Physics-Based Sensor Models for Virtual Simulation of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles

This SAFER-SIM project will use simulation technology to provide a framework for testing and evaluating autonomous vehicles in a virtual environment. The focus of the framework is to assess vehicle behavior in cost prohibitive or safety critical scenarios, e.g. an animal running onto the road during inclement weather where the physics or sensing may limit the capabilities of the vehicle. A critical component of this autonomous vehicle simulation framework is the ability to synthetically generate sensor data for software-in-the-loop testing. This sensor data should be physically realistic such that true limitations can be explored. For example, a scenario involving rain, snow, or fog may result in limited sight from a camera. For understanding what happens if it unexpectedly begins to rain, the virtual camera sensor should mimic the distortion from the rain on the camera, or the limited range of sight through the raindrops. This project’s objective is to develop and implement physics-based camera and laser radar (LiDAR) sensor models, validate them against data captured by physical sensors, and demonstrate their use within the Chrono CAV platform on realistic mixed autonomous/conventional traffic scenarios.

• Record URL:
  http://safersim.nads-sc.uiowa.edu/research_new.php?sp=86

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $74036
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747131

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  University of Iowa, Iowa City

  National Advanced Driving Simulator, 2401 Oakdale Blvd
  Iowa City, IA  United States  52242-5003
• Performing Organizations:

  University of Wisconsin, Madison

  Wisconsin Transportation Center
  1415 Engineering Drive
  Madison, WI  United States  53706
• Principal Investigators:

  Negrut, Dan

  Serban, Radu

• Start Date: 20190601
• Expected Completion Date: 20200531
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Autonomous vehicles; Connected vehicles; Driving simulators; Evaluation and assessment; Laser radar; Sensors; Validation; Virtual reality
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01699804
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Safety Research Using Simulation University Transportation Center (SaferSim)
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747131
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Mar 26 2019 7:51PM