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FEATURE MOTION CONTROL


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The notion of using a driving simulator to


develop and validate vehicles has been


around for many years. In recent years, the market has shifted dramatically to a new


generation of simulators that is expected to be more versatile


and effective, to help car makers validate


increasingly complex cars in the shortest


time possible. Design Solutions spoke to Ansible Motion


engineer, Ian Haigh, about the motion


developments that are a part of driving simulator designs, and why they have become critical in a changing


automotive world W


ith restrictions in time, the costs of real-world prototypes and a pandemic restricting travel to global test sites,


simulation is providing much needed capacity to support manufacturers and suppliers. So effective are these simulators, that more engineers now want to use driving simulators


for testing their commodities, leading to more innovation in the sector. Companies like UK manufacturer Ansible Motion are developing ever more versatile simulators, such as the Delta series S3, a fully dynamic and immersive tool for virtual test driving. Fully revealed earlier this year, the heart of this all-new driving simulator is the ability to provide a compelling motion experience.


origins of Motion


Early automotive simulators were often static devices, but as these started to be used by motorsport and race drivers, there was a growing need for adding motion. “Race drivers feel what a car is doing through


their body – whether that’s the seat of their pants or their vestibular system,” says Haigh. “Visual cues tended to be registered slower by human beings, so it was realised that adding some element of motion would be more effective for them to feel a car’s behaviour, and, in the case of race drivers, find the limits of performance.” Whilst some automotive driving simulators


began using hexapod motion systems derived from aircraft simulators, Ansible Motion developed a motion platform that would be engineered specifically for ground vehicles. “The large machinery and payloads of


hexapods had too much mechanical lag due to the mass and friction to be really useful for skilled drivers to employ,” explains Haigh. “The acceptable motion and visual latency of aerospace simulators tends to be in the 100 to 150 millisecond range, and we wanted to create something that was an order of magnitude below that. That’s why we produced our Stratiform Motion System, or SMS. It’s a scalable mechanism with multiple layers, each controlling specific axes of motion that are directly associated with the six primary motion directions relevant for vehicle performance.” Ansible Motion’s Stratiform 1 (S1) was the


firm’s first driving simulator to include a dynamic motion platform. This was welcomed by the automotive engineering community and even adopted by a Formula 1 racing team. The S1 evolved organically into the Stratiform 2 (S2) in 2013, which became the heart of Ansible Motion’s Delta series, a product range of dynamic driving simulators. For nearly a decade, the Delta series S2 was widely regarded as one of the most immersive and realistic simulators available. It was trusted by leading car makers such as Ford, GM and Honda as well as more motorsports teams.


Continuous iMproveMent Ansible Motion’s Delta-S3-design 3 DESIGN SOLUTIONS MAY 2022 8


As a company focussed solely on ground vehicle simulation, Ansible Motion was


Motion Matters


constantly improving its technology, pouring all its R&D activity into new developments to keep it at the forefront. Most recently this saw the release of the Stratiform 3 (S3) motion system, claimed to be a ‘step-change’ in motion for automotive driving simulation. The production version of the S3, revealed


officially in February 2022, is at the centre of the company’s new Delta series S3 Driver-in- the-Loop simulator offering, an all-new driving simulator designed to satisfy the growing demand for high-fidelity, high-dynamic, human-centric vehicle simulations. That need is real, with advanced sales already confirmed to BMW, Continental, Honda R&D Co and Deakin University, Australia. In less than six months, it has become the company’s fastest selling product to date.


sMooth operator


Ansible Motion claims that the Delta S3’s proprietary motion control system means human drivers can experience the full range of vehicle behaviours – from low-dynamic to high-dynamic with smooth, nuanced motion, and extremely low latency. The key difference from the previous iteration, the S2, is the move to a greater motion space. Switching from the previous belt system to linear actuators and engineered steel rails has offered the opportunity for a scalable simulator, starting with a 4m x 4m displacement footprint that is scalable up to 10m x 10m for surge and sway motion. “We switched to linear motors to deliver


both better and finer control over the longer displacements,” explains Haigh. “We can also achieve acceleration levels that ensure vestibular motions are sustained for longer.” This is vital for car makers looking to evaluate driver assistance systems and provides a representative experience for aggressive manoeuvres such as lane changing and large bandwidth manoeuvres such as autonomous parking. “With the larger footprint, we have the ability to replicate some motions in 1:1 scale,” adds Haigh. “This requires less motion cueing, and we can focus on replicating real-world manoeuvres.”


a flexible solution


The linear motors and proprietary software are crucial for controlling the motion to make the ground plane motion experiences as representative as possible. They also offer flexibility over the tool chain to create versions


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