on vehicle scrappage rates, vehicle emissions by model year, and county air quality leve...

The Seismic Response of High-Speed Railway Bridges Subjected to Near-Fault Forward Directivity Ground Motions Using a Vehicle-Track-Bridge Element

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chen Ling-kun

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Based on the Next Generation Attenuation (NGA project ground motion library, the finite element model of the high-speed railway vehicle-bridge system is established. The model was specifically developed for such system that is subjected to near-fault ground motions. In addition, it accounted for the influence of the rail irregularities. The vehicle-track-bridge (VTB element is presented to simulate the interaction between train and bridge, in which a train can be modeled as a series of sprung masses concentrated at the axle positions. For the short period railway bridge, the results from the case study demonstrate that directivity pulse effect tends to increase the seismic responses of the bridge compared with far-fault ground motions or nonpulse-like motions and the directivity pulse effect and high values of the vertical acceleration component can notably influence the hysteretic behaviour of piers.

Transrapid 06 test vehicle and its drive system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eitlhuber, E

1984-06-01

To prove the practicability of a high-speed maglev transport system, a large-scale test facility is now under construction in Emsland with the backing of the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology. The TRANSRAPID 06 test vehicle is designed to carry 192 seated passengers at a maximum speed of 400 km/h. With running tests now in progress, the project has entered a decisive phase. The article describes the objectives, concept and design of the Tr 06 vehicle and its drive system. Upon conclusion of the main operational preparations by the construction consortium, the facility will be taken over and operated by the MVP, a joint subsidiary of the DB, Lufthansa German Airlines and the IABG. Following a successful changeover, the aim will be to ensure feedback of operating experience to the industry.

40 CFR 1051.301 - When must I test my production-line vehicles or engines?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... vehicles or engines? 1051.301 Section 1051.301 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS CONTROL OF EMISSIONS FROM RECREATIONAL ENGINES AND VEHICLES Testing Production-Line Vehicles and Engines § 1051.301 When must I test my production-line vehicles or engines? (a...

FY2014 Vehicle and Systems Simulation and Testing Annual Progress Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2015-03-01

The Vehicle and Systems Simulation and Testing research and development (R&D) subprogram within the DOE Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) provides support and guidance for many cutting-edge automotive technologies under development. Research focuses on addressing critical barriers to advancing light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicle systems to help maximize the number of electric miles driven and increase the energy efficiency of transportation vehicles.

Online Aerial Terrain Mapping for Ground Robot Navigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Peterson

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This work presents a collaborative unmanned aerial and ground vehicle system which utilizes the aerial vehicle’s overhead view to inform the ground vehicle’s path planning in real time. The aerial vehicle acquires imagery which is assembled into a orthomosaic and then classified. These terrain classes are used to estimate relative navigation costs for the ground vehicle so energy-efficient paths may be generated and then executed. The two vehicles are registered in a common coordinate frame using a real-time kinematic global positioning system (RTK GPS and all image processing is performed onboard the unmanned aerial vehicle, which minimizes the data exchanged between the vehicles. This paper describes the architecture of the system and quantifies the registration errors between the vehicles.

Vehicle Testing and Integration Facility; NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

2015-03-02

Engineers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) Vehicle Testing and Integration Facility (VTIF) are developing strategies to address two separate but equally crucial areas of research: meeting the demands of electric vehicle (EV) grid integration and minimizing fuel consumption related to vehicle climate control. Dedicated to renewable and energy-efficient solutions, the VTIF showcases technologies and systems designed to increase the viability of sustainably powered vehicles. NREL researchers instrument every class of on-road vehicle, conduct hardware and software validation for EV components and accessories, and develop analysis tools and technology for the Department of Energy, other government agencies, and industry partners.

Intelligence Level Performance Standards Research for Autonomous Vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Bostelman, Roger B; Hong, Tsai H; Messina, Elena

2015-01-01

United States and European safety standards have evolved to protect workers near Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGV's). However, performance standards for AGV's and mobile robots have only recently begun development. Lessons can be learned from research and standards efforts for mobile robots applied to emergency response and military applications. Research challenges, tests and evaluations, and programs to develop higher intelligence levels for vehicles can also used to guide industrial AGV developments towards more adaptable and intelligent systems. These other efforts also provide useful standards development criteria for AGV performance test methods. Current standards areas being considered for AGVs are for docking, navigation, obstacle avoidance, and the ground truth systems that measure performance. This paper provides a look to the future with standards developments in both the performance of vehicles and the dynamic perception systems that measure intelligent vehicle performance.

Real-time Accurate Surface Reconstruction Pipeline for Vision Guided Planetary Exploration Using Unmanned Ground and Aerial Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Almeida, Eduardo DeBrito

2012-01-01

This report discusses work completed over the summer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology. A system is presented to guide ground or aerial unmanned robots using computer vision. The system performs accurate camera calibration, camera pose refinement and surface extraction from images collected by a camera mounted on the vehicle. The application motivating the research is planetary exploration and the vehicles are typically rovers or unmanned aerial vehicles. The information extracted from imagery is used primarily for navigation, as robot location is the same as the camera location and the surfaces represent the terrain that rovers traverse. The processed information must be very accurate and acquired very fast in order to be useful in practice. The main challenge being addressed by this project is to achieve high estimation accuracy and high computation speed simultaneously, a difficult task due to many technical reasons.

BUSTED BUTTE TEST FACILITY GROUND SUPPORT CONFIRMATION ANALYSIS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bonabian, S.

1998-01-01

The main purpose and objective of this analysis is to confirm the validity of the ground support design for Busted Butte Test Facility (BBTF). The highwall stability and adequacy of highwall and tunnel ground support is addressed in this analysis. The design of the BBTF including the ground support system was performed in a separate document (Reference 5.3). Both in situ and seismic loads are considered in the evaluation of the highwall and the tunnel ground support system. In this analysis only the ground support designed in Reference 5.3 is addressed. The additional ground support installed (still work in progress) by the constructor is not addressed in this analysis. This additional ground support was evaluated by the A/E during a site visit and its findings and recommendations are addressed in this analysis

Ares I Integrated Test Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Jim

2008-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the testing approach that NASA is developing for the Ares I launch vehicle. NASA is planning a complete series of development, qualification and verification tests. These include: (1) Upper stage engine sea-level and altitude testing (2) First stage development and qualification motors (3) Upper stage structural and thermal development and qualification test articles (4) Main Propulsion Test Article (MPTA) (5) Upper stage green run testing (6) Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Testing (IVGVT) and (7) Aerodynamic characterization testing.

Design of a Portable Tire Test Rig and Vehicle Roll-Over Stability Control

OpenAIRE

Fox, Derek Martin

2009-01-01

Vehicle modeling and simulation have fast become the easiest and cheapest method for vehicle testing. No longer do multiple, intensive, physical tests need be performed to analyze the performance parameters that one wishes to validate. One component of the vehicle simulation that is crucial to the correctness of the result is the tire. Simulations that are run by a computer can be run many times faster than a real test could be performed, so the cost and complexity of the testing is reduced....

Small UAV Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System Design Considerations and Flight Test Results

Science.gov (United States)

Sorokowski, Paul; Skoog, Mark; Burrows, Scott; Thomas, SaraKatie

2015-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Armstrong Flight Research Center Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (SUAV) Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS) project demonstrated several important collision avoidance technologies. First, the SUAV Auto GCAS design included capabilities to take advantage of terrain avoidance maneuvers flying turns to either side as well as straight over terrain. Second, the design also included innovative digital elevation model (DEM) scanning methods. The combination of multi-trajectory options and new scanning methods demonstrated the ability to reduce the nuisance potential of the SUAV while maintaining robust terrain avoidance. Third, the Auto GCAS algorithms were hosted on the processor inside a smartphone, providing a lightweight hardware configuration for use in either the ground control station or on board the test aircraft. Finally, compression of DEM data for the entire Earth and successful hosting of that data on the smartphone was demonstrated. The SUAV Auto GCAS project demonstrated that together these methods and technologies have the potential to dramatically reduce the number of controlled flight into terrain mishaps across a wide range of aviation platforms with similar capabilities including UAVs, general aviation aircraft, helicopters, and model aircraft.

Intercomparison of unmanned aerial vehicle and ground-based narrow band spectrometers applied to crop trait monitoring in organic potato production

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Domingues Franceschini, Marston; Bartholomeus, Harm; Apeldoorn, van Dirk; Suomalainen, Juha; Kooistra, Lammert

2017-01-01

Vegetation properties can be estimated using optical sensors, acquiring data on board of different platforms. For instance, ground-based and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-borne spectrometers can measure reflectance in narrow spectral bands, while different modelling approaches, like regressions

Vehicle Reference Generator for Collision-Free Trajectories in Hazardous Maneuvers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cuauhtémoc Acosta Lúa

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a reference generator for ground vehicles, based on potential fields adapted to the case of vehicular dynamics. The reference generator generates signals to be tracked by the vehicle, corresponding to a trajectory avoiding collisions with obstacles. This generator integrates artificial forces of potential fields of the object surrounding the vehicle. The reference generator is used with a controller to ensure the tracking of the accident-free reference. This approach can be used for vehicle autonomous driving or for active control of manned vehicles. Simulation results, presented for the autonomous driving, consider a scenario inspired by the so-called moose (or elk test, with the presence of other collaborative vehicles.

Fatigue Tests – Important Part of Development of New Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kepka Miloslav

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In city of Pilsen (Czech Republic modern transport engineering is developed. The Skoda Transportation (production company has successfully been producing rail and road vehicles for many years (electric locomotives, trams, metro cars, trolleybuses, battery buses. This producer cooperates in developing these vehicles with the Research and Testing Institute (commercial research institute and with the University of West Bohemia (public university. Fatigue tests are carried out by the Dynamic Testing Laboratory at the Research and Testing Institute and by the Regional Technological Institute, the research center of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the university. The paper describes various fatigue tests and presents their practical realization in the mentioned laboratories.

Mechanical Properties Experimental Study of Engineering Vehicle Refurbished Tire

Science.gov (United States)

Qiang, Wang; Xiaojie, Qi; Zhao, Yang; Yunlong, Wang; Guotian, Wang; Degang, Lv

2018-05-01

The vehicle refurbished tire test system was constructed, got load-deformation, load-stiffness, and load-compression ratio property laws of engineering vehicle refurbished tire under the working condition of static state and ground contact, and built radial direction loading deformation mathematics model of 26.5R25 engineering vehicle refurbished tire. The test results show that radial-direction and side-direction deformation value is a little less than that of the new tire. The radial-direction stiffness and compression ratio of engineering vehicle refurbished tire were greatly influenced by radial-direction load and air inflation pressure. When load was certain, radial-direction stiffness would increase with air inflation pressure increasing. When air inflation pressure was certain, compression ratio of engineering vehicle refurbished tire would enlarge with radial-direction load increasing, which was a little less than that of the new and the same type tire. Aging degree of old car-case would exert a great influence on deformation property of engineering vehicle refurbished tire, thus engineering vehicle refurbished tires are suitable to the working condition of low tire pressure and less load.

Space vehicle electromechanical system and helical antenna winding fixture

Science.gov (United States)

Judd, Stephen; Dallmann, Nicholas; Guenther, David; Enemark, Donald; Seitz, Daniel; Martinez, John; Storms, Steven

2017-12-26

A space vehicle electromechanical system may employ an architecture that enables convenient and practical testing, reset, and retesting of solar panel and antenna deployment on the ground. A helical antenna winding fixture may facilitate winding and binding of the helical antenna.

IRVIN - Intelligent Road and Vehicle test INfrastructure

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bakker, R.T.; Hogema, J.A.; Huiskamp, W.; Papp, Z.

2005-01-01

Simulation, or rather virtual testing, is a good instrument for study and design of traffic management concepts, traffic safety, vehicle safety and ergonomics. Simulation facilitates the evaluation of the design at an early stage and reduces the costs of making prototypes. The Dutch research

Multi-Mission Earth Vehicle Subsonic Dynamic Stability Testing and Analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Glaab, Louis J.; Fremaux, C. Michael

2013-01-01

Multi-Mission Earth Entry Vehicles (MMEEVs) are blunt-body vehicles designed with the purpose of transporting payloads from outer space to the surface of the Earth. To achieve high-reliability and minimum weight, MMEEVs avoid use of limited-reliability systems, such as parachutes, retro-rockets, and reaction control systems and rely on the natural aerodynamic stability of the vehicle throughout the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) phase of flight. The Multi-Mission Systems Analysis for Planetary Entry (M-SAPE) parametric design tool is used to facilitate the design of MMEEVs for an array of missions and develop and visualize the trade space. Testing in NASA Langley?s Vertical Spin Tunnel (VST) was conducted to significantly improve M-SAPE?s subsonic aerodynamic models. Vehicle size and shape can be driven by entry flight path angle and speed, thermal protection system performance, terminal velocity limitations, payload mass and density, among other design parameters. The objectives of the VST testing were to define usable subsonic center of gravity limits, and aerodynamic parameters for 6-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) simulations, for a range of MMEEV designs. The range of MMEEVs tested was from 1.8m down to 1.2m diameter. A backshell extender provided the ability to test a design with a much larger payload for the 1.2m MMEEV.

40 CFR 85.1506 - Inspection and testing of imported motor vehicles and engines.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... motor vehicles and engines. 85.1506 Section 85.1506 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) CONTROL OF AIR POLLUTION FROM MOBILE SOURCES Importation of Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicle Engines § 85.1506 Inspection and testing of imported motor vehicles and...

40 CFR 1051.501 - What procedures must I use to test my vehicles or engines?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... vehicles or engines? 1051.501 Section 1051.501 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS CONTROL OF EMISSIONS FROM RECREATIONAL ENGINES AND VEHICLES Test Procedures § 1051.501 What procedures must I use to test my vehicles or engines? This section describes test...

Intra-site Secure Transport Vehicle test and evaluation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scott, S.

1995-01-01

In the past many DOE and DoD facilities involved in handling nuclear material realized a need to enhance the safely and security for movement of sensitive materials within their facility, or ''intra-site''. There have been prior efforts to improve on-site transportation; however, there remains a requirement for enhanced on-site transportation at a number of facilities. The requirements for on-site transportation are driven by security, safety, and operational concerns. The Intra-site Secure Transport Vehicle (ISTV) was designed to address these concerns specifically for DOE site applications with a standardized vehicle design. This paper briefly reviews the ISTV design features providing significant enhancement of onsite transportation safety and security, and also describes the test and evaluation activities either complete of underway to validate the vehicle design and operation

Ground test facility for nuclear testing of space reactor subsystems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quapp, W.J.; Watts, K.D.

1985-01-01

Two major reactor facilities at the INEL have been identified as easily adaptable for supporting the nuclear testing of the SP-100 reactor subsystem. They are the Engineering Test Reactor (ETR) and the Loss of Fluid Test Reactor (LOFT). In addition, there are machine shops, analytical laboratories, hot cells, and the supporting services (fire protection, safety, security, medical, waste management, etc.) necessary to conducting a nuclear test program. This paper presents the conceptual approach for modifying these reactor facilities for the ground engineering test facility for the SP-100 nuclear subsystem. 4 figs

New Integrated Testing System for the Validation of Vehicle-Snow Interaction Models

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-06

are individual wheel speeds, accelerator pedal position, vehicle speed, yaw rate, lateral acceleration, steering wheel angle and brake ...forces and moments at each wheel center, vehicle body slip angle , speed, acceleration, yaw rate, roll, and pitch. The profilometer has a 3-D scanning...Stability Program. The test vehicle provides measurements that include three forces and moments at each wheel center, vehicle body slip angle , speed

Developing a 'Research Test Bed' to introduce innovative Emission Testing Technology to improve New Zealand's Vehicle Emission Standards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cox, Stephen J

2012-01-01

Vehicle exhaust emissions arise from the combustion of the fuel and air mixture in the engine. Exhaust emission gases generally include carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), hydrocarbons (HC), particulates, and the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2). In New Zealand improvements have occurred in emissions standards over the past 20 years however significant health related issues are now being discovered in Auckland as a direct effect of high vehicle emission levels. Pollution in New Zealand, especially via vehicle emissions are an increasing concern and threatens New Zealand's 'clean and green' image. Unitec Institute of Technology proposes establishing a Vehicle Emissions Testing Facility, and with an understanding with Auckland University, National Institute of Water and Atmosphere Research Ltd (NIWA) this research group can work collaboratively on vehicle emissions testing. New Zealand research providers would support an application in the UK led by the University of Huddersfield to a range of European Union Structural Funds. New Zealand has an ideal 'vehicle emissions research environment' supported by significant expertise in vehicle emission control technology and associated protocols at the University of Auckland, and the effects of high vehicle emissions on health at the National Institutes of Water and Atmosphere (NIWA).

U.S. Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Program: Battery Test Manual For Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Christophersen, Jon P. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2014-09-01

This battery test procedure manual was prepared for the United States Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office. It is based on technical targets for commercial viability established for energy storage development projects aimed at meeting system level DOE goals for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV). The specific procedures defined in this manual support the performance and life characterization of advanced battery devices under development for PHEV’s. However, it does share some methods described in the previously published battery test manual for power-assist hybrid electric vehicles. Due to the complexity of some of the procedures and supporting analysis, future revisions including some modifications and clarifications of these procedures are expected. As in previous battery and capacitor test manuals, this version of the manual defines testing methods for full-size battery systems, along with provisions for scaling these tests for modules, cells or other subscale level devices. The DOE-United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC), Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) supported the development of the manual. Technical Team points of contact responsible for its development and revision are Renata M. Arsenault of Ford Motor Company and Jon P. Christophersen of the Idaho National Laboratory. The development of this manual was funded by the Unites States Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Vehicle Technologies Office. Technical direction from DOE was provided by David Howell, Energy Storage R&D Manager and Hybrid Electric Systems Team Leader. Comments and questions regarding the manual should be directed to Jon P. Christophersen at the Idaho National Laboratory (jon.christophersen@inl.gov).

Space Shuttle Boundary Layer Transition Flight Experiment Ground Testing Overview

Science.gov (United States)

Berger, Karen T.; Anderson, Brian P.; Campbell, Charles H.

2014-01-01

In support of the Boundary Layer Transition (BLT) Flight Experiment (FE) Project in which a manufactured protuberance tile was installed on the port wing of Space Shuttle Orbiter Discovery for STS-119, STS- 128, STS-131 and STS-133 as well as Space Shuttle Orbiter Endeavour for STS-134, a significant ground test campaign was completed. The primary goals of the test campaign were to provide ground test data to support the planning and safety certification efforts required to fly the flight experiment as well as validation for the collected flight data. These test included Arcjet testing of the tile protuberance, aerothermal testing to determine the boundary layer transition behavior and resultant surface heating and planar laser induced fluorescence (PLIF) testing in order to gain a better understanding of the flow field characteristics associated with the flight experiment. This paper provides an overview of the BLT FE Project ground testing. High-level overviews of the facilities, models, test techniques and data are presented, along with a summary of the insights gained from each test.

Analysis of the ECO Test Results for Vehicles in the Republic of Croatia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dražen Kovačević

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The work presents the classification of engines for theECO test requirement at the technical inspection of vehicles.The types of harmful components in the raw emission of internalcombustion engine are listed and described, as well asthe possibilities of their reduction. In accordance with theclassification of engines for the ECO test requirements the allowedvalues of harmful components according to the legallystipulated standards in Croatia are given. The study includedthe number of vehicles that passed the ECO test at technicalinspection in 2004 and these were then statistically processedand analyzed according to the type of vehicle, classification ofcar engines for the ECO test requirements and the year ofproduction.

Baseline test data for the EVA electric vehicle. [low energy consumption automobiles

Science.gov (United States)

Harhay, W. C.; Bozek, J.

1976-01-01

Two electric vehicles from Electric Vehicle Associates were evaluated for ERDA at the Transportation Research Center of Ohio. The vehicles, loaded to a gross vehicle weight of 3750 pounds, had a range of 56.3 miles at a steady speed of 25 mph and a 27.4 miles range during acceleration-deceleration tests to a top speed of 30 mph. Energy consumption varied from 0.48 kw-hr/mi. to 0.59 kw-hr/mi.

Autonomous urban reconnaissance ingress system (AURIS): providing a tactically relevant autonomous door-opening kit for unmanned ground vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Shane, David J.; Rufo, Michael A.; Berkemeier, Matthew D.; Alberts, Joel A.

2012-06-01

The Autonomous Urban Reconnaissance Ingress System (AURIS™) addresses a significant limitation of current military and first responder robotics technology: the inability of reconnaissance robots to open doors. Leveraging user testing as a baseline, the program has derived specifications necessary for military personnel to open doors with fielded UGVs (Unmanned Ground Vehicles), and evaluates the technology's impact on operational mission areas: duration, timing, and user patience in developing a tactically relevant, safe, and effective system. Funding is provided through the US ARMY Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) and the project represents a leap forward in perception, autonomy, robotic implements, and coordinated payload operation in UGVs. This paper describes high level details of specification generation, status of the last phase of development, an advanced view of the system autonomy capability, and a short look ahead towards the ongoing work on this compelling and important technology.

Results from Operational Testing of the Siemens Smart Grid-Capable Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bennett, Brion [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2015-05-01

The Idaho National Laboratory conducted testing and analysis of the Siemens smart grid capable electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), which was a deliverable from Siemens for the U.S. Department of Energy FOA-554. The Idaho National Laboratory has extensive knowledge and experience in testing advanced conductive and wireless charging systems though INL’s support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity. This document details the findings from the EVSE operational testing conducted at the Idaho National Laboratory on the Siemens smart grid capable EVSE. The testing conducted on the EVSE included energy efficiency testing, SAE J1772 functionality testing, abnormal conditions testing, and charging of a plug-in vehicle.

Simulation of Ground Winds Time Series for the NASA Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV)

Science.gov (United States)

Adelfang, Stanley I.

2008-01-01

Simulation of wind time series based on power spectrum density (PSD) and spectral coherence models for ground wind turbulence is described. The wind models, originally developed for the Shuttle program, are based on wind measurements at the NASA 150-m meteorological tower at Cape Canaveral, FL. The current application is for the design and/or protection of the CLV from wind effects during on-pad exposure during periods from as long as days prior to launch, to seconds or minutes just prior to launch and seconds after launch. The evaluation of vehicle response to wind will influence the design and operation of constraint systems for support of the on-pad vehicle. Longitudinal and lateral wind component time series are simulated at critical vehicle locations. The PSD model for wind turbulence is a function of mean wind speed, elevation and temporal frequency. Integration of the PSD equation over a selected frequency range yields the variance of the time series to be simulated. The square root of the PSD defines a low-pass filter that is applied to adjust the components of the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of Gaussian white noise. The first simulated time series near the top of the launch vehicle is the inverse transform of the adjusted FFT. Simulation of the wind component time series at the nearest adjacent location (and all other succeeding next nearest locations) is based on a model for the coherence between winds at two locations as a function of frequency and separation distance, where the adjacent locations are separated vertically and/or horizontally. The coherence function is used to calculate a coherence weighted FFT of the wind at the next nearest location, given the FFT of the simulated time series at the previous location and the essentially incoherent FFT of the wind at the selected location derived a priori from the PSD model. The simulated time series at each adjacent location is the inverse Fourier transform of the coherence weighted FFT. For a selected

Safe and secure South Africa. Vehicle landmine protection validation testing

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Reinecke, JD

2008-11-01

Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of vehicle landmine protection validation testing in South Africa. A short history of validation test standards is given, followed by a summary of current open test standards in general use...

Illumination compensation in ground based hyperspectral imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Wendel, Alexander; Underwood, James

2017-07-01

Hyperspectral imaging has emerged as an important tool for analysing vegetation data in agricultural applications. Recently, low altitude and ground based hyperspectral imaging solutions have come to the fore, providing very high resolution data for mapping and studying large areas of crops in detail. However, these platforms introduce a unique set of challenges that need to be overcome to ensure consistent, accurate and timely acquisition of data. One particular problem is dealing with changes in environmental illumination while operating with natural light under cloud cover, which can have considerable effects on spectral shape. In the past this has been commonly achieved by imaging known reference targets at the time of data acquisition, direct measurement of irradiance, or atmospheric modelling. While capturing a reference panel continuously or very frequently allows accurate compensation for illumination changes, this is often not practical with ground based platforms, and impossible in aerial applications. This paper examines the use of an autonomous unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) to gather high resolution hyperspectral imaging data of crops under natural illumination. A process of illumination compensation is performed to extract the inherent reflectance properties of the crops, despite variable illumination. This work adapts a previously developed subspace model approach to reflectance and illumination recovery. Though tested on a ground vehicle in this paper, it is applicable to low altitude unmanned aerial hyperspectral imagery also. The method uses occasional observations of reference panel training data from within the same or other datasets, which enables a practical field protocol that minimises in-field manual labour. This paper tests the new approach, comparing it against traditional methods. Several illumination compensation protocols for high volume ground based data collection are presented based on the results. The findings in this paper are

Ares-I-X Vehicle Preliminary Range Safety Malfunction Turn Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Beaty, James R.; Starr, Brett R.; Gowan, John W., Jr.

2008-01-01

Ares-I-X is the designation given to the flight test version of the Ares-I rocket (also known as the Crew Launch Vehicle - CLV) being developed by NASA. As part of the preliminary flight plan approval process for the test vehicle, a range safety malfunction turn analysis was performed to support the launch area risk assessment and vehicle destruct criteria development processes. Several vehicle failure scenarios were identified which could cause the vehicle trajectory to deviate from its normal flight path, and the effects of these failures were evaluated with an Ares-I-X 6 degrees-of-freedom (6-DOF) digital simulation, using the Program to Optimize Simulated Trajectories Version 2 (POST2) simulation framework. The Ares-I-X simulation analysis provides output files containing vehicle state information, which are used by other risk assessment and vehicle debris trajectory simulation tools to determine the risk to personnel and facilities in the vicinity of the launch area at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), and to develop the vehicle destruct criteria used by the flight test range safety officer. The simulation analysis approach used for this study is described, including descriptions of the failure modes which were considered and the underlying assumptions and ground rules of the study, and preliminary results are presented, determined by analysis of the trajectory deviation of the failure cases, compared with the expected vehicle trajectory.

Study on environmental test technology of LiDAR used for vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yi; Yang, Jianfeng; Ou, Yong

2018-03-01

With the development of intelligent driving, the LiDAR used for vehicle plays an important role in it, in some extent LiDAR is the key factor of intelligent driving. And environmental adaptability is one critical factor of quality, it relates success or failure of LiDAR. This article discusses about the environment and its effects on LiDAR used for vehicle, it includes analysis of any possible environment that vehicle experiences, and environmental test design.

VHF/UHF imagery and RCS measurements of ground targets in forested terrain

Science.gov (United States)

Gatesman, Andrew J.; Beaudoin, Christopher J.; Giles, Robert H.; Waldman, Jerry; Nixon, William E.

2002-08-01

The monostatic VV and HH-polarized radar signatures of several targets and trees have been measured at foliage penetration frequencies (VHF/UHF) by using 1/35th scale models and an indoor radar range operating at X-band. An array of high-fidelity scale model ground vehicles and test objects as well as scaled ground terrain and trees have been fabricated for the study. Radar measurement accuracy has been confirmed by comparing the signature of a test object with a method of moments radar cross section prediction code. In addition to acquiring signatures of targets located on a smooth, dielectric ground plane, data have also been acquired with targets located in simulated wooded terrain that included scaled tree trunks and tree branches. In order to assure the correct backscattering behavior, all dielectric properties of live tree wood and moist soil were scaled properly to match the complex dielectric constant of the full-scale materials. The impact of the surrounding tree clutter on the VHF/UHF radar signatures of ground vehicles was accessed. Data were processed into high-resolution, polar-formatted ISAR imagery and signature comparisons are made between targets in open-field and forested scenarios.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Fuel Economy Testing at the U.S. EPA National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory (SAE Paper 2004-01-2900)

Science.gov (United States)

The introduction of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and their new technology has created the need for development of new fuel economy test procedures and safety procedures during testing. The United States Environmental Protection Agency-National Vehicle Fuels and Emissions Laborato...

Development of a Remotely Operated Vehicle Test-bed

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Biao WANG

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the development of a remotely operated vehicle (ROV, designed to serve as a convenient, cost-effective platform for research and experimental validation of hardware, sensors and control algorithms. Both of the mechanical and control system design are introduced. The vehicle with a dimension 0.65 m long, 0.45 m wide has been designed to have a frame structure for modification of mounted devices and thruster allocation. For control system, STM32 based MCU boards specially designed for this project, are used as core processing boards. And an open source, modular, flexible software is developed. Experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of the test-bed.

Fast neutron radiography testing for components of launch vehicles by a baby-cyclotron

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ikeda, Y.; Ohkubo, K.; Matsumoto, G.; Nakamura, T.; Nozaki, Y.; Wakasa, S.; Toda, Y.; Kato, T.

1990-01-01

Recently, neutron radiography (NR) has become an important means of nondestructive testing (NDT) in Japan. Especially thermal neutron radiography testing (NRT) has been used for the NDT of various explosive devices of launch vehicles, which are developed as a H-series program by the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) of Japan. The NRT for launch vehicles has been carried out at the NR facility of a baby-cyclotron. In the NRT a conventional film method based on silver-halide emulsion has been exclusively employed to inspect various testing objects including components, and many valuable results have been obtained so far successfully. However, recently, the launch vehicles to be shot up have become much larger. With larger launch vehicles, the parts used in them have also become larger and thicker. One main disadvantage of the NRT by thermal neutrons is somewhat weak penetrability through objects because the energy is small. With the conventional thermal neutron radiography (TNR), steel objects being thicker than 40 to 50 mm are difficult to test through them because scattered neutrons obstruct real image of the object. Consequently a new method of NRT should be developed instead of TNR and applied to the new components of H-2 launch vehicles. In order to cope with the requirement, fast neutron radiography (FNR) has been studied for testing the new components of H-2, such as large separation bolts

Aerothermodynamics of blunt body entry vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Hollis, Brian R.; Borrelli, Salvatore

2012-01-01

In this chapter, the aerothermodynamic phenomena of blunt body entry vehicles are discussed. Four topics will be considered that present challenges to current computational modeling techniques for blunt body environments: turbulent flow, non-equilibrium flow, rarefied flow, and radiation transport. Examples of comparisons between computational tools to ground and flight-test data will be presented in order to illustrate the challenges existing in the numerical modeling of each of these phenomena and to provide test cases for evaluation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code predictions.

A method for attitude measurement of a test vehicle based on the tracking of vectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Ning; Yang, Ming; Huo, Ju

2015-01-01

In the vehicle simulation test, in order to improve the measuring precision for the attitude of a test vehicle, a measuring method based on the vectors of light beams is presented, in which light beams are mounted on the test vehicle as the cooperation target, and the attitude of the test vehicle is calculated with the light beams’ vectors in the test vehicle’s coordinate system and the world coordinate system. Meanwhile, in order to expand the measuring range of the attitude parameters, cooperation targets and light beams in each cooperation target are increased. On this basis, the concept of an attitude calculation container is defined, and the selection method for the attitude calculation container that participates in the calculation is given. Simultaneously, the vectors of light beams are tracked so as to ensure the normal calculation of the attitude parameters. The experiments results show that this measuring method based on the tracking of vectors can achieve the high precision and wide range of measurement for the attitude of the test vehicle. (paper)

Environmental charging of spacecraft-tests of thermal control materials for use on the global positioning system flight space vehicle. Part 2: Specimen 6 to 9

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, N. J.; Berkopec, F. D.; Blech, R. A.

1976-01-01

The NASA/USAF program on the Environmental Charging of Spacecraft Surfaces consists, in part, of experimental efforts directed toward evaluating the response of materials to the environmental charged particle flux. Samples of thermal blankets of the type to be used on the Global Positioning System Flight Space Vehicles were tested to determine their response to electron flux. The primary result observed was that no discharges were obtained with the quartz-fiber-fabric-covered multilayer insulation specimen. The taped aluminized polyester grounding system used on all specimens did not appear to grossly deteriorate with time; however, the specimens require specific external pressure to maintain constant grounding system resistance.

Trajectories and Maneuvers of Surrounding Vehicles with Panoramic Camera Arrays

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dueholm, Jacob Velling; Kristoffersen, Miklas Strøm; Satzoda, Ravi K.

2016-01-01

Vision-based research for intelligent vehicles have traditionally focused on specific regions around a vehicle, such as a front looking camera for, e.g., lane estimation. Traffic scenes are complex and vital information could be lost in unobserved regions. This paper proposes a framework that uses...... four visual sensors for a full surround view of a vehicle in order to achieve an understanding of surrounding vehicle behaviors. The framework will assist the analysis of naturalistic driving studies by automating the task of data reduction of the observed trajectories. To this end, trajectories...... are estimated using a vehicle detector together with a multiperspective optimized tracker in each view. The trajectories are transformed to a common ground plane, where they are associated between perspectives and analyzed to reveal tendencies around the ego-vehicle. The system is tested on sequences from 2.5 h...

Hybrid Turbine Electric Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Viterna, Larry A.

1997-01-01

Hybrid electric power trains may revolutionize today's ground passenger vehicles by significantly improving fuel economy and decreasing emissions. The NASA Lewis Research Center is working with industry, universities, and Government to develop and demonstrate a hybrid electric vehicle. Our partners include Bowling Green State University, the Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, Lincoln Electric Motor Division, the State of Ohio's Department of Development, and Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical. The vehicle will be a heavy class urban transit bus offering double the fuel economy of today's buses and emissions that are reduced to 1/10th of the Environmental Protection Agency's standards. At the heart of the vehicle's drive train is a natural-gas-fueled engine. Initially, a small automotive engine will be tested as a baseline. This will be followed by the introduction of an advanced gas turbine developed from an aircraft jet engine. The engine turns a high-speed generator, producing electricity. Power from both the generator and an onboard energy storage system is then provided to a variable-speed electric motor attached to the rear drive axle. An intelligent power-control system determines the most efficient operation of the engine and energy storage system.

Launch vehicle tracking enhancement through Global Positioning System Metric Tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, T. C.; Li, Hanchu; Gray, T.; Doran, A.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) initiated operational flights of both the Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicle families in 2002. The Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicles were developed jointly with the US Air Force (USAF) as part of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. Both Launch Vehicle (LV) families have provided 100% mission success since their respective inaugural launches and demonstrated launch capability from both Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) on the Western Test Range and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) on the Eastern Test Range. However, the current EELV fleet communications, tracking, & control architecture & technology, which date back to the origins of the space launch business, require support by a large and high cost ground footprint. The USAF has embarked on an initiative known as Future Flight Safety System (FFSS) that will significantly reduce Test Range Operations and Maintenance (O& M) cost by closing facilities and decommissioning ground assets. In support of the FFSS, a Global Positioning System Metric Tracking (GPS MT) System based on the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite constellation has been developed for EELV which will allow both Ranges to divest some of their radar assets. The Air Force, ULA and Space Vector have flown the first 2 Atlas Certification vehicles demonstrating the successful operation of the GPS MT System. The first Atlas V certification flight was completed in February 2012 from CCAFS, the second Atlas V certification flight from VAFB was completed in September 2012 and the third certification flight on a Delta IV was completed October 2012 from CCAFS. The GPS MT System will provide precise LV position, velocity and timing information that can replace ground radar tracking resource functionality. The GPS MT system will provide an independent position/velocity S-Band telemetry downlink to support the current man-in-the-loop ground-based commanded destruct of an anomalous flight- The system

Results from the Operational Testing of the Eaton Smart Grid Capable Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bennett, Brion [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2014-10-01

The Idaho National Laboratory conducted testing and analysis of the Eaton smart grid capable electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), which was a deliverable from Eaton for the U.S. Department of Energy FOA-554. The Idaho National Laboratory has extensive knowledge and experience in testing advanced conductive and wireless charging systems though INL’s support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity. This document details the findings from the EVSE operational testing conducted at the Idaho National Laboratory on the Eaton smart grid capable EVSE. The testing conducted on the EVSE included energy efficiency testing, SAE J1772 functionality testing, abnormal conditions testing, and charging of a plug-in vehicle.

Guidance on the Stand Down, Mothball, and Reactivation of Ground Test Facilities

Science.gov (United States)

Volkman, Gregrey T.; Dunn, Steven C.

2013-01-01

The development of aerospace and aeronautics products typically requires three distinct types of testing resources across research, development, test, and evaluation: experimental ground testing, computational "testing" and development, and flight testing. Over the last twenty plus years, computational methods have replaced some physical experiments and this trend is continuing. The result is decreased utilization of ground test capabilities and, along with market forces, industry consolidation, and other factors, has resulted in the stand down and oftentimes closure of many ground test facilities. Ground test capabilities are (and very likely will continue to be for many years) required to verify computational results and to provide information for regimes where computational methods remain immature. Ground test capabilities are very costly to build and to maintain, so once constructed and operational it may be desirable to retain access to those capabilities even if not currently needed. One means of doing this while reducing ongoing sustainment costs is to stand down the facility into a "mothball" status - keeping it alive to bring it back when needed. Both NASA and the US Department of Defense have policies to accomplish the mothball of a facility, but with little detail. This paper offers a generic process to follow that can be tailored based on the needs of the owner and the applicable facility.

Review of Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Ground Test Options

Science.gov (United States)

Coote, David J.; Power, Kevin P.; Gerrish, Harold P.; Doughty, Glen

2015-01-01

High efficiency rocket propulsion systems are essential for humanity to venture beyond the moon. Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) is a promising alternative to conventional chemical rockets with relatively high thrust and twice the efficiency of highest performing chemical propellant engines. NTP utilizes the coolant of a nuclear reactor to produce propulsive thrust. An NTP engine produces thrust by flowing hydrogen through a nuclear reactor to cool the reactor, heating the hydrogen and expelling it through a rocket nozzle. The hot gaseous hydrogen is nominally expected to be free of radioactive byproducts from the nuclear reactor; however, it has the potential to be contaminated due to off-nominal engine reactor performance. NTP ground testing is more difficult than chemical engine testing since current environmental regulations do not allow/permit open air testing of NTP as was done in the 1960's and 1970's for the Rover/NERVA program. A new and innovative approach to rocket engine ground test is required to mitigate the unique health and safety risks associated with the potential entrainment of radioactive waste from the NTP engine reactor core into the engine exhaust. Several studies have been conducted since the ROVER/NERVA program in the 1970's investigating NTP engine ground test options to understand the technical feasibility, identify technical challenges and associated risks and provide rough order of magnitude cost estimates for facility development and test operations. The options can be divided into two distinct schemes; (1) real-time filtering of the engine exhaust and its release to the environment or (2) capture and storage of engine exhaust for subsequent processing.

40 CFR 1051.305 - How must I prepare and test my production-line vehicles or engines?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... production-line vehicles or engines? 1051.305 Section 1051.305 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS CONTROL OF EMISSIONS FROM RECREATIONAL ENGINES AND VEHICLES Testing Production-Line Vehicles and Engines § 1051.305 How must I prepare and test my production...

High-Throughput Phenotyping of Plant Height: Comparing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Ground LiDAR Estimates.

Science.gov (United States)

Madec, Simon; Baret, Fred; de Solan, Benoît; Thomas, Samuel; Dutartre, Dan; Jezequel, Stéphane; Hemmerlé, Matthieu; Colombeau, Gallian; Comar, Alexis

2017-01-01

The capacity of LiDAR and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to provide plant height estimates as a high-throughput plant phenotyping trait was explored. An experiment over wheat genotypes conducted under well watered and water stress modalities was conducted. Frequent LiDAR measurements were performed along the growth cycle using a phénomobile unmanned ground vehicle. UAV equipped with a high resolution RGB camera was flying the experiment several times to retrieve the digital surface model from structure from motion techniques. Both techniques provide a 3D dense point cloud from which the plant height can be estimated. Plant height first defined as the z -value for which 99.5% of the points of the dense cloud are below. This provides good consistency with manual measurements of plant height (RMSE = 3.5 cm) while minimizing the variability along each microplot. Results show that LiDAR and structure from motion plant height values are always consistent. However, a slight under-estimation is observed for structure from motion techniques, in relation with the coarser spatial resolution of UAV imagery and the limited penetration capacity of structure from motion as compared to LiDAR. Very high heritability values ( H 2 > 0.90) were found for both techniques when lodging was not present. The dynamics of plant height shows that it carries pertinent information regarding the period and magnitude of the plant stress. Further, the date when the maximum plant height is reached was found to be very heritable ( H 2 > 0.88) and a good proxy of the flowering stage. Finally, the capacity of plant height as a proxy for total above ground biomass and yield is discussed.

Hybrid Electric Vehicle Testing | Transportation Research | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Hybrid Electric Vehicle Evaluations Hybrid Electric Vehicle Evaluations How Hybrid Electric Vehicles Work Hybrid electric vehicles combine a primary power source, an energy storage system, and an is used to propel the vehicle during normal drive cycles. The batteries supply additional power for

Remote surface testing and inspection vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hyde, E.A.; Goldsmith, H.A.; Proudlove, M.J.

1981-01-01

A remotely controlled vehicle capable of roving over the outer surface of a nuclear reactor primary vessel carrying inspection instrumentation. The vehicle comprises an elongate bridge having a pair of suction support pads. Each pad carries gas thrusters for acting in opposition to the suction effort thereby to reduce adherence of the pads and enable displacement of the vehicle over the surface. The vehicle is supported by a services conducting umbilical. (author)

Flight Test Result for the Ground-Based Radio Navigation System Sensor with an Unmanned Air Vehicle.

Science.gov (United States)

Jang, Jaegyu; Ahn, Woo-Guen; Seo, Seungwoo; Lee, Jang Yong; Park, Jun-Pyo

2015-11-11

The Ground-based Radio Navigation System (GRNS) is an alternative/backup navigation system based on time synchronized pseudolites. It has been studied for some years due to the potential vulnerability issue of satellite navigation systems (e.g., GPS or Galileo). In the framework of our study, a periodic pulsed sequence was used instead of the randomized pulse sequence recommended as the RTCM (radio technical commission for maritime services) SC (special committee)-104 pseudolite signal, as a randomized pulse sequence with a long dwell time is not suitable for applications requiring high dynamics. This paper introduces a mathematical model of the post-correlation output in a navigation sensor, showing that the aliasing caused by the additional frequency term of a periodic pulsed signal leads to a false lock (i.e., Doppler frequency bias) during the signal acquisition process or in the carrier tracking loop of the navigation sensor. We suggest algorithms to resolve the frequency false lock issue in this paper, relying on the use of a multi-correlator. A flight test with an unmanned helicopter was conducted to verify the implemented navigation sensor. The results of this analysis show that there were no false locks during the flight test and that outliers stem from bad dilution of precision (DOP) or fluctuations in the received signal quality.

Subscale and Full-Scale Testing of Buckling-Critical Launch Vehicle Shell Structures

Science.gov (United States)

Hilburger, Mark W.; Haynie, Waddy T.; Lovejoy, Andrew E.; Roberts, Michael G.; Norris, Jeffery P.; Waters, W. Allen; Herring, Helen M.

2012-01-01

New analysis-based shell buckling design factors (aka knockdown factors), along with associated design and analysis technologies, are being developed by NASA for the design of launch vehicle structures. Preliminary design studies indicate that implementation of these new knockdown factors can enable significant reductions in mass and mass-growth in these vehicles and can help mitigate some of NASA s launch vehicle development and performance risks by reducing the reliance on testing, providing high-fidelity estimates of structural performance, reliability, robustness, and enable increased payload capability. However, in order to validate any new analysis-based design data or methods, a series of carefully designed and executed structural tests are required at both the subscale and full-scale level. This paper describes recent buckling test efforts at NASA on two different orthogrid-stiffened metallic cylindrical shell test articles. One of the test articles was an 8-ft-diameter orthogrid-stiffened cylinder and was subjected to an axial compression load. The second test article was a 27.5-ft-diameter Space Shuttle External Tank-derived cylinder and was subjected to combined internal pressure and axial compression.

Method of Controlling Steering of a Ground Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Dawson, Andrew D. (Inventor); Bluethmann, William J. (Inventor); Lee, Chunhao J. (Inventor); Vitale, Robert L. (Inventor); Guo, Raymond (Inventor); Atluri, Venkata Prasad (Inventor)

2016-01-01

A method of controlling steering of a vehicle through setting wheel angles of a plurality of modular electronic corner assemblies (eModules) is provided. The method includes receiving a driving mode selected from a mode selection menu. A position of a steering input device is determined in a master controller. A velocity of the vehicle is determined, in the master controller, when the determined position of the steering input device is near center. A drive mode request corresponding to the selected driving mode to the plurality of steering controllers is transmitted to the master controller. A required steering angle of each of the plurality of eModules is determined, in the master controller, as a function of the determined position of the steering input device, the determined velocity of the vehicle, and the selected first driving mode. The eModules are set to the respective determined steering angles.

The microelectronics and photonics test bed (MPTB) space, ground test and modeling experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Campbell, A.

1999-01-01

This paper is an overview of the MPTB (microelectronics and photonics test bed) experiment, a combination of a space experiment, ground test and modeling programs looking at the response of advanced electronic and photonic technologies to the natural radiation environment of space. (author)

PaTAVTT: A Hardware-in-the-Loop Scaled Platform for Testing Autonomous Vehicle Trajectory Tracking

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhigang Xu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available With the advent of autonomous vehicles, in particular its adaptability to harsh conditions, the research and development of autonomous vehicles attract significant attention by not only academia but also practitioners. Due to the high risk, high cost, and difficulty to test autonomous vehicles under harsh conditions, the hardware-in-the-loop (HIL scaled platform has been proposed as it is a safe, inexpensive, and effective test method. This platform system consists of scaled autonomous vehicle, scaled roadway, monitoring center, transmission device, positioning device, and computers. This paper uses a case of the development process of tracking control for high-speed U-turn to build the tracking control function. Further, a simplified vehicle dynamics model and a trajectory tracking algorithm have been considered to build the simulation test. The experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of the HIL scaled platform.

Testing and development of electric vehicle batteries for EPRI Electric Transportation Program

Science.gov (United States)

1985-11-01

Argonne National Laboratory conducted an electric-vehicle battery testing and development program for the Electric Power Research Institute. As part of this program, eighteen battery modules previously developed by Johnson Controls, Inc. were tested. This type of battery (EV-2300 - an improved state-of-the-art lead-acid battery) was designed specifically for improved performance, range, and life in electric vehicles. In order to obtain necessary performance data, the batteries were tested under various duty cycles typical of normal service. This program, supported by the Electric Power Research Institute, consisted of three tasks: determination of the effect of cycle life vs peak power and rest period, determination of the impact of charge method on cycle life, and evaluation of the EV-2300 battery system. Two supporting studies were also carried out: one on thermal management of electric-vehicle batteries and one on enhanced utilization of active material in lead-acid batteries.

Vehicle model for tyre-ground contact force evaluation

OpenAIRE

Jiao, Lejia

2013-01-01

Economic development and growing integration process of world trade increases the demand for road transport. In 2008, the freight transportation by road in Sweden reached 42 million tonne-kilometers. Sweden has a tradition of long and heavy trucks combinations. Lots of larger vehicles, with a maximum length of 25.25 meters and weight of 60 tonnes, are used in national traffic. Heavier road transport and widely use of large vehicles contribute to the damages of pavement. According to a recent ...

Routing the asteroid surface vehicle with detailed mechanics

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Yang; Baoyin, He-Xi

2014-06-01

The motion of a surface vehicle on/above an irregular object is investigated for a potential interest in the insitu explorations to asteroids of the solar system. A global valid numeric method, including detailed gravity and geomorphology, is developed to mimic the behaviors of the test particles governed by the orbital equations and surface coupling effects. A general discussion on the surface mechanical environment of a specified asteroid, 1620 Geographos, is presented to make a global evaluation of the surface vehicle's working conditions. We show the connections between the natural trajectories near the ground and differential features of the asteroid surface, which describes both the good and bad of typical terrains from the viewpoint of vehicles' dynamic performances. Monte Carlo simulations are performed to take a further look at the trajectories of particles initializing near the surface. The simulations reveal consistent conclusions with the analysis, i.e., the open-field flat ground and slightly concave basins/valleys are the best choices for the vehicles' dynamical security. The dependence of decending trajectories on the releasing height is studied as an application; the results show that the pole direction (where the centrifugal force is zero) is the most stable direction in which the shift of a natural trajectory will be well limited after landing. We present this work as an example for pre-analysis that provides guidance to engineering design of the exploration site and routing the surface vehicles.

7th Conference Simulation and Testing for Vehicle Technology

CERN Document Server

Riese, Jens; Rüden, Klaus

2016-01-01

The book includes contributions on the latest model-based methods for the development of personal and commercial vehicle control devices. The main topics treated are: application of simulation and model design to development of driver assistance systems; physical and database model design for engines, motors, powertrain, undercarriage and the whole vehicle; new simulation tools, methods and optimization processes; applications of simulation in function and software development; function and software testing using HiL, MiL and SiL simulation; application of simulation and optimization in application of control devices; automation approaches at all stages of the development process.

Vehicle rollover sensor test modeling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

McCoy, R.W.; Chou, C.C.; Velde, R. van de; Twisk, D.; Schie, C. van

2007-01-01

A computational model of a mid-size sport utility vehicle was developed using MADYMO. The model includes a detailed description of the suspension system and tire characteristics that incorporated the Delft-Tyre magic formula description. The model was correlated by simulating a vehicle suspension

Accelerated pavement testing efforts using the heavy vehicle simulator

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Du Plessis, Louw

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This paper provides a brief description of the technological developments involved in the development and use of the Heavy Vehicle Simulator (HVS) accelerated pavement testing equipment. This covers the period from concept in the late 1960’s...

Vehicle to Grid Communication Standards Development, Testing and Validation - Status Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gowri, Krishnan; Pratt, Richard M.; Tuffner, Francis K.; Kintner-Meyer, Michael CW

2011-09-01

In the US, more than 10,000 electric vehicles (EV) have been delivered to consumers during the first three quarters of 2011. A large majority of these vehicles are battery electric, often requiring 220 volt charging. Though the vehicle manufacturers and charging station manufacturers have provided consumers options for charging preferences, there are no existing communications between consumers and the utilities to manage the charging demand. There is also wide variation between manufacturers in their approach to support vehicle charging. There are in-vehicle networks, charging station networks, utility networks each using either cellular, Wi-Fi, ZigBee or other proprietary communication technology with no standards currently available for interoperability. The current situation of ad-hoc solutions is a major barrier to the wide adoption of electric vehicles. SAE, the International Standards Organization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC), ANSI, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and several industrial organizations are working towards the development of interoperability standards. PNNL has participated in the development and testing of these standards in an effort to accelerate the adoption and development of communication modules.

Free Flight Rotorcraft Flight Test Vehicle Technology Development

Science.gov (United States)

Hodges, W. Todd; Walker, Gregory W.

1994-01-01

A rotary wing, unmanned air vehicle (UAV) is being developed as a research tool at the NASA Langley Research Center by the U.S. Army and NASA. This development program is intended to provide the rotorcraft research community an intermediate step between rotorcraft wind tunnel testing and full scale manned flight testing. The technologies under development for this vehicle are: adaptive electronic flight control systems incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, small-light weight sophisticated sensors, advanced telepresence-telerobotics systems and rotary wing UAV operational procedures. This paper briefly describes the system's requirements and the techniques used to integrate the various technologies to meet these requirements. The paper also discusses the status of the development effort. In addition to the original aeromechanics research mission, the technology development effort has generated a great deal of interest in the UAV community for related spin-off applications, as briefly described at the end of the paper. In some cases the technologies under development in the free flight program are critical to the ability to perform some applications.

CRYogenic Orbital TEstbed Ground Test Article Thermal Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Piryk, David; Schallhorn, Paul; Walls, Laurie; Stopnitzky, Benny; Rhys, Noah; Wollen, Mark

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to anchor thermal and fluid system models to CRYOTE ground test data. The CRYOTE ground test artide was jointly developed by Innovative Engineering Solutions, United Launch Alliance and NASA KSC. The test article was constructed out of a titanium alloy tank, Sapphire 77 composite skin (similar to G10), an external secondary payload adapter ring, thermal vent system, multi layer insulation and various data acquisition instrumentation. In efforts to understand heat loads throughout this system, the GTA (filled with liquid nitrogen for safety purposes) was subjected to a series of tests in a vacuum chamber at Marshall Space Flight Center. By anchoring analytical models against test data, higher fidelity thermal environment predictions can be made for future flight articles which would eventually demonstrate critical cryogenic fluid management technologies such as system chilldown, transfer, pressure control and long term storage. Significant factors that influenced heat loads included radiative environments, multi-layer insulation performance, tank fill levels and pressures and even contact conductance coefficients. This report demonstrates how analytical thermal/fluid networks were established and includes supporting rationale for specific thermal responses.

Trajectory Optimization and Conceptual Study of Small Test Vehicles for Hypersonic Engine Using High-Altitude Balloon

Science.gov (United States)

Tsuchiya, Takeshi; Takenaka, Youichi; Taguchi, Hideyuki; Sawai, Shujiro

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA announced a long-term vision recently. In the vision, JAXA aims to develop hypersonic aircrafts. A pre-cooled turbojet engine has great potential as one of newly developed hypersonic air-breathing engines. We also expect the engine to be installed in space transportation vehicles in future. For combustion test in real flight condition of the engines, JAXA has an experimental plan with a small test vehicle falling from a high-altitude balloon. This paper applies numerical analysis and optimization techniques to conceptual designs of the test vehicle in order to obtain the best configuration and trajectory that can achieve the flight test. The results show helpful knowledge when we design prototype vehicles.

Analysis Methodology for Optimal Selection of Ground Station Site in Space Missions

Science.gov (United States)

Nieves-Chinchilla, J.; Farjas, M.; Martínez, R.

2013-12-01

). To check/test the spatial proposal of the ground station site, this analysis methodology uses mission simulation software of spatial vehicles to analyze and quantify how the geographic accuracy of the position of the spatial vehicles along the horizon visible from the antenna, increases communication time with the ground station. Experimental results that have been obtained from a ground station located at ETSIT-UPM in Spain (QBito Nanosatellite, UPM spacecraft mission within the QB50 project) show that selection of the optimal site increases the field of view from the antenna and hence helps to meet mission requirements.

Development of Vehicle Model Test for Road Loading Analysis of Sedan Model

Science.gov (United States)

Mohd Nor, M. K.; Noordin, A.; Ruzali, M. F. S.; Hussen, M. H.

2016-11-01

Simple Structural Surfaces (SSS) method is offered as a means of organizing the process for rationalizing the basic vehicle body structure load paths. The application of this simplified approach is highly beneficial in the design development of modern passenger car structure especially during the conceptual stage. In Malaysia, however, there is no real physical model of SSS available to gain considerable insight and understanding into the function of each major subassembly in the whole vehicle structures. Based on this motivation, a physical model of SSS for sedan model with the corresponding model vehicle tests of bending and torsion is proposed in this work. The proposed approach is relatively easy to understand as compared to Finite Element Method (FEM). The results show that the proposed vehicle model test is capable to show that satisfactory load paths can give a sufficient structural stiffness within the vehicle structure. It is clearly observed that the global bending stiffness reduce significantly when more panels are removed from a complete SSS model. It is identified that parcel shelf is an important subassembly to sustain bending load. The results also match with the theoretical hypothesis, as the stiffness of the structure in an open section condition is shown weak when subjected to torsion load compared to bending load. The proposed approach can potentially be integrated with FEM to speed up the design process of automotive vehicle.

Advanced testing and validation centre gets electric vehicle technology to market faster

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Astil, T.; Girard, F. [National Research Council of Canada, Vancouver, BC (Canada). Inst. for Fuel Cell Innovation

2010-07-01

The National Research Council (NRC) Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation is advancing Canada's clean energy advantage through NRC's technology cluster initiatives, which help Canadian small and medium enterprises achieve commercialization breakthroughs in key sectors. This presentation discussed the technology evaluation program (TEP) offered by the NRC Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation. The presentation discussed the TEPs mission, advanced testing and validation centre (ATVC), previous ATVC clients, environmental chamber, dynamometer, vibration table, electrochemical battery testing, and electrochemical testing laboratory. The ATVC is a specialized and safe environment for objective, reliable and accurate standardized testing applications of electric vehicle technologies. It offers independent test services to external organizations, making it easier to prove that electric vehicle technologies will perform under specific operating conditions. figs.

Practicability of passenger vehicle driving emission tests according to new European Union procedures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pielecha Jacek

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article compares driving test data using the latest legislative proposals applicable to passenger cars. Several measurements were performed on the same test route in accordance with the RDE test guidelines, which requires a number of criteria to be met. These criteria include: the length of the measuring segments, their overall test time share, and the dynamic characteristics of the drive. A mobile device for reading the EOBD System information was used to record the engine and vehicle operating parameters during tests. This allowed for the monitoring of parameters such as: load value, engine speed and vehicle velocity. The obtained results were then analyzed for their compatibility with the RDE procedure requirements. Despite the same research route, the obtained results were not the same. The analysis also uses the two-dimensional operating time share characteristics expressed in vehicle velocity and acceleration co-ordinates. As a result it was possible to compare the dynamic properties, share of operating time and, consequently, to check the validity of conducted drive tests in terms of their practicability and emission values.

Sand and Dust Testing of Wheeled and Tracked Vehicles and Stationary Equipment

Science.gov (United States)

2009-11-18

Vacuum pump Flow meter Measurement of dust mass ±2 percent ±4 percent ±0.0005 g Weight of air cleaner element ±0.5 percent (Total estimated error...samplers should be set to a flow rate that is isokinetic ) on the front of the vehicle, in the center of the grill or windshield, or the center of...3) Record the test bed vehicle odometer and hour meter reading. (4) Document the condition of the vehicle interior, exterior, and all

Vehicle barrier systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sena, P.A.

1986-01-01

The ground vehicle is one of the most effective tools available to an adversary force. Vehicles can be used to penetrate many types of perimeter barriers, transport equipment and personnel rapidly over long distances, and deliver large amounts of explosives directly to facilities in suicide missions. The function of a vehicle barrier system is to detain or disable a defined threat vehicle at a selected distance from a protected facility. Numerous facilities are installing, or planning to install, vehicle barrier systems and many of these facilities are requesting guidance to do so adequately. Therefore, vehicle barriers are being evaluated to determine their stopping capabilities so that systems can be designed that are both balanced and capable of providing a desired degree of protection. Equally important, many of the considerations that should be taken into account when establishing a vehicle barrier system have been identified. These considerations which pertain to site preparation, barrier selection, system integration and operation, and vehicle/barrier interaction, are discussed in this paper

Testing Low-Energy, High-Power Energy Storage Alternatives in a Full-Hybrid Vehicle (Presentation)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cosgrove, J.; Gonger, J.

2014-01-01

Automakers have been mass producing hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) for well over a decade, and the technology has proven to be very effective at reducing per-vehicle gasoline use. However, the battery cost in HEVs contribute to higher incremental cost of HEVs (a few thousand dollars) than the cost of comparable conventional vehicles, which has limited HEV market penetration. Significant cost reductions/performance improvements to the energy storage system (ESS) can improve the vehicle-level cost vs. benefit relationship for HEVs. Such an improvement could lead to larger HEV market penetration and greater aggregate gasoline savings. After significant analysis by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) and Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Storage program suggested a new set of requirements for ESS for power-assist HEVs for cost reduction without impacting performance and fuel economy significantly. With support from DOE, NREL has developed an HEV test platform for in-vehicle performance and fuel economy validation testing of the hybrid system using such LEESS devices. This poster will describe development of the LEESS HEV test platform, and LEESS laboratory as well as in-vehicle evaluation results. The first LEESS technology tested was lithium-ion capacitors (LICs) - i.e., asymmetric electrochemical energy storage devices possessing one electrode with battery-type characteristics (lithiated graphite) and one with ultracapacitor-type characteristics (carbon). We will discuss the performance and fuel saving results with LIC with comparison with original NiMH battery.

Impact of relative position vehicle-wind blower in a roller test bench under climatic chamber

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernández-Yáñez, P.; Armas, O.; Martínez-Martínez, S.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Air simulation model was developed for a vehicle test bench under climatic chamber. • Good accuracy between experimental data and simulated values were obtained. • Wind blower-vehicle relative position alters external cooling of after-treatment devices. • Vehicle emission certification can be affected by wind blower-vehicle relative position. - Abstract: In terms of energy efficiency and exhaust emissions control, an appropriate design of cooling systems of climatic chambers destined to vehicle certification and/or perform scientific research is becoming increasingly important. European vehicle emissions certification (New European Driving Cycle, NEDC) establishes the position of the wind-simulation blower at 200 mm above floor level. This height is fixed and kept constant independently of the vehicle tested. The position of the blower with respect to the vehicle can modify the external forced convection under the car, where after-treatment devices are located. Consequently, the performance of such devices could be modified and emission results during the certification cycle could be non-representative of real-world driving conditions. The aim of this work is to study the influence of different wind blower-vehicle relative heights on the air velocity and temperature profiles under the car by means of a simple computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. A steady state three-dimensional CFD model was developed and applied to the estimation of the air velocity and temperature profiles inside of a climatic chamber equipped with a vehicle roller (chassis dyno) test bench. The simulations reproduce one steady-state condition from NEDC, specifically the EU17 mode (120 km/h, maximum velocity during the cycle). The cool air propelling temperature was 20 °C (minimum temperature in the NEDC range). Simulations were performed employing the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approach with the realizable k-ε model to provide closure. Air velocity and

A signature correlation study of ground target VHF/UHF ISAR imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Gatesman, Andrew J.; Beaudoin, Christopher J.; Giles, Robert H.; Kersey, William T.; Waldman, Jerry; Carter, Steve; Nixon, William E.

2003-09-01

VV and HH-polarized radar signatures of several ground targets were acquired in the VHF/UHF band (171-342 MHz) by using 1/35th scale models and an indoor radar range operating from 6 to 12 GHz. Data were processed into medianized radar cross sections as well as focused, ISAR imagery. Measurement validation was confirmed by comparing the radar cross section of a test object with a method of moments radar cross section prediction code. The signatures of several vehicles from three vehicle classes (tanks, trunks, and TELs) were measured and a signature cross-correlation study was performed. The VHF/UHF band is currently being exploited for its foliage penetration ability, however, the coarse image resolution which results from the relatively long radar wavelengths suggests a more challenging target recognition problem. One of the study's goals was to determine the amount of unique signature content in VHF/UHF ISAR imagery of military ground vehicles. Open-field signatures are compared with each other as well as with simplified shapes of similar size. Signatures were also acquired on one vehicle in a variety of configurations to determine the impact of monitor target variations on the signature content at these frequencies.

Handling effluent from nuclear thermal propulsion system ground tests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shipers, L.R.; Allen, G.C.

1992-01-01

A variety of approaches for handling effluent from nuclear thermal propulsion system ground tests in an environmentally acceptable manner are discussed. The functional requirements of effluent treatment are defined and concept options are presented within the framework of these requirements. System concepts differ primarily in the choice of fission-product retention and waste handling concepts. The concept options considered range from closed cycle (venting the exhaust to a closed volume or recirculating the hydrogen in a closed loop) to open cycle (real time processing and venting of the effluent). This paper reviews the different methods to handle effluent from nuclear thermal propulsion system ground tests

A review of dynamic characteristics of magnetically levitated vehicle systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cai, Y.; Chen, S.S.

1995-11-01

The dynamic response of magnetically levitated (maglev) ground transportation systems has important consequences for safety and ride quality, guideway design, and system costs. Ride quality is determined by vehicle response and by environmental factors such as humidity and noise. The dynamic response of the vehicles is the key element in determining ride quality, while vehicle stability is an important safety-related element. To design a guideway that provides acceptable ride quality in the stable region, vehicle dynamics must be understood. Furthermore, the trade-off between guideway smoothness and levitation and control systems must be considered if maglev systems are to be economically feasible. The link between the guideway and the other maglev components is vehicle dynamics. For a commercial maglev system, vehicle dynamics must be analyzed and tested in detail. This report, which reviews various aspects of the dynamic characteristics, experiments and analysis, and design guidelines for maglev systems, discusses vehicle stability, motion dependent magnetic force components, guideway characteristics, vehicle/ guideway interaction, ride quality, suspension control laws, aerodynamic loads and other excitations, and research needs.

Current Hypersonic and Space Vehicle Flight Test and Instrumentation

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-22

ground station hardware and software. B. Space- based Platforms There are already in place several satellite based options to collecting and... Transceive data over very long range at low to very high altitudes DARPA: XS-1 Ground Based Aircraft Based Space Based Future Data...412TW-PA-15264 AIR FORCE TEST CENTER EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE , CALIFORNIA AIR FORCE MATERIEL COMMAND UNITED STATES AIR FORCE REPORT

Design of Hydraulic Bushing and Vehicle Testing for Reducing the Judder Vibration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kim Youngman

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Generally, judder vibration is a low-frequency vibration phenomenon caused by a braking force imbalance that occurs when a vehicle is lightly decelerated within a range of 0.1 to 0.2g at a speed of 120 to 60 km/h. This comes from the change in the brake disk thickness (DTV, which is mainly caused by the side run-out (SRO and thermal deformation. The adoption of hydro-bushing in the low arm G bushings of the vehicle front suspension has been done in order to provide great damping in a particular frequency range (<20Hz in order to prevent this judder vibration from being transmitted to the body. The hydro bushing was formulated using a lumped parameter model. The fluid passage between the two chambers was modelled as a nonlinear element such as an orifice, and its important parameters (resistance, compliance were measured using a simplified experimental setup. The main design parameters are the ratio of the cross-sectional area of the chamber to the fluid passage, the length of the fluid passage, etc., and their optimal design is such that the loss angle is greater than 45 ° in the target frequency range of 10 to 20 Hz. The hydro bushing designed for reducing the judder vibration was prepared for the actual vehicle application test and applied to the actual vehicle test. In this study, the proposed hydro bushing was applied to the G bushing of the low arm of the front suspension system of the vehicle. The loss angle of the manufactured hydro bushing was measured using acceleration signals before and after passing through the bushing. The actual vehicle test was performed on the noise dynamometer for the performance analysis of the judder vibration reduction.

Rotating Arc Jet Test Model: Time-Accurate Trajectory Heat Flux Replication in a Ground Test Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Laub, Bernard; Grinstead, Jay; Dyakonov, Artem; Venkatapathy, Ethiraj

2011-01-01

Though arc jet testing has been the proven method employed for development testing and certification of TPS and TPS instrumentation, the operational aspects of arc jets limit testing to selected, but constant, conditions. Flight, on the other hand, produces timevarying entry conditions in which the heat flux increases, peaks, and recedes as a vehicle descends through an atmosphere. As a result, we are unable to "test as we fly." Attempts to replicate the time-dependent aerothermal environment of atmospheric entry by varying the arc jet facility operating conditions during a test have proven to be difficult, expensive, and only partially successful. A promising alternative is to rotate the test model exposed to a constant-condition arc jet flow to yield a time-varying test condition at a point on a test article (Fig. 1). The model shape and rotation rate can be engineered so that the heat flux at a point on the model replicates the predicted profile for a particular point on a flight vehicle. This simple concept will enable, for example, calibration of the TPS sensors on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) aeroshell for anticipated flight environments.

Safety of high speed ground transportation systems: X2000 US demonstration vehicle dynamics trials, preliminary test report. Report for October 1992-January 1993

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Whitten, B.T.; Kesler, J.K.

1993-01-01

The report documents the procedures, events, and results of vehicle dynamic tests carried out on the ASEA-Brown Boveri (ABB) X2000 tilt body trainset in the US between October 1992 and January 1993. These tests, sponsored by Amtrak and supported by the FRA, were conducted to assess the suitability of the X2000 trainset for safe operation at elevated cant deficiencies and speeds in Amtrak's Northeast Corridor under existing track conditions in a revenue service demonstration. The report describes the safety criteria against which the performance of the X2000 test train was examined, the instrumentation used, the test locations, and the track conditions. Preliminary results are presented from tests conducted on Amtrak lines between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, PA, and between Washington DC and New York NY, in which cant deficiencies of 12.5 inches and speeds of 154 mph were reached in a safe and controlled manner. The significance of the results is discussed, and preliminary conclusions and recommendations are presented.

2012 Ground Testing Highlights

Science.gov (United States)

Buchholz, Steven J.

2012-01-01

As part of the Fundamental Aeronautics Program and a collaborative effort with Boeing, and Lockheed Martin this past year a series of sonic boom test were completed in the NASA Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel (UPWT). One of the goals was to develop new test techniques and hardware for measuring sonic boom signatures in the transonic and supersonic regimes. Data for various model designs and configurations were collected and will be used to validate CFD predictions of sonic boom signatures. Reactivation of the NASA Ames Mitsubishi compressor system was completed this past year. The compressor is intended to replace and augment the existing UPWT Clark Compressor as the primary Make Up Air (MUA) source. The MUA system provides air and vacuum pumping capability to the Ames UPWT. It will improve productivity and reliability of the UPWT as a vital testing and research facility for the U.S. aerospace industry and NASA. Funding for this task was provided from the American Recovery Investment Act (ARRA). Installation and validation of a Noncontact Stress Monitoring System (NSMS) for the 3-stage compressor was completed at the 11-foot Transonic Wind Tunnel. The system, originally developed at AEDC, consists of 36 pairs of LED light sources with optic beam send and receive probes along a 1-per rev signal. The new system allows for continuous monitoring and recording of compressor blade bending and torsion stress during normal test operations. A very unusual test was completed in the 11 FT TWT to acquire aerodynamic and flow field data for the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) Parachute Assembly System (CPAS) to validate CFD methods and tools. Surface pressure distribution measurements and velocity measurements in the wake of the command module back to the drogues parachute location were acquired. Testing methods included Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), Pressure Sensitive Paint (PSP), Schlieren Infrared Imaging (IR) and boundary layer survey and skin friction.

Hysteresis force loss and damping properties in a practical magnet-superconductor maglev test vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Wenjiang; Liu Yu; Wen Zheng; Chen Xiaodong; Duan Yi

2008-01-01

In order to investigate the feasible application of a permanent magnet-high-temperature superconductor (PM-HTS) interaction maglev system to a maglev train or a space vehicle launcher, we have constructed a demonstration maglev test vehicle. The force dissipation and damping of the maglev vehicle against external disturbances are studied in a wide range of amplitudes and frequencies by using a sine vibration testing set-up. The dynamic levitation force shows a typical hysteresis behavior, and the force loss is regarded as the hysteresis loss, which is believed to be due to flux motions in superconductors. In this study, we find that the hysteresis loss has weak frequency dependence at small amplitudes and that the dependence increases as the amplitude grows. To analyze the damping properties of the maglev vehicle at different field cooling (FC) conditions, we also employ a transient vibration testing technique. The maglev vehicle shows a very weak damping behavior, and the damping is almost unaffected by the trapped flux of the HTSs in different FC conditions, which is believed to be attributed to the strong pinning in melt-textured HTSs

Ground test facilities for evaluating nuclear thermal propulsion engines and fuel elements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Allen, G.C.; Beck, D.F.; Harmon, C.D.; Shipers, L.R.

1992-01-01

Interagency panels evaluating nuclear thermal propulsion development options have consistently recognized the need for constructing a major new ground test facility to support fuel element and engine testing. This paper summarizes the requirements, configuration, and design issues of a proposed ground test complex for evaluating nuclear thermal propulsion engines and fuel elements being developed for the Space Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (SNTP) program. 2 refs

Mock-up tests of rail-mounted vehicle type in-vessel transporter/manipulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oka, K.; Kakaudate, S.; Fukatsu, S.

1995-01-01

A rail-mounted vehicle system has been developed for remote maintenance of in-vessel components for fusion experimental reactor. In this system, a rail deploying/storing system is installed at outside of the reactor core and used to deploy a rail transporter and vehicle/manipulator for the in-vessel maintenance. A prototype of the rail deploying/storing system has been fabricated for mockup tests. This paper describes structural design of the prototypical rail deploying/storing system and results of the performance tests such as payload capacity, position control and rail deployment/storage performance

Development of heavy load carrying vehicle for nuclear power station

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Terabayashi, Yasuharu; Oono, Hiroo; Aizu, Takao; Kawaguchi, Kaname; Yamanaka, Masayuki; Hirobe, Tamio; Inagaki, Yoshiaki.

1985-01-01

In nuclear power stations, in order to carry out sound and stable operation, the routine inspection and regular inspection of machinery and equipment are performed, therefore, the transportation of heavy things is frequently carried out. Especially, the transportation of heavy things over the steps of passages and stairs requires much labor. Therefore, Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. and Chubu Plant Service Co., Ltd. carried out the research on the development of a vehicle for transporting heavy components of nuclear power plants. In this research, it was aimed at developing a vehicle which can carry heavy components and get over a step, climb and descend stairs, and run through a narrow passage having many curves as well as running on flat ground. For this purpose, the actual state of the transportation of heavy things was investigated during the regular inspection of a nuclear power station, and on the basis of this results, a prototype vehicle was made and tested. Thereafter, a transporting vehicle of actual scale was made and tested. The investigation of actual state and the examination of the fundamental concept, the design, trial manufacture and verifying test are reported. (Kako, I.)

Unmanned Ground Vehicle Perception Using Thermal Infrared Cameras

Science.gov (United States)

Rankin, Arturo; Huertas, Andres; Matthies, Larry; Bajracharya, Max; Assad, Christopher; Brennan, Shane; Bellutta, Paolo; Sherwin, Gary W.

2011-01-01

The ability to perform off-road autonomous navigation at any time of day or night is a requirement for some unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) programs. Because there are times when it is desirable for military UGVs to operate without emitting strong, detectable electromagnetic signals, a passive only terrain perception mode of operation is also often a requirement. Thermal infrared (TIR) cameras can be used to provide day and night passive terrain perception. TIR cameras have a detector sensitive to either mid-wave infrared (MWIR) radiation (3-5?m) or long-wave infrared (LWIR) radiation (8-12?m). With the recent emergence of high-quality uncooled LWIR cameras, TIR cameras have become viable passive perception options for some UGV programs. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has used a stereo pair of TIR cameras under several UGV programs to perform stereo ranging, terrain mapping, tree-trunk detection, pedestrian detection, negative obstacle detection, and water detection based on object reflections. In addition, we have evaluated stereo range data at a variety of UGV speeds, evaluated dual-band TIR classification of soil, vegetation, and rock terrain types, analyzed 24 hour water and 12 hour mud TIR imagery, and analyzed TIR imagery for hazard detection through smoke. Since TIR cameras do not currently provide the resolution available from megapixel color cameras, a UGV's daytime safe speed is often reduced when using TIR instead of color cameras. In this paper, we summarize the UGV terrain perception work JPL has performed with TIR cameras over the last decade and describe a calibration target developed by General Dynamics Robotic Systems (GDRS) for TIR cameras and other sensors.

Definitive design status of the SP-100 Ground Engineering System Test Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Renkey, E.J. Jr.; Bazinet, G.D.; Bitten, E.J.; Brackenbury, P.J.; Carlson, W.F.; Irwin, J.J.; Edwards, P.A.; Shen, E.J.; Titzler, P.A.

1989-05-01

The SP-100 reactor will be ground tested at the SP-100 Ground Engineering System (GES) Test Site on the US Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site near Richland, Washington. Project direction and the flight system design evolution have resulted in a smaller reactor size and the consequential revision to Test Site features to accommodate the design changes and reduce Test Site costs. The significant design events since the completion of the Conceptual Design are discussed in this paper

Definitive design status of the SP-100 Ground Engineering System Test Site

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Renkey, E.J. Jr.; Bazinet, G.D.; Bitten, E.J.; Brackenbury, P.J.; Carlson, W.F.; Irwin, J.J.; Edwards, P.A.; Shen, E.J.; Titzler, P.A.

1989-05-01

The SP-100 reactor will be ground tested at the SP-100 Ground Engineering System (GES) Test Site on the US Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site near Richland, Washington. Project direction and the flight system design evolution have resulted in a smaller reactor size and the consequential revision to Test Site features to accommodate the design changes and reduce Test Site costs. The significant design events since the completion of the Conceptual Design are discussed in this paper.

Building Blocks for Transport-Class Hybrid and Turboelectric Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Jankovsky, Amy; Bowman, Cheryl; Jansen, Ralph

2016-01-01

NASA has been investing in research efforts to define potential vehicles that use hybrid and turboelectric propulsion to enable savings in fuel burn and carbon usage. This paper overviews the fundamental building blocks that have been derived from those studies and details what key performance parameters have been defined, what key ground and flight tests need to occur, and highlights progress toward each.

A Coupling Vibration Test Bench and the Simulation Research of a Maglev Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weihua Ma

2015-01-01

Full Text Available To study the characteristics of the coupling vibration between a maglev vehicle and its track beam system and to improve the performance of the levitation system, a new type of vibration test bench was developed. Take a single maglev frame as the study object; simulation of the coupling vibration of the maglev vehicle, levitation system, and track beam were achieved. In addition, all types of real track irregularity excitations can be simulated using hydraulic actuators of the test bench. To expand the research scope, a simulation model was developed that can conduct the simulation research synergistically with the test bench. Based on a dynamics model of the test bench, the dynamics simulation method determined the influence on the levitation control performance of three factors: the track beam support stiffness, the track beam mass, and the track irregularity. The vibration resonance phenomenon of the vehicle/track system was reproduced by the dynamics simulation, and a portion of the simulation results were validated by the test results. By combining the test bench and the dynamics model, experiments can be guided by the simulation results, and the experimental results can validate the dynamics simulation results.

Large Payload Ground Transportation and Test Considerations

Science.gov (United States)

Rucker, Michelle A.

2016-01-01

Many spacecraft concepts under consideration by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Evolvable Mars Campaign take advantage of a Space Launch System payload shroud that may be 8 to 10 meters in diameter. Large payloads can theoretically save cost by reducing the number of launches needed--but only if it is possible to build, test, and transport a large payload to the launch site in the first place. Analysis performed previously for the Altair project identified several transportation and test issues with an 8.973 meters diameter payload. Although the entire Constellation Program—including Altair—has since been canceled, these issues serve as important lessons learned for spacecraft designers and program managers considering large payloads for future programs. A transportation feasibility study found that, even broken up into an Ascent and Descent Module, the Altair spacecraft would not fit inside available aircraft. Ground transportation of such large payloads over extended distances is not generally permitted, so overland transportation alone would not be an option. Limited ground transportation to the nearest waterway may be possible, but water transportation could take as long as 67 days per production unit, depending on point of origin and acceptance test facility; transportation from the western United States would require transit through the Panama Canal to access the Kennedy Space Center launch site. Large payloads also pose acceptance test and ground processing challenges. Although propulsion, mechanical vibration, and reverberant acoustic test facilities at NASA’s Plum Brook Station have been designed to accommodate large spacecraft, special handling and test work-arounds may be necessary, which could increase cost, schedule, and technical risk. Once at the launch site, there are no facilities currently capable of accommodating the combination of large payload size and hazardous processing such as hypergolic fuels

The IXV Ground Segment design, implementation and operations

Science.gov (United States)

Martucci di Scarfizzi, Giovanni; Bellomo, Alessandro; Musso, Ivano; Bussi, Diego; Rabaioli, Massimo; Santoro, Gianfranco; Billig, Gerhard; Gallego Sanz, José María

2016-07-01

The Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) is an ESA re-entry demonstrator that performed, on the 11th February of 2015, a successful re-entry demonstration mission. The project objectives were the design, development, manufacturing and on ground and in flight verification of an autonomous European lifting and aerodynamically controlled re-entry system. For the IXV mission a dedicated Ground Segment was provided. The main subsystems of the IXV Ground Segment were: IXV Mission Control Center (MCC), from where monitoring of the vehicle was performed, as well as support during pre-launch and recovery phases; IXV Ground Stations, used to cover IXV mission by receiving spacecraft telemetry and forwarding it toward the MCC; the IXV Communication Network, deployed to support the operations of the IXV mission by interconnecting all remote sites with MCC, supporting data, voice and video exchange. This paper describes the concept, architecture, development, implementation and operations of the ESA Intermediate Experimental Vehicle (IXV) Ground Segment and outlines the main operations and lessons learned during the preparation and successful execution of the IXV Mission.

Data Fusion Modeling for an RT3102 and Dewetron System Application in Hybrid Vehicle Stability Testing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhibin Miao

2015-08-01

Full Text Available More and more hybrid electric vehicles are driven since they offer such advantages as energy savings and better active safety performance. Hybrid vehicles have two or more power driving systems and frequently switch working condition, so controlling stability is very important. In this work, a two-stage Kalman algorithm method is used to fuse data in hybrid vehicle stability testing. First, the RT3102 navigation system and Dewetron system are introduced. Second, a modeling of data fusion is proposed based on the Kalman filter. Then, this modeling is simulated and tested on a sample vehicle, using Carsim and Simulink software to test the results. The results showed the merits of this modeling.

Powertrain Test Procedure Development for EPA GHG Certification of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chambon, Paul H. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Deter, Dean D. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

2016-07-01

xiii ABSTRACT The goal of this project is to develop and evaluate powertrain test procedures that can accurately simulate real-world operating conditions, and to determine greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of advanced medium- and heavy-duty engine and vehicle technologies. ORNL used their Vehicle System Integration Laboratory to evaluate test procedures on a stand-alone engine as well as two powertrains. Those components where subjected to various drive cycles and vehicle conditions to evaluate the validity of the results over a broad range of test conditions. Overall, more than 1000 tests were performed. The data are compiled and analyzed in this report.

SAFER vehicle inspection: a multimodal robotic sensing platform

Science.gov (United States)

Page, David L.; Fougerolle, Yohan; Koschan, Andreas F.; Gribok, Andrei; Abidi, Mongi A.; Gorsich, David J.; Gerhart, Grant R.

2004-09-01

The current threats to U.S. security both military and civilian have led to an increased interest in the development of technologies to safeguard national facilities such as military bases, federal buildings, nuclear power plants, and national laboratories. As a result, the Imaging, Robotics, and Intelligent Systems (IRIS) Laboratory at The University of Tennessee (UT) has established a research consortium, known as SAFER (Security Automation and Future Electromotive Robotics), to develop, test, and deploy sensing and imaging systems for unmanned ground vehicles (UGV). The targeted missions for these UGV systems include -- but are not limited to --under vehicle threat assessment, stand-off check-point inspections, scout surveillance, intruder detection, obstacle-breach situations, and render-safe scenarios. This paper presents a general overview of the SAFER project. Beyond this general overview, we further focus on a specific problem where we collect 3D range scans of under vehicle carriages. These scans require appropriate segmentation and representation algorithms to facilitate the vehicle inspection process. We discuss the theory for these algorithms and present results from applying them to actual vehicle scans.

Ground Operations Demonstration Unit for Liquid Hydrogen Initial Test Results

Science.gov (United States)

Notardonato, W. U.; Johnson, W. L.; Swanger, A. M.; Tomsik, T.

2015-01-01

NASA operations for handling cryogens in ground support equipment have not changed substantially in 50 years, despite major technology advances in the field of cryogenics. NASA loses approximately 50% of the hydrogen purchased because of a continuous heat leak into ground and flight vessels, transient chill down of warm cryogenic equipment, liquid bleeds, and vent losses. NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) needs to develop energy-efficient cryogenic ground systems to minimize propellant losses, simplify operations, and reduce cost associated with hydrogen usage. The GODU LH2 project has designed, assembled, and started testing of a prototype storage and distribution system for liquid hydrogen that represents an advanced end-to-end cryogenic propellant system for a ground launch complex. The project has multiple objectives including zero loss storage and transfer, liquefaction of gaseous hydrogen, and densification of liquid hydrogen. The system is unique because it uses an integrated refrigeration and storage system (IRAS) to control the state of the fluid. This paper will present and discuss the results of the initial phase of testing of the GODU LH2 system.

Electric Vehicle Communications Standards Testing and Validation - Phase II: SAE J2931/1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pratt, Richard M. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Gowri, Krishnan [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2013-01-15

Vehicle to grid communication standards enable interoperability among vehicles, charging stations and utility providers and provide the capability to implement charge management. Several standards initiatives by the Society of Automobile Engineers (SAE), International Standards Organization and International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC), and ZigBee/HomePlug Alliance are developing requirements for communication messages and protocols. Recent work by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in collaboration with SAE and automobile manufacturers has identified vehicle to grid communication performance requirements and developed a test plan as part of SAE J2931/1 committee work. This laboratory test plan was approved by the SAE J2931/1 committee and included test configurations, test methods, and performance requirements to verify reliability, robustness, repeatability, maximum communication distance, and authentication features of power line carrier (PLC) communication modules at the internet protocol layer level. The goal of the testing effort was to select a communication technology that would enable automobile manufacturers to begin the development and implementation process. The EPRI/Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) testing teams divided the testing so that results for each test could be presented by two teams, performing the tests independently. The PNNL team performed narrowband PLC testing including the Texas Instruments (TI) Concerto, Ariane Controls AC-CPM1, and the MAXIM Tahoe 2 evaluation boards. The scope of testing was limited to measuring the vendor systems communication performance between Electric Vehicle Support Equipment (EVSE) and plug-in electric vehicles (PEV). The testing scope did not address PEV’s CAN bus to PLC or PLC to EVSE (Wi-Fi, cellular, PLC Mains, etc.) communication integration. In particular, no evaluation was performed to delineate the effort needed to translate the IPv6

An interactive physics-based unmanned ground vehicle simulator leveraging open source gaming technology: progress in the development and application of the virtual autonomous navigation environment (VANE) desktop

Science.gov (United States)

Rohde, Mitchell M.; Crawford, Justin; Toschlog, Matthew; Iagnemma, Karl D.; Kewlani, Guarav; Cummins, Christopher L.; Jones, Randolph A.; Horner, David A.

2009-05-01

It is widely recognized that simulation is pivotal to vehicle development, whether manned or unmanned. There are few dedicated choices, however, for those wishing to perform realistic, end-to-end simulations of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). The Virtual Autonomous Navigation Environment (VANE), under development by US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), provides such capabilities but utilizes a High Performance Computing (HPC) Computational Testbed (CTB) and is not intended for on-line, real-time performance. A product of the VANE HPC research is a real-time desktop simulation application under development by the authors that provides a portal into the HPC environment as well as interaction with wider-scope semi-automated force simulations (e.g. OneSAF). This VANE desktop application, dubbed the Autonomous Navigation Virtual Environment Laboratory (ANVEL), enables analysis and testing of autonomous vehicle dynamics and terrain/obstacle interaction in real-time with the capability to interact within the HPC constructive geo-environmental CTB for high fidelity sensor evaluations. ANVEL leverages rigorous physics-based vehicle and vehicle-terrain interaction models in conjunction with high-quality, multimedia visualization techniques to form an intuitive, accurate engineering tool. The system provides an adaptable and customizable simulation platform that allows developers a controlled, repeatable testbed for advanced simulations. ANVEL leverages several key technologies not common to traditional engineering simulators, including techniques from the commercial video-game industry. These enable ANVEL to run on inexpensive commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware. In this paper, the authors describe key aspects of ANVEL and its development, as well as several initial applications of the system.

Semi-autonomous unmanned ground vehicle control system

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Jonathan; Lee, Dah-Jye; Schoenberger, Robert; Wei, Zhaoyi; Archibald, James

2006-05-01

Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) have advantages over people in a number of different applications, ranging from sentry duty, scouting hazardous areas, convoying goods and supplies over long distances, and exploring caves and tunnels. Despite recent advances in electronics, vision, artificial intelligence, and control technologies, fully autonomous UGVs are still far from being a reality. Currently, most UGVs are fielded using tele-operation with a human in the control loop. Using tele-operations, a user controls the UGV from the relative safety and comfort of a control station and sends commands to the UGV remotely. It is difficult for the user to issue higher level commands such as patrol this corridor or move to this position while avoiding obstacles. As computer vision algorithms are implemented in hardware, the UGV can easily become partially autonomous. As Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) become larger and more powerful, vision algorithms can run at frame rate. With the rapid development of CMOS imagers for consumer electronics, frame rate can reach as high as 200 frames per second with a small size of the region of interest. This increase in the speed of vision algorithm processing allows the UGVs to become more autonomous, as they are able to recognize and avoid obstacles in their path, track targets, or move to a recognized area. The user is able to focus on giving broad supervisory commands and goals to the UGVs, allowing the user to control multiple UGVs at once while still maintaining the convenience of working from a central base station. In this paper, we will describe a novel control system for the control of semi-autonomous UGVs. This control system combines a user interface similar to a simple tele-operation station along with a control package, including the FPGA and multiple cameras. The control package interfaces with the UGV and provides the necessary control to guide the UGV.

A nonlinear model predictive control formulation for obstacle avoidance in high-speed autonomous ground vehicles in unstructured environments

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jiechao; Jayakumar, Paramsothy; Stein, Jeffrey L.; Ersal, Tulga

2018-06-01

This paper presents a nonlinear model predictive control (MPC) formulation for obstacle avoidance in high-speed, large-size autono-mous ground vehicles (AGVs) with high centre of gravity (CoG) that operate in unstructured environments, such as military vehicles. The term 'unstructured' in this context denotes that there are no lanes or traffic rules to follow. Existing MPC formulations for passenger vehicles in structured environments do not readily apply to this context. Thus, a new nonlinear MPC formulation is developed to navigate an AGV from its initial position to a target position at high-speed safely. First, a new cost function formulation is used that aims to find the shortest path to the target position, since no reference trajectory exists in unstructured environments. Second, a region partitioning approach is used in conjunction with a multi-phase optimal control formulation to accommodate the complicated forms the obstacle-free region can assume due to the presence of multiple obstacles in the prediction horizon in an unstructured environment. Third, the no-wheel-lift-off condition, which is the major dynamical safety concern for high-speed, high-CoG AGVs, is ensured by limiting the steering angle within a range obtained offline using a 14 degrees-of-freedom vehicle dynamics model. Thus, a safe, high-speed navigation is enabled in an unstructured environment. Simulations of an AGV approaching multiple obstacles are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm.

Aerothermodynamics of Blunt Body Entry Vehicles. Chapter 3

Science.gov (United States)

Hollis, Brian R.; Borrelli, Salvatore

2011-01-01

In this chapter, the aerothermodynamic phenomena of blunt body entry vehicles are discussed. Four topics will be considered that present challenges to current computational modeling techniques for blunt body environments: turbulent flow, non-equilibrium flow, rarefied flow, and radiation transport. Examples of comparisons between computational tools to ground and flight-test data will be presented in order to illustrate the challenges existing in the numerical modeling of each of these phenomena and to provide test cases for evaluation of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code predictions.

Control of autonomous ground vehicles: a brief technical review

Science.gov (United States)

Babak, Shahian-Jahromi; Hussain, Syed A.; Karakas, Burak; Cetin, Sabri

2017-07-01

This paper presents a brief review of the developments achieved in autonomous vehicle systems technology. A concise history of autonomous driver assistance systems is presented, followed by a review of current state of the art sensor technology used in autonomous vehicles. Standard sensor fusion method that has been recently explored is discussed. Finally, advances in embedded software methodologies that define the logic between sensory information and actuation decisions are reviewed.

Tactical Vehicle Climate Control Testing

Science.gov (United States)

2017-03-31

1979. b. TOP 02-2-708, Vehicle Personnel Heater Compatibility, 18 July 1980. c. Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) J381, Surface Vehicle...Total Irradiance Second Class minimum, First Class recommended Engine speed ± 10 revolutions per minute (rpm) Air pressure (as appropriate) ± 1...digital camera is suggest to photograph all instrumentation locations. A tape measure, a graduated cylinder and an electric paint sprayer are required

Unmanned Vehicle Material Flammability Test

Science.gov (United States)

Urban, David; Ruff, Gary A.; Fernandez-Pello, A. Carlos; T’ien, James S.; Torero, Jose L.; Cowlard, Adam; Rouvreau, Sebastian; Minster, Olivier; Toth, Balazs; Legros, Guillaume;

Lightning and surge protection of large ground facilities

Science.gov (United States)

Stringfellow, Michael F.

1988-04-01

The vulnerability of large ground facilities to direct lightning strikes and to lightning-induced overvoltages on the power distribution, telephone and data communication lines are discussed. Advanced electrogeometric modeling is used for the calculation of direct strikes to overhead power lines, buildings, vehicles and objects within the facility. Possible modes of damage, injury and loss are discussed. Some appropriate protection methods for overhead power lines, structures, vehicles and aircraft are suggested. Methods to mitigate the effects of transients on overhead and underground power systems as well as within buildings and other structures are recommended. The specification and location of low-voltage surge suppressors for the protection of vulnerable hardware such as computers, telecommunication equipment and radar installations are considered. The advantages and disadvantages of commonly used grounding techniques, such as single point, multiple and isolated grounds are compared. An example is given of the expected distribution of lightning flashes to a large airport, its buildings, structures and facilities, as well as to vehicles on the ground.

Test Operation Procedure (TOP) 01-1-010A Vehicle Test Course Severity (Surface Roughness)

Science.gov (United States)

2017-12-12

Increases in roughness may signify the need to change course maintenance patterns. For example, secondary gravel roads at YTC go through a cycle of...CSTE-DTC-AT-AD) U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center 400 Colleran Road Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5059 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT...test courses at ATEC Test Centers. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Automotive test course Roughness of roads Wave number spectrum Test course surface roughness

Association of Prehospital Mode of Transport With Mortality in Penetrating Trauma: A Trauma System-Level Assessment of Private Vehicle Transportation vs Ground Emergency Medical Services.

Science.gov (United States)

Wandling, Michael W; Nathens, Avery B; Shapiro, Michael B; Haut, Elliott R

2018-02-01

Time to definitive care following injury is important to the outcomes of trauma patients. Prehospital trauma care is provided based on policies developed by individual trauma systems and is an important component of the care of injured patients. Given a paucity of systems-level trauma research, considerable variability exists in prehospital care policies across trauma systems, potentially affecting patient outcomes. To evaluate whether private vehicle prehospital transport confers a survival advantage vs ground emergency medical services (EMS) transport following penetrating injuries in urban trauma systems. Retrospective cohort study of data included in the National Trauma Data Bank from January 1, 2010, through December 31, 2012, comprising 298 level 1 and level 2 trauma centers that contribute data to the National Trauma Data Bank that are located within the 100 most populous metropolitan areas in the United States. Of 2 329 446 patients assessed for eligibility, 103 029 were included in this study. All patients were 16 years or older, had a gunshot wound or stab wound, and were transported by ground EMS or private vehicle. In-hospital mortality. Of the 2 329 446 records assessed for eligibility, 103 029 individuals at 298 urban level 1 and level 2 trauma centers were included in the analysis. The study population was predominantly male (87.6%), with a mean age of 32.3 years. Among those included, 47.9% were black, 26.3% were white, and 18.4% were Hispanic. Following risk adjustment, individuals with penetrating injuries transported by private vehicle were less likely to die than patients transported by ground EMS (odds ratio [OR], 0.38; 95% CI, 0.31-0.47). This association remained statistically significant on stratified analysis of the gunshot wound (OR,  0.45; 95% CI, 0.36-0.56) and stab wound (OR,  0.32; 95% CI, 0.20-0.52) subgroups. Private vehicle transport is associated with a significantly lower likelihood of death when compared with

The Apache Longbow-Hellfire Missile Test at Yuma Proving Ground: Introduction and Problem Formulation for a Multiple Stressor Risk Assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Efroymson, Rebecca Ann; Peterson, Mark J.; Jones, Daniel Steven; Suter, Glenn

2008-01-01

An ecological risk assessment was conducted at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, as a demonstration of the Military Ecological Risk Assessment Framework (MERAF). The focus of the assessment was a testing program at Cibola Range, which involved an Apache Longbow helicopter firing Hellfire missiles at moving targets, i.e., M60-A1 tanks. The problem formulation for the assessment included conceptual models for three component activities of the test, helicopter overflight, missile firing, and tracked vehicle movement, and two ecological endpoint entities, woody desert wash communities and desert mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus crooki) populations. An activity-specific risk assessment framework was available to provide guidance for assessing risks associated with aircraft overflights. Key environmental features of the study area include barren desert pavement and tree-lined desert washes. The primary stressors associated with helicopter overflights were sound and the view of the aircraft. The primary stressor associated with Hellfire missile firing was sound. The principal stressor associated with tracked vehicle movement was soil disturbance, and a resulting, secondary stressor was hydrological change. Water loss to washes and wash vegetation was expected to result from increased ponding, infiltration and/or evaporation associated with disturbances to desert pavement. A plan for estimating integrated risks from the three military activities was included in the problem formulation

Flight Testing of Wireless Networking for Nanosat Launch Vehicles, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The innovation proposed here addresses the testing and evaluation of wireless networking technologies for small launch vehicles by leveraging existing nanosat launch...

Aerodynamic Problems of Launch Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kyong Chol Chou

1984-09-01

Full Text Available The airflow along the surface of a launch vehicle together with vase flow of clustered nozzles cause problems which may affect the stability or efficiency of the entire vehicle. The problem may occur when the vehicle is on the launching pad or even during flight. As for such problems, local steady-state loads, overall steady-state loads, buffet, ground wind loads, base heating and rocket-nozzle hinge moments are examined here specifically.

Hyper-X Vehicle Model - Side View

Science.gov (United States)

1996-01-01

A side-view of an early desk-top model of NASA's X-43A 'Hyper-X,' or Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle, which has been developed to flight test a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet propulsion system at speeds from Mach 7 up to Mach 10 (7 to 10 times the speed of sound, which varies with temperature and altitude). Hyper-X, the flight vehicle for which is designated as X-43A, is an experimental flight-research program seeking to demonstrate airframe-integrated, 'air-breathing' engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers. This multiyear program is currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Hyper-X schedule calls for its first flight later this year (2000). Hyper-X is a joint program, with Dryden sharing responsibility with NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Dryden's primary role is to fly three unpiloted X-43A research vehicles to validate engine technologies and hypersonic design tools as well as the hypersonic test facility at Langley. Langley manages the program and leads the technology development effort. The Hyper-X Program seeks to significantly expand the speed boundaries of air-breathing propulsion by being the first aircraft to demonstrate an airframe-integrated, scramjet-powered free flight. Scramjets (supersonic-combustion ramjets) are ramjet engines in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Long duration, full-scale testing requires flight research. Scramjet engines are air-breathing, capturing their oxygen from the atmosphere. Current spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, are rocket powered, so they must carry both fuel and oxygen for propulsion. Scramjet technology-based vehicles need to carry only fuel. By eliminating the need to carry oxygen, future hypersonic

Hyper-X Vehicle Model - Front View

Science.gov (United States)

1996-01-01

A front view of an early desk-top model of NASA's X-43A 'Hyper-X,' or Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle, which has been developed to flight test a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet propulsion system at speeds from Mach 7 up to Mach 10 (7 to 10 times the speed of sound, which varies with temperature and altitude). Hyper-X, the flight vehicle for which is designated as X-43A, is an experimental flight-research program seeking to demonstrate airframe-integrated, 'air-breathing' engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers. This multiyear program is currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Hyper-X schedule calls for its first flight later this year (2000). Hyper-X is a joint program, with Dryden sharing responsibility with NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Dryden's primary role is to fly three unpiloted X-43A research vehicles to validate engine technologies and hypersonic design tools as well as the hypersonic test facility at Langley. Langley manages the program and leads the technology development effort. The Hyper-X Program seeks to significantly expand the speed boundaries of air-breathing propulsion by being the first aircraft to demonstrate an airframe-integrated, scramjet-powered free flight. Scramjets (supersonic-combustion ramjets) are ramjet engines in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Long duration, full-scale testing requires flight research. Scramjet engines are air-breathing, capturing their oxygen from the atmosphere. Current spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, are rocket powered, so they must carry both fuel and oxygen for propulsion. Scramjet technology-based vehicles need to carry only fuel. By eliminating the need to carry oxygen, future hypersonic

Results from the Operational Testing of the General Electric Smart Grid Capable Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carlson, Richard Barney [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Scoffield, Don [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Bennett, Brion [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2013-12-01

The Idaho National Laboratory conducted testing and analysis of the General Electric (GE) smart grid capable electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), which was a deliverable from GE for the U.S. Department of Energy FOA-554. The Idaho National Laboratory has extensive knowledge and experience in testing advanced conductive and wireless charging systems though INL’s support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity. This document details the findings from the EVSE operational testing conducted at the Idaho National Laboratory on the GE smart grid capable EVSE. The testing conducted on the EVSE included energy efficiency testing, SAE J1772 functionality testing, abnormal conditions testing, and charging of a plug-in vehicle.

Performance tests of communal electric-powered vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagel, J.

1993-01-01

The use of electric vehicles within the service industry (such as the town's sanitation, its trash collection and horticultural authority) can lead to a visible environmental relief, particularly in the inner city. The RWE in Essen has been supporting the development and use of electric vehicles for over 20 years and introduced a program in 1990 for the communities(ProKom) which provides 5 million DM for over 5 years for the support of electric vehicles. In this article the communities' requirements for electric vehicles are discussed, the types of vehicles which are mediated by ProKom are introduced and the first practical experiences made are also reported. (BWI) [de

Liquid Oxygen Propellant Densification Unit Ground Tested With a Large-Scale Flight-Weight Tank for the X-33 Reusable Launch Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Tomsik, Thomas M.

2002-01-01

Propellant densification has been identified as a critical technology in the development of single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch vehicles. Technology to create supercooled high-density liquid oxygen (LO2) and liquid hydrogen (LH2) is a key means to lowering launch vehicle costs. The densification of cryogenic propellants through subcooling allows 8 to 10 percent more propellant mass to be stored in a given unit volume, thereby improving the launch vehicle's overall performance. This allows for higher propellant mass fractions than would be possible with conventional normal boiling point cryogenic propellants, considering the normal boiling point of LO2 and LH2.

Feasibility study of a nonequilibrium MHD accelerator concept for hypersonic propulsion ground testing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Ying-Ming; Simmons, G.A.; Nelson, G.L.

1995-01-01

A National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) funded research study to evaluate the feasibility of using magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) body force accelerators to produce true air simulation for hypersonic propulsion ground testing is discussed in this paper. Testing over the airbreathing portion of a transatmospheric vehicle (TAV) hypersonic flight regime will require high quality air simulation for actual flight conditions behind a bow shock wave (forebody, pre-inlet region) for flight velocities up to Mach 16 and perhaps beyond. Material limits and chemical dissociation at high temperature limit the simulated flight Mach numbers in conventional facilities to less than Mach 12 for continuous and semi-continuous testing and less than Mach 7 for applications requiring true air chemistry. By adding kinetic energy directly to the flow, MHD accelerators avoid the high temperatures and pressures required in the reservoir region of conventional expansion facilities, allowing MHD to produce true flight conditions in flight regimes impossible with conventional facilities. The present study is intended to resolve some of the critical technical issues related to the operation of MHD at high pressure. Funding has been provided only for the first phase of a three to four year feasibility study that would culminate in the demonstration of MHD acceleration under conditions required to produce true flight conditions behind a bow shock wave to flight Mach numbers of 16 or greater. MHD critical issues and a program plan to resolve these are discussed

3-D model-based vehicle tracking.

Science.gov (United States)

Lou, Jianguang; Tan, Tieniu; Hu, Weiming; Yang, Hao; Maybank, Steven J

2005-10-01

This paper aims at tracking vehicles from monocular intensity image sequences and presents an efficient and robust approach to three-dimensional (3-D) model-based vehicle tracking. Under the weak perspective assumption and the ground-plane constraint, the movements of model projection in the two-dimensional image plane can be decomposed into two motions: translation and rotation. They are the results of the corresponding movements of 3-D translation on the ground plane (GP) and rotation around the normal of the GP, which can be determined separately. A new metric based on point-to-line segment distance is proposed to evaluate the similarity between an image region and an instantiation of a 3-D vehicle model under a given pose. Based on this, we provide an efficient pose refinement method to refine the vehicle's pose parameters. An improved EKF is also proposed to track and to predict vehicle motion with a precise kinematics model. Experimental results with both indoor and outdoor data show that the algorithm obtains desirable performance even under severe occlusion and clutter.

Timing system design and tests for the Gravity Probe B relativity mission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, J; Keiser, G M; Ohshima, Y; Shestople, P; Lockhart, J M

2015-01-01

In this paper, we discuss the timing system design and tests for the NASA/Stanford Gravity Probe B (GP-B) relativity mission. The primary clock of GP-B, called the 16f o clock, was an oven-controlled crystal oscillator that produced a 16.368 MHz master frequency 3 . The 16f o clock and the 10 Hz data strobe, which was divided down from the 16f o clock, provided clock signals to all GP-B components and synchronized the data collection, transmission, and processing. The sampled data of science signals were stamped with the vehicle time, a counter of the 10 Hz data strobe. The time latency between the time of data sampling and the stamped vehicle time was compensated in the ground data processing. Two redundant global positioning system receivers onboard the GP-B satellite supplied an external reference for time transfer between the vehicle time and coordinated universal time (UTC), and the time conversion was established in the ground preprocessing of the telemetry timing data. The space flight operation showed that the error of time conversion between the vehicle time and UTC was less than 2 μs. Considering that the constant timing offsets were compensated in the ground processing of the GP-B science data, the time latency between the effective sampling time of GP-B science signals and the stamped vehicle time was verified to within 1 ms in the ground tests. (paper)

Active debris removal GNC challenges over design and required ground validation

Science.gov (United States)

Colmenarejo, Pablo; Avilés, Marcos; di Sotto, Emanuele

2015-06-01

capture technologies. This paper focuses on some specific aspects and technologies related to ADR terminal phases involved technologies and ground validation approaches: (1) Terminal ADR approach phase using visual-based navigation (VBN). Potential Image Processing techniques and preliminary performances will be described, together with the challenge of generating on-ground realistic images as input for the HW/SW VBN system. Some results of image generation (including comparison with real flight image missions) and processing using GMV's Optical Laboratory (image generation by rendering spacecraft 3D models and projecting on a screen in front of the HW camera) and using GMV's platform-art ® laboratory to reproduce space-realistic physical scenarios (to be captured by a HW camera) using 1:1 physical spacecraft mock-ups in an absolutely dark environment with a Sun-like single illumination source. (2) Ground validation of GNC systems based on HW-in-the-Loop (HIL) test facilities, including realistic space-representative avionics (at processor, interfaces and real-time operating system), realistic and air-to-air stimulated breadboard perception sensors (IMU, optical cameras, laser 3D sensors) through the use of dynamic robotic devices hosting the active vehicle and debris mock-ups and reproducing accurately the spatial relative dynamic corresponding to an ADR scenario. This type of ground validation can effectively achieve validation in relevant environment, till TRL (Technology Readiness Level) 5/6 on ground and minimizing the uncertainty/risk of such technologies/systems with respect to its operational use. Description and video demonstration of some ADR applicable test case/s using GMV's platform-art ® dynamic test facility will be included. Particular attention will be paid on the needed type of structural/functional active ADR vehicle and debris mock-ups, force/torque measurement and feedback capability over debris contact or momentum exchange actions, ground gravity

Intelligent Unmanned Vehicle Systems Suitable For Individual or Cooperative Missions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Matthew O. Anderson; Mark D. McKay; Derek C. Wadsworth

2007-04-01

The Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been researching autonomous unmanned vehicle systems for the past several years. Areas of research have included unmanned ground and aerial vehicles used for hazardous and remote operations as well as teamed together for advanced payloads and mission execution. Areas of application include aerial particulate sampling, cooperative remote radiological sampling, and persistent surveillance including real-time mosaic and geo-referenced imagery in addition to high resolution still imagery. Both fixed-wing and rotary airframes are used possessing capabilities spanning remote control to fully autonomous operation. Patented INL-developed auto steering technology is taken advantage of to provide autonomous parallel path swathing with either manned or unmanned ground vehicles. Aerial look-ahead imagery is utilized to provide a common operating picture for the ground and air vehicle during cooperative missions. This paper will discuss the various robotic vehicles, including sensor integration, used to achieve these missions and anticipated cost and labor savings.

Heavy and Overweight Vehicle Brake Testing: Five-Axle Combination Tractor-Flatbed Final Report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lascurain, Mary Beth [ORNL; Capps, Gary J [ORNL; Franzese, Oscar [ORNL

2013-10-01

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, in coordination with the Federal Highway Administration, sponsored the Heavy and Overweight Vehicle Brake Testing (HOVBT) program in order to provide information about the effect of gross vehicle weight (GVW) on braking performance. Because the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations limit the number of braking system defects that may exist for a vehicle to be allowed to operate on the roadways, the examination of the effect of brake defects on brake performance for increased loads is also relevant. The HOVBT program seeks to provide relevant information to policy makers responsible for establishing load limits, beginning with providing test data for a combination tractor/trailer. This testing was conducted on a five-axle combination vehicle with tractor brakes meeting the Reduced Stopping Distance requirement rulemaking. This report provides a summary of the testing activities, the results of various analyses of the data, and recommendations for future research. Following a complete brake rebuild, instrumentation, and brake burnish, stopping tests were performed from 20 and 40 mph with various brake application pressures (15 psi, 25 psi, 35 psi, 45 psi, 55 psi, and full system pressure). These tests were conducted for various brake conditions at the following GVWs: 60,000, 80,000, 91,000, 97,000, 106,000, and 116,000 lb. The 80,000-lb GVWs included both balanced and unbalanced loads. The condition of the braking system was also varied. To introduce these defects, brakes (none, forward drive axle, or rear trailer axle) were made inoperative. In addition to the stopping tests, performance-based brake tests were conducted for the various loading and brake conditions. Analysis of the stopping test data showed the stopping distance to increase with load (as expected) and also showed that more braking force was generated by the drive axle brakes than the trailer axle brakes. The constant-pressure stopping test data

Test vehicles for CMS HGCAL readout ASIC

CERN Document Server

Thienpont, Damien

2017-01-01

This paper presents first measurement results of two test vehicles ASIC embedding some building blocks for the future CMS High Granularity CALorimeter (HGCAL) read-out ASIC. They were fabricated in CMOS 130 nm, in order to first design the Analog and Mixed-Signal blocks before going to a complete and complex chip. Such a circuit needs to achieve low noise high dynamic range charge measurement and 20 ps resolution timing capability. The results show good analog performance but with higher noise levels compared to simulations. We present the results of the preamplifiers, shapers and ADCs.

40 CFR 205.57-2 - Test vehicle sample selection.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... pursuant to a test request in accordance with this subpart will be selected in the manner specified in the... then using a table of random numbers to select the number of vehicles as specified in paragraph (c) of... with the desig-nated AQL are contained in Appendix I, -Table II. (c) The appropriate batch sample size...

Anechoic Chamber test of the Electromagnetic Measurement System ground test unit

Science.gov (United States)

Stevenson, L. E.; Scott, L. D.; Oakes, E. T.

1987-04-01

The Electromagnetic Measurement System (EMMS) will acquire data on electromagnetic (EM) environments at key weapon locations on various aircraft certified for nuclear weapons. The high-frequency ground unit of the EMMS consists of an instrumented B61 bomb case that will measure (with current probes) the localized current density resulting from an applied EM field. For this portion of the EMMS, the first system test was performed in the Anechoic Chamber Facility at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico. The EMMS pod was subjected to EM radiation at microwave frequencies of 1, 3, and 10 GHz. At each frequency, the EMMS pod was rotated at many positions relative to the microwave source so that the individual current probes were exposed to a direct line-of-sight illumination. The variations between the measured and calculated electric fields for the current probes with direct illumination by the EM source are within a few db. The results obtained from the anechoic test were better than expected and verify that the high frequency ground portion of the EMMS will accurately measure the EM environments for which it was designed.

High-Energy Laser Weapon Integration with Ground Vehicles

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Hafften, Michael; Stratton, Robert

2004-01-01

.... The architecture of an electric, solid-state HEL weapon system would likely be based upon a hybrid electric vehicle that provides a common electrical power source for the propulsion and weapon subsystems...

Effluent treatment options for nuclear thermal propulsion system ground tests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shipers, L.R.; Brockmann, J.E.

1992-01-01

A variety of approaches for handling effluent from nuclear thermal propulsion system ground tests in an environmentally acceptable manner are discussed. The functional requirements of effluent treatment are defined and concept options are presented within the framework of these requirements. System concepts differ primarily in the choice of fission-product retention and waste handling concepts. The concept options considered range from closed cycle (venting the exhaust to a closed volume or recirculating the hydrogen in a closed loop) to open cycle (real time processing and venting of the effluent). This paper reviews the strengths and weaknesses of different methods to handle effluent from nuclear thermal propulsion system ground tests

Integrating small satellite communication in an autonomous vehicle network: A case for oceanography

Science.gov (United States)

Guerra, André G. C.; Ferreira, António Sérgio; Costa, Maria; Nodar-López, Diego; Aguado Agelet, Fernando

2018-04-01

Small satellites and autonomous vehicles have greatly evolved in the last few decades. Hundreds of small satellites have been launched with increasing functionalities, in the last few years. Likewise, numerous autonomous vehicles have been built, with decreasing costs and form-factor payloads. Here we focus on combining these two multifaceted assets in an incremental way, with an ultimate goal of alleviating the logistical expenses in remote oceanographic operations. The first goal is to create a highly reliable and constantly available communication link for a network of autonomous vehicles, taking advantage of the small satellite lower cost, with respect to conventional spacecraft, and its higher flexibility. We have developed a test platform as a proving ground for this network, by integrating a satellite software defined radio on an unmanned air vehicle, creating a system of systems, and several tests have been run successfully, over land. As soon as the satellite is fully operational, we will start to move towards a cooperative network of autonomous vehicles and small satellites, with application in maritime operations, both in-situ and remote sensing.

Trajectory Optimization and Conceptual Study of Small Test Vehicles for a Hypersonic Engine Using a High-Altitude Balloon

Science.gov (United States)

Tsuchiya, Takeshi; Takenaka, Youichi; Taguchi, Hideyuki; Sawai, Shujiro

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, announced a long-term vision recently. In the vision, JAXA aims to develop hypersonic aircrafts. A pre-cooled turbojet engine has great potential as one of newly developed hypersonic airbreathing engines. We also expect the engine to be installed in space transportation vehicles in the future. For combustion test in the real flight conditions of the engines, JAXA has an experimental plan where a small test vehicle is released from a high-altitude balloon. This paper applies numerical analysis and optimization techniques to conceptual designs of the test vehicle in order to obtain the best configuration and trajectory for the flight test. The results show helpful knowledge for designing prototype vehicles.

Poster Abstract: Automatic Calibration of Device Attitude in Inertial Measurement Unit Based Traffic Probe Vehicles

KAUST Repository

Mousa, Mustafa

2016-04-28

Probe vehicles consist in mobile traffic sensor networks that evolve with the flow of vehicles, transmitting velocity and position measurements along their path, generated using GPSs. To address the urban positioning issues of GPSs, we propose to replace them with inertial measurement units onboard vehicles, to estimate vehicle location and attitude using inertial data only. While promising, this technology requires one to carefully calibrate the orientation of the device inside the vehicle to be able to process the acceleration and rate gyro data. In this article, we propose a scheme that can perform this calibration automatically by leveraging the kinematic constraints of ground vehicles, and that can be implemented on low-end computational platforms. Preliminary testing shows that the proposed scheme enables one to accurately estimate the actual accelerations and rotation rates in the vehicle coordinates. © 2016 IEEE.

Ecodriver. D23.1: Report on test scenarios for val-idation of on-line vehicle algorithms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Seewald, P.; Ivens, T.W.T.; Spronkmans, S.

2014-01-01

This deliverable provides a description of test scenarios that will be used for validation of WP22’s on-line vehicle algorithms. These algorithms consist of the two modules VE³ (Vehicle Energy and Environment Estimator) and RSG (Reference Signal Genera-tor) and will be tested using the

Hydraulic Hybrid Fleet Vehicle Testing | Transportation Research | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Hydraulic Hybrid Fleet Vehicle Evaluations Hydraulic Hybrid Fleet Vehicle Evaluations How Hydraulic Hybrid Vehicles Work Hydraulic hybrid systems can capture up to 70% of the kinetic energy that would -pressure reservoir to a high-pressure accumulator. When the vehicle accelerates, fluid in the high-pressure

Ground vibration test results of a JetStar airplane using impulsive sine excitation

Science.gov (United States)

Kehoe, Michael W.; Voracek, David F.

1989-01-01

Structural excitation is important for both ground vibration and flight flutter testing. The structural responses caused by this excitation are analyzed to determine frequency, damping, and mode shape information. Many excitation waveforms have been used throughout the years. The use of impulsive sine (sin omega t)/omega t as an excitation waveform for ground vibration testing and the advantages of using this waveform for flight flutter testing are discussed. The ground vibration test results of a modified JetStar airplane using impulsive sine as an excitation waveform are compared with the test results of the same airplane using multiple-input random excitation. The results indicated that the structure was sufficiently excited using the impulsive sine waveform. Comparisons of input force spectrums, mode shape plots, and frequency and damping values for the two methods of excitation are presented.

Experimental investigation of a quad-rotor biplane micro air vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Bogdanowicz, Christopher Michael

Micro air vehicles are expected to perform demanding missions requiring efficient operation in both hover and forward flight. This thesis discusses the development of a hybrid air vehicle which seamlessly combines both flight capabilities: hover and high-speed forward flight. It is the quad-rotor biplane, which weighs 240 grams and consists of four propellers with wings arranged in a biplane configuration. The performance of the vehicle system was investigated in conditions representative of flight through a series of wind tunnel experiments. These studies provided an understanding of propeller-wing interaction effects and system trim analysis. This showed that the maximum speed of 11 m/s and a cruise speed of 4 m/s were achievable and that the cruise power is approximately one-third of the hover power. Free flight testing of the vehicle successfully highlighted its ability to achieve equilibrium transition flight. Key design parameters were experimentally investigated to understand their effect on overall performance. It was found that a trade-off between efficiency and compactness affects the final choice of the design. Design improvements have allowed for decreases in vehicle weight and ground footprint, while increasing structural soundness. Numerous vehicle designs, models, and flight tests have proven system scalability as well as versatility, including an upscaled model to be utilized in an extensive commercial package delivery system. Overall, the quad-rotor biplane is proven to be an efficient and effective multi-role vehicle.

Influence of Traffic Vehicles Against Ground Fundamental Frequency Prediction using Ambient Vibration Technique

Science.gov (United States)

Kamarudin, A. F.; Noh, M. S. Md; Mokhatar, S. N.; Anuar, M. A. Mohd; Ibrahim, A.; Ibrahim, Z.; Daud, M. E.

2018-04-01

Ambient vibration (AV) technique is widely used nowadays for ground fundamental frequency prediction. This technique is easy, quick, non-destructive, less operator required and reliable result. The input motions of ambient vibration are originally collected from surrounding natural and artificial excitations. But, careful data acquisition controlled must be implemented to reduce the intrusion of short period noise that could imply the quality of frequency prediction of an investigated site. In this study, investigation on the primary noise intrusion under peak (morning, afternoon and evening) and off peak (early morning) traffic flows (only 8 meter from sensor to road shoulder) against the stability and quality of ground fundamental frequency prediction were carried out. None of specific standard is available for AV data acquisition and processing. Thus, some field and processing parameters recommended by previous studies and guideline were considered. Two units of 1 Hz tri-axial seismometer sensor were closely positioned in front of the main entrance Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia. 15 minutes of recording length were taken during peak and off peak periods of traffic flows. All passing vehicles were counted and grouped into four classes. Three components of ambient vibration time series recorded in the North-South: NS, East-West: EW and vertical: UD directions were automatically computed into Horizontal to Vertical Spectral Ratio (HVSR), by using open source software of GEOPSY for fundamental ground frequency, Fo determination. Single sharp peak pattern of HVSR curves have been obtained at peak frequencies between 1.33 to 1.38 Hz which classified under soft to dense soil classification. Even identical HVSR curves pattern with close frequencies prediction were obtained under both periods of AV measurement, however the total numbers of stable and quality windows selected for HVSR computation were significantly different but both have satisfied the requirement

Testing a ground-based canopy model using the wind river canopy crane

Science.gov (United States)

Robert Van Pelt; Malcolm P. North

1999-01-01

A ground-based canopy model that estimates the volume of occupied space in forest canopies was tested using the Wind River Canopy Crane. A total of 126 trees in a 0.25 ha area were measured from the ground and directly from a gondola suspended from the crane. The trees were located in a low elevation, old-growth forest in the southern Washington Cascades. The ground-...

Development of a Smart Release Algorithm for Mid-Air Separation of Parachute Test Articles

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, James W.

2011-01-01

The Crew Exploration Vehicle Parachute Assembly System (CPAS) project is currently developing an autonomous method to separate a capsule-shaped parachute test vehicle from an air-drop platform for use in the test program to develop and validate the parachute system for the Orion spacecraft. The CPAS project seeks to perform air-drop tests of an Orion-like boilerplate capsule. Delivery of the boilerplate capsule to the test condition has proven to be a critical and complicated task. In the current concept, the boilerplate vehicle is extracted from an aircraft on top of a Type V pallet and then separated from the pallet in mid-air. The attitude of the vehicles at separation is critical to avoiding re-contact and successfully deploying the boilerplate into a heatshield-down orientation. Neither the pallet nor the boilerplate has an active control system. However, the attitude of the mated vehicle as a function of time is somewhat predictable. CPAS engineers have designed an avionics system to monitor the attitude of the mated vehicle as it is extracted from the aircraft and command a release when the desired conditions are met. The algorithm includes contingency capabilities designed to release the test vehicle before undesirable orientations occur. The algorithm was verified with simulation and ground testing. The pre-flight development and testing is discussed and limitations of ground testing are noted. The CPAS project performed a series of three drop tests as a proof-of-concept of the release technique. These tests helped to refine the attitude instrumentation and software algorithm to be used on future tests. The drop tests are described in detail and the evolution of the release system with each test is described.

Reusable launch vehicle development research

Science.gov (United States)

1995-01-01

NASA has generated a program approach for a SSTO reusable launch vehicle technology (RLV) development which includes a follow-on to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's (BMDO) successful DC-X program, the DC-XA (Advanced). Also, a separate sub-scale flight demonstrator, designated the X-33, will be built and flight tested along with numerous ground based technologies programs. For this to be a successful effort, a balance between technical, schedule, and budgetary risks must be attained. The adoption of BMDO's 'fast track' management practices will be a key element in the eventual success of NASA's effort.

Safety of railroad passenger vehicle dynamics : OMNISIM simulation and test correlations for passenger rail cars

Science.gov (United States)

2002-07-01

The purpose of the work is to validate the safety assessment methodology previously developed for passenger rail vehicle dynamics, which requires the application of simulation tools as well as testing of vehicles under different track scenarios. This...

Hyper-X Vehicle Model - Top Front View

Science.gov (United States)

1996-01-01

A top front view of an early desk-top model of NASA's X-43A 'Hyper-X,' or Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle, developed to flight test a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet propulsion system at speeds from Mach 7 up to Mach 10 (7 to 10 times the speed of sound, which varies with temperature and altitude). Hyper-X, the flight vehicle for which is designated as X-43A, is an experimental flight-research program seeking to demonstrate airframe-integrated, 'air-breathing' engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers. This multiyear program is currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Hyper-X schedule calls for its first flight later this year (2000). Hyper-X is a joint program, with Dryden sharing responsibility with NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Dryden's primary role is to fly three unpiloted X-43A research vehicles to validate engine technologies and hypersonic design tools as well as the hypersonic test facility at Langley. Langley manages the program and leads the technology development effort. The Hyper-X Program seeks to significantly expand the speed boundaries of air-breathing propulsion by being the first aircraft to demonstrate an airframe-integrated, scramjet-powered free flight. Scramjets (supersonic-combustion ramjets) are ramjet engines in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Long duration, full-scale testing requires flight research. Scramjet engines are air-breathing, capturing their oxygen from the atmosphere. Current spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, are rocket powered, so they must carry both fuel and oxygen for propulsion. Scramjet technology-based vehicles need to carry only fuel. By eliminating the need to carry oxygen, future hypersonic vehicles will

Hyper-X Vehicle Model - Top Rear View

Science.gov (United States)

1996-01-01

This aft-quarter model view of NASA's X-43A 'Hyper-X' or Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle shows its sleek, geometric design. The X-43A was developed to flight test a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet propulsion system at speeds from Mach 7 up to Mach 10 (7 to 10 times the speed of sound, which varies with temperature and altitude). Hyper-X, the flight vehicle for which is designated as X-43A, is an experimental flight-research program seeking to demonstrate airframe-integrated, 'air-breathing' engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers. This multiyear program is currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Hyper-X schedule calls for its first flight later this year (2000). Hyper-X is a joint program, with Dryden sharing responsibility with NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Dryden's primary role is to fly three unpiloted X-43A research vehicles to validate engine technologies and hypersonic design tools as well as the hypersonic test facility at Langley. Langley manages the program and leads the technology development effort. The Hyper-X Program seeks to significantly expand the speed boundaries of air-breathing propulsion by being the first aircraft to demonstrate an airframe-integrated, scramjet-powered free flight. Scramjets (supersonic-combustion ramjets) are ramjet engines in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Long duration, full-scale testing requires flight research. Scramjet engines are air-breathing, capturing their oxygen from the atmosphere. Current spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, are rocket powered, so they must carry both fuel and oxygen for propulsion. Scramjet technology-based vehicles need to carry only fuel. By eliminating the need to carry oxygen

SOAC - State-of-the-Art Car Engineering Tests at Department of Transportation High Speed Ground Test Center : Volume 2. Performance Tests.

Science.gov (United States)

1975-01-01

The six-volume report presents the technical methodology, data samples, and results of tests conducted on the SOAC on the Rail Transit Test Track at the High Speed Ground Test Center in Pueblo, Colorado during the period April to July 1973. The Test ...

Design and Research on Vehicles Motor Testing System Based on Improvement PID

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fan Kuangang

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Motor is the important parts in vehicles. It is the key parts for achieving automation. It is the critical technology to test vehicle motors. We take the PID (Proportion Integration Differentiation as based fundamental controlling algorithm, and we test motor parameters through LabVIEW for single-chip AT89C52. According to practical working condition, we build circuit electric field boundary, and analyze electric field distribution of hard circuit. In addition, we also design filtering circuit for main interrupt frequency (below 1 kHz, and we improved PID for direct motor speed which is controlled by PWM (pulse-width modulation to reach speed astatic regulation. At the same time, the system achieves soft start-up.

Extrinsic Parameter Calibration for Line Scanning Cameras on Ground Vehicles with Navigation Systems Using a Calibration Pattern

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Wendel

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Line scanning cameras, which capture only a single line of pixels, have been increasingly used in ground based mobile or robotic platforms. In applications where it is advantageous to directly georeference the camera data to world coordinates, an accurate estimate of the camera’s 6D pose is required. This paper focuses on the common case where a mobile platform is equipped with a rigidly mounted line scanning camera, whose pose is unknown, and a navigation system providing vehicle body pose estimates. We propose a novel method that estimates the camera’s pose relative to the navigation system. The approach involves imaging and manually labelling a calibration pattern with distinctly identifiable points, triangulating these points from camera and navigation system data and reprojecting them in order to compute a likelihood, which is maximised to estimate the 6D camera pose. Additionally, a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC algorithm is used to estimate the uncertainty of the offset. Tested on two different platforms, the method was able to estimate the pose to within 0.06 m/1.05 ∘ and 0.18 m/2.39 ∘ . We also propose several approaches to displaying and interpreting the 6D results in a human readable way.

Oxygen Containment System Options for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Testing

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — All nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) ground testing conducted in the 1950s and 1960s during the ROVER/(Nuclear Engine Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA) program...

Asynchronous vehicle pose correction using visual detection of ground features

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harnarinesingh, Randy E S; Syan, Chanan S

2014-01-01

The inherent noise associated with odometry manifests itself as errors in localization for autonomous vehicles. Visual odometry has been previously used in order to supplement classical vehicle odometry. However, visual odometry is limited in its ability to reduce errors in localization for large travel distances that entail the cumulative summing of individual frame-to-frame image errors. In this paper, a novel machine vision approach for tiled surfaces is proposed to address this problem. Tile edges in a laboratory environment are used to define a travel trajectory for the Quansar Qbot (autonomous vehicle) built on the iRobot iRoomba platform with a forward facing camera. Tile intersections are used to enable asynchronous error recovery for vehicle position and orientation. The proposed approach employs real-time image classification and is feasible for error mitigation for large travel distances. The average position error for an 8m travel distance using classical odometry was measured to be 0.28m. However, implementation of the proposed approach resulted in an error of 0.028m. The proposed approach therefore significantly reduces pose estimation error and could be used to supplement existing modalities such as GPS and Laser-based range sensors

Development of a prototype radiation surveillance equipment for a mid-sized unmanned aerial vehicle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smolander, P.; Kurvinen, K.; Poellaenen, R.; Kettunen, M.; Lyytinen, J.

2003-01-01

A prototype radiation surveillance equipment has been developed to be used in a mid-sized Ranger unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) acquired by the Finnish Defence Forces. A multi-detector assembly was designed for the acquisition of dose rate and radionuclide concentration in the release plume. Detector assembly includes a GM-tube based dose rate meter, an inorganic scintillator detector and a semiconductor detector operating at room temperature. A sampling unit was designed for the collection of an aerosol sample of the plume for a detailed analysis in a ground based laboratory. The measurement data from all three detectors and several environmental parameters are collected by the onboard data acquisition computer. Real-time data dissemination is implemented with a TETRA based radio network. Test flights have been carried out with target drones and a small manned airplane. The Northrop KD2R-5 target drones have been used to simulate the high-G launch and vibration environment of the Ranger aerial vehicle. Target drones have been used because their air vehicle classification allows small test packages to be installed without tedious air safety protocols. Stability and survivability of the detectors, GPS navigation and radio frequency communication have been studied with the target drone test flights. Ground station software was developed to visualise the measurement data and to track the position of the air vehicle on a digital map. Test flights with the small manned airplane have been used to study the operational aspects of the detectors with greater detail. The housing for the instruments has been designed and constructed based on the experiences gained with the test flights and the laboratory measurements. The housing satisfies the aviation authority standards. Special attention has been paid to the high modularity, quick installation and ease of use. (orig.)

Development of a prototype radiation surveillance equipment for a mid-sized unmanned aerial vehicle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smolander, P.; Kurvinen, K.; Poellaenen, R. [Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Helsinki (Finland); Kettunen, M. [Forces Research Institute of Technology, Lakiala (Finland); Lyytinen, J. [Helsinki University of Technology, Laboratory of Lightweight Structures, Otaniemi (Finland)

2003-06-01

A prototype radiation surveillance equipment has been developed to be used in a mid-sized Ranger unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) acquired by the Finnish Defence Forces. A multi-detector assembly was designed for the acquisition of dose rate and radionuclide concentration in the release plume. Detector assembly includes a GM-tube based dose rate meter, an inorganic scintillator detector and a semiconductor detector operating at room temperature. A sampling unit was designed for the collection of an aerosol sample of the plume for a detailed analysis in a ground based laboratory. The measurement data from all three detectors and several environmental parameters are collected by the onboard data acquisition computer. Real-time data dissemination is implemented with a TETRA based radio network. Test flights have been carried out with target drones and a small manned airplane. The Northrop KD2R-5 target drones have been used to simulate the high-G launch and vibration environment of the Ranger aerial vehicle. Target drones have been used because their air vehicle classification allows small test packages to be installed without tedious air safety protocols. Stability and survivability of the detectors, GPS navigation and radio frequency communication have been studied with the target drone test flights. Ground station software was developed to visualise the measurement data and to track the position of the air vehicle on a digital map. Test flights with the small manned airplane have been used to study the operational aspects of the detectors with greater detail. The housing for the instruments has been designed and constructed based on the experiences gained with the test flights and the laboratory measurements. The housing satisfies the aviation authority standards. Special attention has been paid to the high modularity, quick installation and ease of use. (orig.)

Respiration testing for bioventing and biosparging remediation of petroleum contaminated soil and ground water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gray, A.L.; Brown, A.; Moore, B.J.; Payne, R.E.

1996-01-01

Respiration tests were performed to measure the effect of subsurface aeration on the biodegradation rates of petroleum hydrocarbon contamination in vadose zone soils (bioventing) and ground water (biosparging). The aerobic biodegradation of petroleum contamination is typically limited by the absence of oxygen in the soil and ground water. Therefore, the goal of these bioremediation technologies is to increase the oxygen concentration in the subsurface and thereby enhance the natural aerobic biodegradation of the organic contamination. One case study for biosparging bioremediation testing is presented. At this site atmospheric air was injected into the ground water to increase the dissolved oxygen concentration in the ground water surrounding a well, and to aerate the smear zone above the ground water table. Aeration flow rates of 3 to 8 cfm (0.09 to 0.23 m 3 /min) were sufficient to increase the dissolved oxygen concentration. Petroleum hydrocarbon biodegradation rates of 32 to 47 microg/l/hour were calculated based on measurements of dissolved oxygen concentration in ground water. The results of this test have demonstrated that biosparging enhances the biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons, but the results as they apply to remediation are not known. Two case studies for bioventing respiration testing are presented

Design, fabrication and test of a liquid hydrogen titanium honeycomb cryogenic test tank for use as a reusable launch vehicle main propellant tank

Science.gov (United States)

Stickler, Patrick B.; Keller, Peter C.

1998-01-01

Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLV's) utilizing LOX\\LH2 as the propellant require lightweight durable structural systems to meet mass fraction goals and to reduce overall systems operating costs. Titanium honeycomb sandwich with flexible blanket TPS on the windward surface is potentially the lightest-weight and most operable option. Light weight is achieved in part because the honeycomb sandwich tank provides insulation to its liquid hydrogen contents, with no need for separate cryogenic insulation, and in part because the high use temperature of titanium honeycomb reduces the required surface area of re-entry thermal protection systems. System operability is increased because TPS needs to be applied only to surfaces where temperatures exceed approximately 650 K. In order to demonstrate the viability of a titanium sandwich constructed propellant tank, a technology demonstration program was conducted including the design, fabrication and testing of a propellant tank-TPS system. The tank was tested in controlled as well as ambient environments representing ground hold conditions for a RLV main propellant tank. Data collected during each test run was used to validate predictions for air liquefaction, outside wall temperature, boil-off rates, frost buildup and its insulation effects, and the effects of placing a thermal protection system blanket on the external surface. Test results indicated that titanium honeycomb, when used as a RLV propellant tank material, has great promise as a light-weight structural system.

Human-robot interaction modeling and simulation of supervisory control and situational awareness during field experimentation with military manned and unmanned ground vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Tony; Metcalfe, Jason; Brewster, Benjamin; Manteuffel, Christopher; Jaswa, Matthew; Tierney, Terrance

2010-04-01

The proliferation of intelligent systems in today's military demands increased focus on the optimization of human-robot interactions. Traditional studies in this domain involve large-scale field tests that require humans to operate semiautomated systems under varying conditions within military-relevant scenarios. However, provided that adequate constraints are employed, modeling and simulation can be a cost-effective alternative and supplement. The current presentation discusses a simulation effort that was executed in parallel with a field test with Soldiers operating military vehicles in an environment that represented key elements of the true operational context. In this study, "constructive" human operators were designed to represent average Soldiers executing supervisory control over an intelligent ground system. The constructive Soldiers were simulated performing the same tasks as those performed by real Soldiers during a directly analogous field test. Exercising the models in a high-fidelity virtual environment provided predictive results that represented actual performance in certain aspects, such as situational awareness, but diverged in others. These findings largely reflected the quality of modeling assumptions used to design behaviors and the quality of information available on which to articulate principles of operation. Ultimately, predictive analyses partially supported expectations, with deficiencies explicable via Soldier surveys, experimenter observations, and previously-identified knowledge gaps.

Cryogenic actuator testing for the SAFARI ground calibration setup

Science.gov (United States)

de Jonge, C.; Eggens, M.; Nieuwenhuizen, A. C. T.; Detrain, A.; Smit, H.; Dieleman, P.

2012-09-01

For the on-ground calibration setup of the SAFARI instrument cryogenic mechanisms are being developed at SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, including a filter wheel, XYZ-scanner and a flipmirror mechanism. Due to the extremely low background radiation requirement of the SAFARI instrument, all of these mechanisms will have to perform their work at 4.5 Kelvin and low-dissipative cryogenic actuators are required to drive these mechanisms. In this paper, the performance of stepper motors, piezoelectric actuators and brushless DC-motors as cryogenic actuators are compared. We tested stepper motor mechanical performance and electrical dissipation at 4K. The actuator requirements, test setup and test results are presented. Furthermore, design considerations and early performance tests of the flipmirror mechanism are discussed. This flipmirror features a 102 x 72 mm aluminum mirror that can be rotated 45°. A Phytron stepper motor with reduction gearbox has been chosen to drive the flipmirror. Testing showed that this motor has a dissipation of 49mW at 4K with a torque of 60Nmm at 100rpm. Thermal modeling of the flipmirror mechanism predicts that with proper thermal strapping the peak temperature of the flipmirror after a single action will be within the background level requirements of the SAFARI instrument. Early tests confirm this result. For low-duty cycle operations commercial stepper motors appear suitable as actuators for test equipment in the SAFARI on ground calibration setup.

Obstacle detection system for underground mining vehicles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cohen, P.; Polotski, V.; Piotte, M.; Melamed, F. [Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Montreal, PQ (Canada)

1998-01-01

A device for detecting obstacles by autonomous vehicles navigating in mine drifts is described. The device is based upon structured lighting and the extraction of relevant features from images of obstacles. The system uses image profile changes, ground and wall irregularities, disturbances of the vehicle`s trajectory, and impaired visibility to detect obstacles, rather than explicit three-dimensional scene reconstruction. 7 refs., 5 figs.

Probabilistic model of bridge vehicle loads in port area based on in-situ load testing

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Ming; Wang, Lei; Zhang, Jianren; Wang, Rei; Yan, Yanhong

2017-11-01

Vehicle load is an important factor affecting the safety and usability of bridges. An statistical analysis is carried out in this paper to investigate the vehicle load data of Tianjin Haibin highway in Tianjin port of China, which are collected by the Weigh-in- Motion (WIM) system. Following this, the effect of the vehicle load on test bridge is calculated, and then compared with the calculation result according to HL-93(AASHTO LRFD). Results show that the overall vehicle load follows a distribution with a weighted sum of four normal distributions. The maximum vehicle load during the design reference period follows a type I extremum distribution. The vehicle load effect also follows a weighted sum of four normal distributions, and the standard value of the vehicle load is recommended as 1.8 times that of the calculated value according to HL-93.

14 CFR 415.117 - Ground safety.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Ground safety. 415.117 Section 415.117... TRANSPORTATION LICENSING LAUNCH LICENSE Safety Review and Approval for Launch of an Expendable Launch Vehicle From a Non-Federal Launch Site § 415.117 Ground safety. (a) General. An applicant's safety review...

Steady-state and dynamic evaluation of the electric propulsion system test bed vehicle on a road load simulator

Science.gov (United States)

Dustin, M. O.

1983-01-01

The propulsion system of the Lewis Research Center's electric propulsion system test bed vehicle was tested on the road load simulator under the DOE Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Program. This propulsion system, consisting of a series-wound dc motor controlled by an infinitely variable SCR chopper and an 84-V battery pack, is typical of those used in electric vehicles made in 1976. Steady-state tests were conducted over a wide range of differential output torques and vehicle speeds. Efficiencies of all of the components were determined. Effects of temperature and voltage variations on the motor and the effect of voltage changes on the controller were examined. Energy consumption and energy efficiency for the system were determined over the B and C driving schedules of the SAE J227a test procedure.

Forced vibration tests of a model foundation on rock ground

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kisaki, N.; Siota, M.; Yamada, M.; Ikeda, A.; Tsuchiya, H.; Kitazawa, K.; Kuwabara, Y.; Ogiwara, Y.

1983-01-01

The response of very stiff structures, such as nuclear reactor buildings, to earthquake ground motion is significantly affected by radiation damping due to the soil-structure interaction. The radiation damping can be computed by vibration admittance theory or dynamical ground compliance theory. In order to apply the values derived from these theories to the practical problems, comparative studies between theoretical results and experimental results concerning the soil-structure interaction, especially if the ground is rock, are urgently needed. However, experimental results for rock are less easily obtained than theoretical ones. The purpose of this paper is to describe the harmonic excitation tests of a model foundation on rock and to describe the results of comparative studies. (orig./HP)

2014 ITS World Congress Connected Vehicle Test Bed Demonstration Traveler Situation Data

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Transportation — During the 2014 ITS World Congress a demonstration of the connected vehicle infrastructure in the City of Detroit was conducted. The test site included approximately...

2014 ITS World Congress Connected Vehicle Test Bed Demonstration Intersection Situation Data

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Transportation — During the 2014 ITS World Congress a demonstration of the connected vehicle infrastructure in the City of Detroit was conducted. The test site included approximately...

Experimental Validation of the Dynamic Inertia Measurement Method to Find the Mass Properties of an Iron Bird Test Article

Science.gov (United States)

Chin, Alexander W.; Herrera, Claudia Y.; Spivey, Natalie D.; Fladung, William A.; Cloutier, David

2015-01-01

The mass properties of an aerospace vehicle are required by multiple disciplines in the analysis and prediction of flight behavior. Pendulum oscillation methods have been developed and employed for almost a century as a means to measure mass properties. However, these oscillation methods are costly, time consuming, and risky. The NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center has been investigating the Dynamic Inertia Measurement, or DIM method as a possible alternative to oscillation methods. The DIM method uses ground test techniques that are already applied to aerospace vehicles when conducting modal surveys. Ground vibration tests would require minimal additional instrumentation and time to apply the DIM method. The DIM method has been validated on smaller test articles, but has not yet been fully proven on large aerospace vehicles.

Effects of vehicle front-end stiffness on rear seat dummies in NCAP and FMVSS208 tests.

Science.gov (United States)

Sahraei, Elham; Digges, Kennerly; Marzougui, Dhafer

2013-01-01

This study is devoted to quantifying changes in mass and stiffness of vehicles tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) over the past 3 decades (model years 1982 to 2010) and understanding the effect of those changes on protection of rear seat occupants. A total of 1179 tests were used, and the changes in their mass and stiffness versus their model year was quantified. Additionally, data from 439 dummies tested in rear seats of NHTSA's full frontal crashes were analyzed. Dummies were divided into 3 groups based on their reference injury criteria. Multiple regressions were performed with speed, stiffness, and mass as predicting variables for head, neck, and chest injury criteria. A significant increase in mass and stiffness over model year of vehicles was observed, for passenger cars as well as large platform vehicles. The result showed a significant correlation (P-value < .05) between the increase in stiffness of the vehicles and increase in head and chest injury criteria for all dummy sizes. These results explain that stiffness is a significant contributor to previously reported decreases in protection of rear seat occupants over model years of vehicles.

Crash test rating and likelihood of major thoracoabdominal injury in motor vehicle crashes: the new car assessment program side-impact crash test, 1998-2010.

Science.gov (United States)

Figler, Bradley D; Mack, Christopher D; Kaufman, Robert; Wessells, Hunter; Bulger, Eileen; Smith, Thomas G; Voelzke, Bryan

2014-03-01

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) implemented side-impact crash testing on all new vehicles since 1998 to assess the likelihood of major thoracoabdominal injuries during a side-impact crash. Higher crash test rating is intended to indicate a safer car, but the real-world applicability of these ratings is unknown. Our objective was to determine the relationship between a vehicle's NCAP side-impact crash test rating and the risk of major thoracoabdominal injury among the vehicle's occupants in real-world side-impact motor vehicle crashes. The National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System contains detailed crash and injury data in a sample of major crashes in the United States. For model years 1998 to 2010 and crash years 1999 to 2010, 68,124 occupants were identified in the Crashworthiness Data System database. Because 47% of cases were missing crash severity (ΔV), multiple imputation was used to estimate the missing values. The primary predictor of interest was the occupant vehicle's NCAP side-impact crash test rating, and the outcome of interest was the presence of major (Abbreviated Injury Scale [AIS] score ≥ 3) thoracoabdominal injury. In multivariate analysis, increasing NCAP crash test rating was associated with lower likelihood of major thoracoabdominal injury at high (odds ratio [OR], 0.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.7-0.9; p NCAP side-impact crash test rating is associated with a lower likelihood of major thoracoabdominal trauma. Epidemiologic study, level III.

Road-Following Formation Control of Autonomous Ground Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Ono, Masahiro; Droge, Greg; Grip, Havard; Toupet, Olivier; Scrapper, Chris; Rahmani, Amir

2015-01-01

This work presents a novel cooperative path planning for formation keeping robots traversing along a road with obstacles and possible narrow passages. A unique challenge in this problem is a requirement for spatial and temporal coordination between vehicles while ensuring collision and obstacle avoidance.

Space vehicle field unit and ground station system

Science.gov (United States)

Judd, Stephen; Dallmann, Nicholas; Delapp, Jerry; Proicou, Michael; Seitz, Daniel; Michel, John; Enemark, Donald

2017-09-19

A field unit and ground station may use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and share a common architecture, where differences in functionality are governed by software. The field units and ground stations may be easy to deploy, relatively inexpensive, and be relatively easy to operate. A novel file system may be used where datagrams of a file may be stored across multiple drives and/or devices. The datagrams may be received out of order and reassembled at the receiving device.

AWARE: Platform for Autonomous self-deploying and operation of Wireless sensor-actuator networks cooperating with unmanned AeRial vehiclEs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ollero, Anibal; Bernard, Markus; La Civita, Marco; van Hoesel, L.F.W.; Marron, Pedro J.; Lepley, Jason; de Andres, Eduardo

This paper presents the AWARE platform that seeks to enable the cooperation of autonomous aerial vehicles with ground wireless sensor-actuator networks comprising both static and mobile nodes carried by vehicles or people. Particularly, the paper presents the middleware, the wireless sensor network,

Canadian high speed magnetically levitated vehicle system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Atherton, D L [Queen' s Univ., Kingston, Ont.; Belanger, P R; Burke, P E; Dawson, G E; Eastham, A R; Hayes, W F; Ooi, B T; Silvester, P; Slemon, G R

1978-04-01

A technically feasible high speed (400 to 480 km/h) guided ground transportation system, based on the use of the vehicle-borne superconducting magnets for electrodynamic suspension and guidance and for linear synchronous motor propulsion was defined as a future modal option for Canadian application. Analysis and design proposals were validated by large-scale tests on a rotating wheel facility and by modelling system components and their interactions. Thirty ton vehicles carrying 100 passengers operate over a flat-topped elevated guideway, which minimizes system down-time due to ice and snow accumulation and facilitates the design of turn-outs. A clearance of up to 15 cm is produced by the electrodynamic interaction between the vehicle-borne superconducting magnets and aluminum guideway strips. Propulsion and automatic system control is provided by the superconducting linear synchronous motor which operates at good efficiency (0.74) and high power factor (0.95). The vehicle is guided primarily by the interaction between the LSM field magnet array and flat null-flux loops overlying the stator windings in the guideway. The linear synchronous motor, electrodynamic suspension as well as levitation strip joints, parasitic LSM winding losses and limitations to the use of ferromagnetic guideway reinforcement were investigated experimentally on the test wheel facility. The use of a secondary suspension assures adequate dynamic stability, and good ride quality is achieved by optimized passive components with respect to lateral modes and by an actively controlled secondary suspension with respect to vertical motion.

Experimental Investigation of Brazilian 14-X B Hypersonic Scramjet Aerospace Vehicle

OpenAIRE

de Araujo Martos, João Felipe; da Silveira Rêgo, Israel; Pachon Laiton, Sergio Nicholas; Lima, Bruno Coelho; Costa, Felipe Jean; de Paula Toro, Paulo Gilberto

2017-01-01

The Brazilian hypersonic scramjet aerospace vehicle 14-X B is a technological demonstrator of a hypersonic airbreathing propulsion system based on the supersonic combustion (scramjet) to be tested in flight into the Earth’s atmosphere at an altitude of 30 km and Mach number 7. The 14-X B has been designed at the Prof. Henry T. Nagamatsu Laboratory of Aerothermodynamics and Hypersonics, Institute for Advanced Studies (IEAv), Brazil. The IEAv T3 Hypersonic Shock Tunnel is a ground-test facility...

40 CFR 80.583 - What alternative sampling and testing requirements apply to importers who transport motor vehicle...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... requirements apply to importers who transport motor vehicle diesel fuel, NRLM diesel fuel, or ECA marine fuel... (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) REGULATION OF FUELS AND FUEL ADDITIVES Motor Vehicle Diesel Fuel... alternative sampling and testing requirements apply to importers who transport motor vehicle diesel fuel, NRLM...

Thermal Protection Test Bed Pathfinder Development Project

Science.gov (United States)

Snapp, Cooper

2015-01-01

In order to increase thermal protection capabilities for future reentry vehicles, a method to obtain relevant test data is required. Although arc jet testing can be used to obtain some data on materials, the best method to obtain these data is to actually expose them to an atmospheric reentry. The overprediction of the Orion EFT-1 flight data is an example of how the ground test to flight traceability is not fully understood. The RED-Data small reentry capsule developed by Terminal Velocity Aerospace is critical to understanding this traceability. In order to begin to utilize this technology, ES3 needs to be ready to build and integrate heat shields onto the RED-Data vehicle. Using a heritage Shuttle tile material for the heat shield will both allow valuable insight into the environment that the RED-Data vehicle can provide and give ES3 the knowledge and capability to build and integrate future heat shields for this vehicle.

Component design challenges for the ground-based SP-100 nuclear assembly test

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Markley, R.A.; Disney, R.K.; Brown, G.B.

1989-01-01

The SP-100 ground engineering system (GES) program involves a ground test of the nuclear subsystems to demonstrate their design. The GES nuclear assembly test (NAT) will be performed in a simulated space environment within a vessel maintained at ultrahigh vacuum. The NAT employs a radiation shielding system that is comprised of both prototypical and nonprototypical shield subsystems to attenuate the reactor radiation leakage and also nonprototypical heat transport subsystems to remove the heat generated by the reactor. The reactor is cooled by liquid lithium, which will operate at temperatures prototypical of the flight system. In designing the components for these systems, a number of design challenges were encountered in meeting the operational requirements of the simulated space environment (and where necessary, prototypical requirements) while also accommodating the restrictions of a ground-based test facility with its limited available space. This paper presents a discussion of the design challenges associated with the radiation shield subsystem components and key components of the heat transport systems

Baseline tests of the C. H. Waterman Renault 5 electric passenger vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Sargent, N. B.; Mcbrien, E. F.; Slavick, R. J.

1977-01-01

The Waterman vehicle, a four passenger Renault 5 GTL, performance test results are presented and characterized the state-of-the-art of electric vehicles. It was powered by sixteen 6-volt traction batteries through a two-step contactor controller actuated by a foot throttle to change the voltage applied to the 6.7 -kilowatt motor. The motor output shaft was connected to a front-wheel-drive transaxle that contains a four-speed manual transmission and clutch. The braking system was a conventional hydraulic braking system.

Demonstration of the Military Ecological Risk Assessment Framework (MERAF): Apache Longbow - Hell Missile Test at Yuma Proving Ground

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Efroymson, R.A.

2002-05-09

This ecological risk assessment for a testing program at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, is a demonstration of the Military Ecological Risk Assessment Framework (MERAF; Suter et al. 2001). The demonstration is intended to illustrate how risk assessment guidance concerning-generic military training and testing activities and guidance concerning a specific type of activity (e.g., low-altitude aircraft overflights) may be implemented at a military installation. MERAF was developed with funding from the Strategic Research and Development Program (SERDP) of the Department of Defense. Novel aspects of MERAF include: (1) the assessment of risks from physical stressors using an ecological risk assessment framework, (2) the consideration of contingent or indirect effects of stressors (e.g., population-level effects that are derived from habitat or hydrological changes), (3) the integration of risks associated with different component activities or stressors, (4) the emphasis on quantitative risk estimates and estimates of uncertainty, and (5) the modularity of design, permitting components of the framework to be used in various military risk assessments that include similar activities. The particular subject of this report is the assessment of ecological risks associated with a testing program at Cibola Range of Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona. The program involves an Apache Longbow helicopter firing Hellfire missiles at moving targets, i.e., M60-A1 tanks. Thus, the three component activities of the Apache-Hellfire test were: (1) helicopter overflight, (2) missile firing, and (3) tracked vehicle movement. The demonstration was limited, to two ecological endpoint entities (i.e., potentially susceptible and valued populations or communities): woody desert wash communities and mule deer populations. The core assessment area is composed of about 126 km{sup 2} between the Chocolate and Middle Mountains. The core time of the program is a three-week period, including fourteen days of

Demonstration of the Military Ecological Risk Assessment Framework (MERAF): Apache Longbow - Hell Missile Test at Yuma Proving Ground

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Efroymson, R.A.

2002-01-01

This ecological risk assessment for a testing program at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, is a demonstration of the Military Ecological Risk Assessment Framework (MERAF; Suter et al. 2001). The demonstration is intended to illustrate how risk assessment guidance concerning-generic military training and testing activities and guidance concerning a specific type of activity (e.g., low-altitude aircraft overflights) may be implemented at a military installation. MERAF was developed with funding from the Strategic Research and Development Program (SERDP) of the Department of Defense. Novel aspects of MERAF include: (1) the assessment of risks from physical stressors using an ecological risk assessment framework, (2) the consideration of contingent or indirect effects of stressors (e.g., population-level effects that are derived from habitat or hydrological changes), (3) the integration of risks associated with different component activities or stressors, (4) the emphasis on quantitative risk estimates and estimates of uncertainty, and (5) the modularity of design, permitting components of the framework to be used in various military risk assessments that include similar activities. The particular subject of this report is the assessment of ecological risks associated with a testing program at Cibola Range of Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona. The program involves an Apache Longbow helicopter firing Hellfire missiles at moving targets, i.e., M60-A1 tanks. Thus, the three component activities of the Apache-Hellfire test were: (1) helicopter overflight, (2) missile firing, and (3) tracked vehicle movement. The demonstration was limited, to two ecological endpoint entities (i.e., potentially susceptible and valued populations or communities): woody desert wash communities and mule deer populations. The core assessment area is composed of about 126 km 2 between the Chocolate and Middle Mountains. The core time of the program is a three-week period, including fourteen days of

Design of an urban driverless ground vehicle

OpenAIRE

Benenson , Rodrigo; Parent , Michel ,

2008-01-01

International audience; This paper presents the design and implementation of a driverless car for populated urban environments. We propose a system that explicitly map the static obstacles, detects and track the moving obstacle, consider the unobserved areas, provide a motion plan with safety guarantees and executes it. All of it was implemented and integrated into a single computer maneuvering on real time an electric vehicle into an unvisited area with moving obstacles. The overview of the ...

Task and Motion Planning for Selective Weed Conrol using a Team of Autonomous Vehicles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hameed, Ibrahim; la Cour-Harbo, Anders; Hansen, Karl Damkjær

2014-01-01

with the right amount. In this article, a task and motion planning for a team of autonomous vehicles to reduce chemicals in farming is presented. Field data are collected by small unmanned helicopters equipped with a range of sensors, including multispectral and thermal cameras. Data collected are transmitted...... to a ground station to be analyzed and triggers aerial and ground-based vehicles to start close inspection and/or plant/weed treatment in specified areas. A complete trajectory is generated to enable ground-based vehicle to visit infested areas and start chemical/mechanical weed treatment....

Bridge Testing With Ground-Based Interferometric Radar: Experimental Results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chiara, P.; Morelli, A.

2010-01-01

The research of innovative non-contact techniques aimed at the vibration measurement of civil engineering structures (also for damage detection and structural health monitoring) is continuously directed to the optimization of measures and methods. Ground-Based Radar Interferometry (GBRI) represents the more recent technique available for static and dynamic control of structures and ground movements.Dynamic testing of bridges and buildings in operational conditions are currently performed: (a) to assess the conformity of the structure to the project design at the end of construction; (b) to identify the modal parameters (i.e. natural frequencies, mode shapes and damping ratios) and to check the variation of any modal parameters over the years; (c) to evaluate the amplitude of the structural response to special load conditions (i.e. strong winds, earthquakes, heavy railway or roadway loads). If such tests are carried out by using a non-contact technique (like GBRI), the classical issues of contact sensors (like accelerometers) are easily overtaken.This paper presents and discusses the results of various tests carried out on full-scale bridges by using a Stepped Frequency-Continuous Wave radar system.

Bridge Testing With Ground-Based Interferometric Radar: Experimental Results

Science.gov (United States)

Chiara, P.; Morelli, A.

2010-05-01

The research of innovative non-contact techniques aimed at the vibration measurement of civil engineering structures (also for damage detection and structural health monitoring) is continuously directed to the optimization of measures and methods. Ground-Based Radar Interferometry (GBRI) represents the more recent technique available for static and dynamic control of structures and ground movements. Dynamic testing of bridges and buildings in operational conditions are currently performed: (a) to assess the conformity of the structure to the project design at the end of construction; (b) to identify the modal parameters (i.e. natural frequencies, mode shapes and damping ratios) and to check the variation of any modal parameters over the years; (c) to evaluate the amplitude of the structural response to special load conditions (i.e. strong winds, earthquakes, heavy railway or roadway loads). If such tests are carried out by using a non-contact technique (like GBRI), the classical issues of contact sensors (like accelerometers) are easily overtaken. This paper presents and discusses the results of various tests carried out on full-scale bridges by using a Stepped Frequency-Continuous Wave radar system.

Exploring Modeling Options and Conversion of Average Response to Appropriate Vibration Envelopes for a Typical Cylindrical Vehicle Panel with Rib-stiffened Design

Science.gov (United States)

Harrison, Phil; LaVerde, Bruce; Teague, David

2009-01-01

Although applications for Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) techniques are more widely used in the aerospace industry today, opportunities to anchor the response predictions using measured data from a flight-like launch vehicle structure are still quite valuable. Response and excitation data from a ground acoustic test at the Marshall Space Flight Center permitted the authors to compare and evaluate several modeling techniques available in the SEA module of the commercial code VA One. This paper provides an example of vibration response estimates developed using different modeling approaches to both approximate and bound the response of a flight-like vehicle panel. Since both vibration response and acoustic levels near the panel were available from the ground test, the evaluation provided an opportunity to learn how well the different modeling options can match band-averaged spectra developed from the test data. Additional work was performed to understand the spatial averaging of the measurements across the panel from measured data. Finally an evaluation/comparison of two conversion approaches from the statistical average response results that are output from an SEA analysis to a more useful envelope of response spectra appropriate to specify design and test vibration levels for a new vehicle.

Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project - N+2 Advanced Vehicle Concepts Study and Conceptual Design of Subscale Test Vehicle (STV) Final Report

Science.gov (United States)

Bonet, John T.; Schellenger, Harvey G.; Rawdon, Blaine K.; Elmer, Kevin R.; Wakayama, Sean R.; Brown, Derrell L.; Guo, Yueping

2011-01-01

NASA has set demanding goals for technology developments to meet national needs to improve fuel efficiency concurrent with improving the environment to enable air transportation growth. A figure shows NASA's subsonic transport system metrics. The results of Boeing ERA N+2 Advanced Vehicle Concept Study show that the Blended Wing Body (BWB) vehicle, with ultra high bypass propulsion systems have the potential to meet the combined NASA ERA N+2 goals. This study had 3 main activities. 1) The development of an advanced vehicle concepts that can meet the NASA system level metrics. 2) Identification of key enabling technologies and the development of technology roadmaps and maturation plans. 3) The development of a subscale test vehicle that can demonstrate and mature the key enabling technologies needed to meet the NASA system level metrics. Technology maturation plans are presented and include key performance parameters and technical performance measures. The plans describe the risks that will be reduced with technology development and the expected progression of technical maturity.

Hyper-X Research Vehicle - Artist Concept in Flight

Science.gov (United States)

1997-01-01

An artist's conception of the X-43A Hypersonic Experimental Vehicle, or 'Hyper-X' in flight. The X-43A was developed to flight test a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet propulsion system at speeds from Mach 7 up to Mach 10 (7 to 10 times the speed of sound, which varies with temperature and altitude). Hyper-X, the flight vehicle for which is designated as X-43A, is an experimental flight-research program seeking to demonstrate airframe-integrated, 'air-breathing' engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity for future vehicles, including hypersonic aircraft (faster than Mach 5) and reusable space launchers. This multiyear program is currently underway at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The Hyper-X schedule calls for its first flight later this year (2000). Hyper-X is a joint program, with Dryden sharing responsibility with NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. Dryden's primary role is to fly three unpiloted X-43A research vehicles to validate engine technologies and hypersonic design tools as well as the hypersonic test facility at Langley. Langley manages the program and leads the technology development effort. The Hyper-X Program seeks to significantly expand the speed boundaries of air-breathing propulsion by being the first aircraft to demonstrate an airframe-integrated, scramjet-powered free flight. Scramjets (supersonic-combustion ramjets) are ramjet engines in which the airflow through the whole engine remains supersonic. Scramjet technology is challenging because only limited testing can be performed in ground facilities. Long duration, full-scale testing requires flight research. Scramjet engines are air-breathing, capturing their oxygen from the atmosphere. Current spacecraft, such as the Space Shuttle, are rocket powered, so they must carry both fuel and oxygen for propulsion. Scramjet technology-based vehicles need to carry only fuel. By eliminating the need to carry oxygen, future hypersonic vehicles will

Simulation of an electric vehicle model on the new WLTC test cycle using AVL CRUISE software

Science.gov (United States)

Cristian Cioroianu, Constantin; Marinescu, Dănuţ Gabriel; Iorga, Adrian; Răzvan Sibiceanu, Adrian

2017-10-01

Nowadays, environmental pollution has become a general issue and the automotive industry is probably the most affected. The principal air-quality pollutant emissions from petrol, diesel and LPG engines are carbon dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, un-burnt hydrocarbons. Modern cars produce only quite small quantities of the air quality pollutants, but the emissions from large numbers of cars add to a significant air quality problem. Electric vehicles are an answer to this problem because they have absolutely no emissions. These vehicles have some major disadvantages regarding cost and range. In this paper, an electric vehicle model will be created in the AVL Cruise software. The constructed model is based on the existing Dacia Sandero. Also unlike the real car, the model presented has different characteristics since it is a full electric vehicle. It has an electric motor instead of the petrol engine and a battery pack placed in the trunk. The model will be simulated in order to obtain data regarding vehicle performance, energy consumption and range on the new WLTC test cycle. The obtained know-how will help on later improvements of the electric model regarding methods to increase the vehicle range on the new WLTC test cycle.

Ground test program for a full-size solar dynamic heat receiver

Science.gov (United States)

Sedgwick, L. M.; Kaufmann, K. J.; Mclallin, K. L.; Kerslake, T. W.

1991-01-01

Test hardware, facilities, and procedures were developed to conduct ground testing of a full-size, solar dynamic heat receiver in a partially simulated, low earth orbit environment. The heat receiver was designed to supply 102 kW of thermal energy to a helium and xenon gas mixture continuously over a 94 minute orbit, including up to 36 minutes of eclipse. The purpose of the test program was to quantify the receiver thermodynamic performance, its operating temperatures, and thermal response to changes in environmental and power module interface boundary conditions. The heat receiver was tested in a vacuum chamber using liquid nitrogen cold shrouds and an aperture cold plate. Special test equipment was designed to provide the required ranges in interface boundary conditions that typify those expected or required for operation as part of the solar dynamic power module on the Space Station Freedom. The support hardware includes an infrared quartz lamp heater with 30 independently controllable zones and a closed-Brayton cycle engine simulator to circulate and condition the helium-xenon gas mixture. The test article, test support hardware, facilities, and instrumentation developed to conduct the ground test program are all described.

Variations in radon-222 in soil and ground water at the Nevada Test Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wollenberg, H.; Straume, T.; Smith, A.; King, C.Y.

1977-01-01

To help evaluate the applicability of variations of radon-222 in ground water and soil gas as a possible earthquake predictor, measurements were conducted in conjunction with underground explosions at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). Radon fluctuations in ground water have been observed during a sequence of aftershocks following the Oroville, California earthquake of 1 August 1975. The NTS measurements were designed to show if these fluctuations were in response to ground shaking; if not, they could be attributed to changes in earth strain prior to the aftershocks. Well waters were periodically sampled and soil-gas 222 Rn monitored prior to and following seven underground explosions of varying strength and distance from sampling and detector locations. Soil-gas 222 Rn contents were measured by the alpha-track method; well water 222 Rn by gamma-ray spectrometry. There was no clearly identifiable correlation between well-water radon fluctuations and individual underground tests. One prominent variation in soil-gas radon corresponded to ground shaking from a pair of underground tests in alluvium; otherwise, there was no apparent correlation between radon emanation and other explosions. Markedly lower soil-gas radon contents following the tests were probably caused by consolidation of alluvium in response to ground shaking

Thermophysical and Optical Properties of Materials Considered for Use on the LDSD Test Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Redmond, Matthew; Mastropietro, A.J.

2015-01-01

In June 2014, the first of multiple flights in the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) technology development program took place and successfully demonstrated a Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (SIAD) in Mars-like conditions. Although the primary goal of the technology program was the development of new decelerators for landing heavier payloads on Mars, the low-cost thermal design of the test vehicle was only possible through the innovative use of a combination of both commercial off the shelf (COTS) and aerospace grade materials. As a result, numerous thermophysical and optical property measurements were undertaken to characterize material candidates before the final material selection was made. This paper presents thermophysical and optical property measurements performed over the course of the LDSD test vehicle development, including those not ultimately selected for use on the vehicle. These properties are compared and contrasted with the existing measurements available in previous literature.

GES [Ground Engineering System] test site preparation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cox, C.M.; Mahaffey, M.K.; Miller, W.C.; Schade, A.R.; Toyoda, K.G.

1987-10-01

Activities are under way at Hanford to convert the 309 containment building and its associated service wing to a nuclear test facility for the Ground Engineering System (GES) test. Conceptual design is about 80% complete, encompassing facility modifications, a secondary heat transport system, a large vacuum system, a test article cell and handing system, control and data handling systems, and safety andl auxiliary systems. The design makes extensive use of existing equipment to minimize technical risk and cost. Refurbishment of this equipment is 25% complete. Cleanout of some 1000 m 3 of equipment from the earlier reactor test in the facility is 85% complete. An Environmental Assessment was prepared and revised to incorporate Department of Energy (DOE) comments. It is now in the DOE approval chain, where a Finding of No Significant Impact is expected. During the next year, definite design will be well advanced, long-lead procurements will be initiated, construction planning will be completed, an operator training plan will be prepared, and the site (preliminary) safety analysis report will be drafted

An equivalent ground thermal test method for single-phase fluid loop space radiator

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xianwen Ning

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Thermal vacuum test is widely used for the ground validation of spacecraft thermal control system. However, the conduction and convection can be simulated in normal ground pressure environment completely. By the employment of pumped fluid loops’ thermal control technology on spacecraft, conduction and convection become the main heat transfer behavior between radiator and inside cabin. As long as the heat transfer behavior between radiator and outer space can be equivalently simulated in normal pressure, the thermal vacuum test can be substituted by the normal ground pressure thermal test. In this paper, an equivalent normal pressure thermal test method for the spacecraft single-phase fluid loop radiator is proposed. The heat radiation between radiator and outer space has been equivalently simulated by combination of a group of refrigerators and thermal electrical cooler (TEC array. By adjusting the heat rejection of each device, the relationship between heat flux and surface temperature of the radiator can be maintained. To verify this method, a validating system has been built up and the experiments have been carried out. The results indicate that the proposed equivalent ground thermal test method can simulate the heat rejection performance of radiator correctly and the temperature error between in-orbit theory value and experiment result of the radiator is less than 0.5 °C, except for the equipment startup period. This provides a potential method for the thermal test of space systems especially for extra-large spacecraft which employs single-phase fluid loop radiator as thermal control approach.

Ground-based self-gravity tests for LISA Pathfinder and LISA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trenkel, C; Warren, C; Wealthy, D

2009-01-01

Gravitational coupling between the free-falling test masses and the surrounding spacecraft is one of the dominant noise sources for both LISA Pathfinder and LISA. At present, there are no plans to verify any of the self-gravity requirements by test, on the ground. Here, we explore the possibilities of conducting such tests, using a customised torsion balance. We discuss the main sources of systematic and statistical uncertainty present in such a set-up. Our preliminary assessment indicates that the sensitivity is sufficient to carry out meaningful self-gravity tests.

Impact Foam Testing for Multi-Mission Earth Entry Vehicle Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Glaab, Louis J.; Agrawal, Paul; Hawbaker, James

2013-01-01

Multi-Mission Earth Entry Vehicles (MMEEVs) are blunt-body vehicles designed with the purpose of transporting payloads from outer space to the surface of the Earth. To achieve high-reliability and minimum weight, MMEEVs avoid use of limited-reliability systems, such as parachutes and retro-rockets, instead using built-in impact attenuators to absorb energy remaining at impact to meet landing loads requirements. The Multi-Mission Systems Analysis for Planetary Entry (M-SAPE) parametric design tool is used to facilitate the design of MMEEVs and develop the trade space. Testing was conducted to characterize the material properties of several candidate impact foam attenuators to enhance M-SAPE analysis. In the current effort, two different Rohacell foams were tested to determine their thermal conductivity in support of MMEEV design applications. These applications include thermal insulation during atmospheric entry, impact attenuation, and post-impact thermal insulation in support of thermal soak analysis. Results indicate that for these closed-cell foams, the effect of impact is limited on thermal conductivity due to the venting of the virgin material gas and subsequent ambient air replacement. Results also indicate that the effect of foam temperature is significant compared to data suggested by manufacturer's specifications.

Relationship between pedestrian headform tests and injury and fatality rates in vehicle-to-pedestrian crashes in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Mueller, Becky; Farmer, Charles; Jermakian, Jessica; Zuby, David

2013-11-01

Pedestrian protection evaluations have been developed to encourage vehicle front-end designs that mitigate the consequences of vehicle-to-pedestrian crashes. The European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP) evaluates pedestrian head protection with impacts against vehicle hood, windshield, and A-pillars. The Global Technical Regulation No. 9 (GTR 9), being evaluated for U.S. regulation, limits head protection evaluations to impacts against vehicle hoods. The objective of this study was to compare results from pedestrian head impact testing to the real-world rates of fatal and incapacitating injuries in U.S. pedestrian crashes. Data from police reported pedestrian crashes in 14 states were used to calculate real-world fatal and in- capacitating injury rates for seven 2002-07 small cars. Rates were 2.17-4.04 per 100 pedestrians struck for fatal injuries and 10.45-15.35 for incapacitating injuries. Euro NCAP style pedestrian headform tests were conducted against windshield, A-pillar, and hoods of the study vehicles. When compared with pedestrian injury rates, the vehicles' Euro NCAP scores, ranging 5-10 points, showed strong negative correlations (-0.6) to injury rates, though none were statistically significant. Data from the headform impacts for each of the study vehicles were used to calculate that vehicle's predicted serious injury risk. The predicted risks from both the Euro NCAP and GTR 9 test zones showed high positive correlations with the pedestrian fatal and incapacitating injury rates, though few were statistically significant. Whether vehicle stiffness is evaluated on all components of vehicle front ends (Euro NCAP) or is limited to hoods (GTR 9), softer vehicle components correspond to a lower risk of fatality.

Effluent Containment System for space thermal nuclear propulsion ground test facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1995-08-01

This report presents the research and development study work performed for the Space Reactor Power System Division of the U.S. Department of Energy on an innovative ECS that would be used during ground testing of a space nuclear thermal rocket engine. A significant portion of the ground test facilities for a space nuclear thermal propulsion engine are the effluent treatment and containment systems. The proposed ECS configuration developed recycles all engine coolant media and does not impact the environment by venting radioactive material. All coolant media, hydrogen and water, are collected, treated for removal of radioactive particulates, and recycled for use in subsequent tests until the end of the facility life. Radioactive materials removed by the treatment systems are recovered, stored for decay of short-lived isotopes, or packaged for disposal as waste. At the end of the useful life, the facility will be decontaminated and dismantled for disposal

Technologies for low-bandwidth high-latency unmanned ground vehicle control

Science.gov (United States)

Pace, Teresa; Cogan, Ken; Hunt, Lee; Restine, Paul

2014-05-01

Automation technology has evolved at a rapid pace in recent years; however, many real-world problems require contextual understanding, problem solving, and other forms of higher-order thinking that extends beyond the capabilities of robots for the foreseeable future. This limits the complexity of automation which can be supplied to modern unmanned ground robots (UGV) and necessitates human-in-the-loop monitoring and control for some portions of missions. In order for the human operator to make decisions and provide tasking during key portions of the mission, existing solutions first derive significant information from a potentially dense reconstruction of the scene utilizing LIDAR, video, and other onboard sensors. A dense reconstruction contains too much data for real-time transmission over a modern wireless data link, so the robot electronics must first condense the scene representation prior to transmission. The control station receives this condensed scene representations and provides visual information to the human operator; the human operator then provides tele-operation commands in real-time to the robot. This paper discusses approaches to dense scene reduction of the data required to transmit to a human-in-the loop as well as the challenges associated with them. In addition, the complex and unstructured nature of real-world environments increases the need for tele-operation. Furthermore, many environments reduce the bandwidth and increase the latency of the link. Ultimately, worsening conditions will cause the tele-operation control process to break down, rendering the robot ineffective. In a worst-case scenario, extreme conditions causing a complete loss-of-communications could result in mission failure and loss of the vehicle.

Launch and Landing Effects Ground Operations (LLEGO) Model

Science.gov (United States)

2008-01-01

LLEGO is a model for understanding recurring launch and landing operations costs at Kennedy Space Center for human space flight. Launch and landing operations are often referred to as ground processing, or ground operations. Currently, this function is specific to the ground operations for the Space Shuttle Space Transportation System within the Space Shuttle Program. The Constellation system to follow the Space Shuttle consists of the crewed Orion spacecraft atop an Ares I launch vehicle and the uncrewed Ares V cargo launch vehicle. The Constellation flight and ground systems build upon many elements of the existing Shuttle flight and ground hardware, as well as upon existing organizations and processes. In turn, the LLEGO model builds upon past ground operations research, modeling, data, and experience in estimating for future programs. Rather than to simply provide estimates, the LLEGO model s main purpose is to improve expenses by relating complex relationships among functions (ground operations contractor, subcontractors, civil service technical, center management, operations, etc.) to tangible drivers. Drivers include flight system complexity and reliability, as well as operations and supply chain management processes and technology. Together these factors define the operability and potential improvements for any future system, from the most direct to the least direct expenses.

State-of-the-art assessment of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

1977-01-01

The Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1976 (PL 94-413) requires that data be developed to characterize the state of the art of vehicles powered by an electric motor and those propelled by a combination of an electric motor and an internal combustion engine or other power sources. Data obtained from controlled tests of a representative number of sample vehicles, from information supplied by manufacturers or contained in the literature, and from surveys of fleet operators of individual owners of electric vehicles is discussed. The results of track and dynamometer tests conducted by NASA on 22 electric, 2 hybrid, and 5 conventional vehicles, as well as on 5 spark-ignition-engine-powered vehicles, the conventional counterparts of 5 of the vehicles, are presented.

US Army TARDEC Ground Vehicle Mobility: Dynamics Modeling, Simluation, and Research

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-24

DRIVEN. WARFIGHTER FOCUSED. For official use only Stair Climbing of a Small Robot Robotic Vehicle Step Climbing UNCLASSIFIED For official use only...NOTES NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, mobility, and robotics section. Briefing to the jet propulsion lab. 14. ABSTRACT N/A 15. SUBJECT TERMS 16...JLTV GCV M2 M915 ASV FTTS HMMWV Platforms Supported APDSmall Robot UNCLASSIFIED For official use only Mobility Events • Vehicle stability • Ride

Guidelines of the Design of Electropyrotechnic Firing Circuit for Unmanned Flight and Ground Test Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzalez, Guillermo A.; Lucy, Melvin H.; Massie, Jeffrey J.

2013-01-01

The NASA Langley Research Center, Engineering Directorate, Electronic System Branch, is responsible for providing pyrotechnic support capabilities to Langley Research Center unmanned flight and ground test projects. These capabilities include device selection, procurement, testing, problem solving, firing system design, fabrication and testing; ground support equipment design, fabrication and testing; checkout procedures and procedure?s training to pyro technicians. This technical memorandum will serve as a guideline for the design, fabrication and testing of electropyrotechnic firing systems. The guidelines will discuss the entire process beginning with requirements definition and ending with development and execution.

Aeroheating Test of CEV Entry Vehicle at Turbulent Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Hollis, Brian R.; Berger, Karen T.; Horvath, Thomas J.; Coblish, Joseph J.; Norris, Joseph D.; Lillard, Randolph P.; Kirk, Ben

2008-01-01

An investigation of the aeroheating environment of the Project Orion Crew Entry Vehicle has been performed in the Arnold Engineering Development Center Tunnel 9. Data were measured on a approx. 3.5% scale model (0.1778m/7-inch diam.) of the vehicle using coaxial thermocouples in the Mach 8 and Mach 10 nozzles of Tunnel 9. Runs were performed at free stream Reynolds numbers of 1 106/ft to 20 10(exp 6)/ft in the Mach 10 nozzle and 8 10(exp 6)/ft to 48 10(exp 6)/ft in the Mach 8 nozzle. The test gas in Tunnel 9 is pure N2, which at these operating conditions remains un-dissociated and may be treated as a perfect gas. At these conditions, laminar, transitional, and turbulent flow was produced on the model at Mach 10, and transitional and turbulent conditions were produced on the model at Mach 8. The majority of runs were made on a clean, smooth-surface model configuration and a limited number of runs were made in which inserts with varying boundary-layer trips configurations were used to force the occurrence of transition. Laminar and turbulent predictions were generated for all wind tunnel test conditions and comparisons were performed with the data for the purpose of helping to define uncertainty margins for the computational method. Data from both the wind tunnel test and the computations are presented herein. Figure 1 shows a schematic of the thermocouple locations on the model and figures 2 and 3 show a photo and schematic of the AEDC Hypervelocity Tunnel 9. Figure 4 shows a typical grid used in the computations. From the comparisons shown in figures 5 through 8 it was concluded that for perfect-gas conditions, the computations could predict either fully-laminar or full-turbulent flow to within +/-10% of the experimental data. The experimental data showed that transition began on the leeside of the heatshield at a free stream Reynolds number of 9 10(exp 6)/ft in the Mach 10 nozzle and fully-developed turbulent flow was produced at 20 10(exp 6)/ft. In the Mach 8

EADS Roadmap for Launch Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Eymar, Patrick; Grimard, Max

2002-01-01

still think about the future, especially at industry level in order to make the most judicious choices in technologies, vehicle types as well as human resources and facilities specialization (especially after recent merger moves). and production as prime contractor, industrial architect or stage provider have taken benefit of this expertise and especially of all the studies ran under national funding and own financing on reusable vehicles and ground/flight demonstrators have analyzed several scenarios. VEHICLES/ASTRIUM SI strategy w.r.t. launch vehicles for the two next decades. Among the main inputs taken into account of course visions of the market evolutions have been considered, but also enlargement of international cooperations and governments requests and supports (e.g. with the influence of large international ventures). 1 patrick.eymar@lanceurs.aeromatra.com 2

Orion Ground Test Article Water Impact Tests: Photogrammetric Evaluation of Impact Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Vassilakos, Gregory J.; Mark, Stephen D.

2018-01-01

The Ground Test Article (GTA) is an early production version of the Orion Crew Module (CM). The structural design of the Orion CM is being developed based on LS-DYNA water landing simulations. As part of the process of confirming the accuracy of LS-DYNA water landing simulations, the GTA water impact test series was conducted at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) to gather data for comparison with simulations. The simulation of the GTA water impact tests requires the accurate determination of the impact conditions. To accomplish this, the GTA was outfitted with an array of photogrammetry targets. The photogrammetry system utilizes images from two cameras with a specialized tracking software to determine time histories for the 3-D coordinates of each target. The impact conditions can then be determined from the target location data.

Standard Test Methods for Insulation Integrity and Ground Path Continuity of Photovoltaic Modules

CERN Document Server

American Society for Testing and Materials. Philadelphia

2000-01-01

1.1 These test methods cover procedures for (1) testing for current leakage between the electrical circuit of a photovoltaic module and its external components while a user-specified voltage is applied and (2) for testing for possible module insulation breakdown (dielectric voltage withstand test). 1.2 A procedure is described for measuring the insulation resistance between the electrical circuit of a photovoltaic module and its external components (insulation resistance test). 1.3 A procedure is provided for verifying that electrical continuity exists between the exposed external conductive surfaces of the module, such as the frame, structural members, or edge closures, and its grounding point (ground path continuity test). 1.4 This test method does not establish pass or fail levels. The determination of acceptable or unacceptable results is beyond the scope of this test method. 1.5 There is no similar or equivalent ISO standard. This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if a...

Affordable Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) Testing on Large Space Vehicles

Science.gov (United States)

Aldridge, Edward; Curry, Bruce; Scully, Robert

2015-01-01

Objective: Perform System-Level EMI testing of the Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) spacecraft in situ in the Kennedy Space Center's Neil Armstrong Operations & Checkout (O&C) Facility in 6 days. The only way to execute the system-level EMI testing and meet this schedule challenge was to perform the EMI testing in situ in the Final Assembly & System Test (FAST) Cell in a reverberant mode, not the direct illumination mode originally planned. This required the unplanned construction of a Faraday Cage around the vehicle and FAST Cell structure. The presence of massive steel platforms created many challenges to developing an efficient screen room to contain the RF energy and yield an effective reverberant chamber. An initial effectiveness test showed marginal performance, but improvements implemented afterward resulted in the final test performing surprisingly well! The paper will explain the design, the challenges, and the changes that made the difference in performance!

Test analysis and research on static choice reaction ability of commercial vehicle drivers

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Lingchao; Wei, Lang; Qiao, Jie; Tian, Shun; Wang, Shengchang

2017-03-01

Drivers' choice reaction ability has a certain relation with safe driving. It has important significance to research its influence on traffic safety. Firstly, the paper uses a choice reaction detector developed by research group to detect drivers' choice reaction ability of commercial vehicles, and gets 2641 effective samples. Then by using mathematical statistics method, the paper founds that average reaction time from accident group has no difference with non-accident group, and then introduces a variance rate of reaction time as a new index to replace it. The result shows that the test index choice reaction errors and variance rate of reaction time have positive correlations with accidents. Finally, according to testing results of the detector, the paper formulates a detection threshold with four levels for helping transportation companies to assess commercial vehicles drivers.

Test experiences with the DaimlerChrysler: Fuel cell electric vehicle NECAR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Friedlmeier Gerardo

2002-01-01

Full Text Available The DalmlerChrysler fuel cell electric vehicle NECAR 4, a hydrogen-fueled zero-emission compact car based on the A-Class of Mercedes-Benz, is described. Test results obtained on the road and on the dynamometer are presented. These and other results show the high technological maturity reliability and durability already achieved with fuel cell technology.

Test experiences with the DaimlerChrysler: Fuel cell electric vehicle NECAR

OpenAIRE

Friedlmeier Gerardo; Friedrich J.; Panik F.

2002-01-01

The DalmlerChrysler fuel cell electric vehicle NECAR 4, a hydrogen-fueled zero-emission compact car based on the A-Class of Mercedes-Benz, is described. Test results obtained on the road and on the dynamometer are presented. These and other results show the high technological maturity reliability and durability already achieved with fuel cell technology.

Wind and water tunnel testing of a morphing aquatic micro air vehicle.

Science.gov (United States)

Siddall, Robert; Ortega Ancel, Alejandro; Kovač, Mirko

2017-02-06

Aerial robots capable of locomotion in both air and water would enable novel mission profiles in complex environments, such as water sampling after floods or underwater structural inspections. The design of such a vehicle is challenging because it implies significant propulsive and structural design trade-offs for operation in both fluids. In this paper, we present a unique Aquatic Micro Air Vehicle (AquaMAV), which uses a reconfigurable wing to dive into the water from flight, inspired by the plunge diving strategy of water diving birds in the family Sulidae . The vehicle's performance is investigated in wind and water tunnel experiments, from which we develop a planar trajectory model. This model is used to predict the dive behaviour of the AquaMAV, and investigate the efficacy of passive dives initiated by wing folding as a means of water entry. The paper also includes first field tests of the AquaMAV prototype where the folding wings are used to initiate a plunge dive.

Remotely Piloted Vehicles for Experimental Flight Control Testing

Science.gov (United States)

Motter, Mark A.; High, James W.

2009-01-01

A successful flight test and training campaign of the NASA Flying Controls Testbed was conducted at Naval Outlying Field, Webster Field, MD during 2008. Both the prop and jet-powered versions of the subscale, remotely piloted testbeds were used to test representative experimental flight controllers. These testbeds were developed by the Subsonic Fixed Wing Project s emphasis on new flight test techniques. The Subsonic Fixed Wing Project is under the Fundamental Aeronautics Program of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD). The purpose of these testbeds is to quickly and inexpensively evaluate advanced concepts and experimental flight controls, with applications to adaptive control, system identification, novel control effectors, correlation of subscale flight tests with wind tunnel results, and autonomous operations. Flight tests and operator training were conducted during four separate series of tests during April, May, June and August 2008. Experimental controllers were engaged and disengaged during fully autonomous flight in the designated test area. Flaps and landing gear were deployed by commands from the ground control station as unanticipated disturbances. The flight tests were performed NASA personnel with support from the Maritime Unmanned Development and Operations (MUDO) team of the Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division

Seismic analysis and testing of nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1979-01-01

The following subjects are discussed in this guide: General Recommendations for seismic classification, loading combinations and allowable limits; seismic analysis methods; implications for seismic design; seismic testing and qualification; seismic instrumentation; modelling techniques; material property characterization; seismic response of soil deposits and earth structures; liquefaction and ground failure; slope stability; sloshing effects in water pools; qualification testing by means of the transport vehicle

Lightweight electric-powered vehicles. Which financial incentives after the large-scale field tests at Mendrisio?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keller, M.; Frick, R.; Hammer, S.

1999-08-01

How should lightweight electric-powered vehicles be promoted, after the large-scale fleet test being conducted at Mendrisio (southern Switzerland) is completed in 2001, and are there reasons to put question marks behind the current approach? The demand for electric vehicles, and particularly the one in the automobile category, has remained at a persistently low level. As it proved, any appreciable improvement of this situation is almost impossible, even with substantial financial incentives. However, the unsatisfactory sales figures have little to do with the nature of the fleet test itself or with the specific conditions at Mendrisio. The problem is rather of structural nature. For (battery-operated) electric cars the main problem at present is the lack of an expanding market which could become self-supporting with only a few additional incentives. Various strategies have been evaluated. Two alternatives were considered in particular: a strategy to promote explicitly electric vehicles ('EL-strategy'), and a strategy to promote efficient road vehicles in general which would have to meet specific energy and environmental-efficiency criteria ('EF-strategy'). The EL-strategies make the following dilemma clear. If the aim is to raise the share of these vehicles up to 5% of all cars on the road (or even 8%) in a mid-term prospect, then substantial interventions in the relevant vehicle markets would be required, either with penalties for conventional cars, or a large-scale funding scheme, or interventions at the supply level. The study suggests a differentiated strategy with two components: (i) 'institutionalised' promotion with the aim of a substantial increase of the share of 'efficient' vehicles (independently of the propulsion technology), and (ii) the continuation of pilot and demonstration projects for the promotion of different types of innovative technologies. (author) [de

The Special Purpose Vehicle

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fomcenco, Alex

2013-01-01

The purpose of this article is to investigate whether the situation where two companies appear as originators or sponsors behind a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) can be described as a merger, although on micro scale. Are the underlying grounds behind the creation of an SPV much different than those...

Computer simulation of ultrasonic testing for aerospace vehicle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yamawaki, H [National Institute for Materials Science, 1-2-1, Sengen, 305-0047 Tsukuba (Japan); Moriya, S; Masuoka, T [Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 1 Koganesawa, Kimigawa, 981-1525 Kakuda (Japan); Takatsubo, J, E-mail: yamawaki.hisashi@nims.go.jp [Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, AIST Tsukuba Central 2, 1-1-1 Umezono, 305-8568 Tsukuba (Japan)

2011-01-01

Non-destructive testing techniques are developed to secure reliability of aerospace vehicles used repetitively. In the case of cracks caused by thermal stress on walls in combustion chambers of liquid-fuel rockets, it is examined by ultrasonic waves visualization technique developed in AIST. The technique is composed with non-contact ultrasonic generation by pulsed-laser scanning, piezoelectric transducer for the ultrasonic detection, and image reconstruction processing. It enables detection of defects by visualization of ultrasonic waves scattered by the defects. In NIMS, the condition of the detection by the visualization is investigated using computer simulation for ultrasonic propagation that has capability of fast 3-D calculation. The simulation technique is based on finite-difference method and two-step elastic wave equations. It is reported about the investigation by the calculation, and shows availability of the simulation for the ultrasonic testing technique of the wall cracks.