TEST & MEASUREMENT
Driver in the loop provides the ultimate test for automotive electronics
James Waters, simulator group specialist at Ansible Motion explores how driver in the loop provides the ultimate test for automotive electronics
W
ith ADAS systems, it can be difficult to predict the full range of input conditions that may be encountered. To a certain extent, this can be done with offline testing, but there’s always a possibility that there could be a condition – or a mixture of conditions – that you’ve not anticipated. For example, approaching an obstacle at a particular angle just as the sensor picks up glare from the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. The best way to explore these edge cases is to put a human being in the car, but it can be costly and potentially dangerous to do so in the real world.
Ather main variable in the equation – one that exhibits more complexity and unpredictability than all of the vehicle systems put together – is the driver. As human beings, we’re subject to varying reaction times, different levels of skill and a whole host of other factors that impact the control inputs fed into the vehicle. Similarly, our perception of the way the car responds to those inputs is highly subjective and heavily dependent on context; what may be pleasing to an expert driver on a race track could be disconcerting or even dangerous for someone casually driving to work.
Driver in the loop (DIL) simulation provides
a means of capturing this crucial human interaction in a controlled, repeatable environment. Long embraced by teams in top- level motorsport, DIL simulators are increasingly being employed by road car manufacturers to look at everything from chassis setup to HMI design.
DIL simulation comes into its own when
you need that human input. For instance, if you wanted to look at how an EV powertrain behaves while a vehicle is towing a trailer, you could simulate various different gradients. The motion platform on the simulator gives the driver a real sense of the longitudinal acceleration and driveline behaviour, which means you get representative inputs fed back
36 MARCH 2022 | ELECTRONICS TODAY
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