Browse Topic: Vehicle integration
ABSTRACT This paper proposes that within the Land domain, there is not only a need to define an approach to open architectures, but also to mandate their use, in order to provide an agile framework for our fighting forces going forward. The paper sets out to explain such an approach; that taken by UK MOD and industry to produce the Generic Vehicle Architecture (GVA) defense standard. It will discuss how the GVA standard was formed, how it is currently being used and how it contributes to the wider MOD initiative for Open Systems Architecture for the Land domain. Finally the paper considers how the UK GVA relates to the US Victory standard and how interoperability may be achieved
ABSTRACT The roll-up roll-away Tactical Vehicle-to-Grid / Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2G/V2V) system provides a plug-and-play, very fast forming, smart, aggregated, and efficient power solution for an emerging (including austere) contingency base that is ready to generate up to 240kW of 208 VAC 3-phase power in less than 20 minutes. The system is designed to provide grid services (peak shaving, Volt/VAR control, power regulation, and current source mode) beneficial to emerging and mature grids (CONUS or OCONUS). The system uses vehicle Transmission-Integrated Generators (TIGs) to produce 600VDC power for use by vehicle hotel-loads (electrification) and off-board loads (tents/shelters, communications centers, or other electrical loads). Each vehicle is equipped with a Vehicle Communication Module (VCM), which provided the communication capability prior to initiation of transfer of up to 100kW of power via the J1772 SAE Combo Connector between vehicles (V2V) and/or for export power off-vehicle
ABSTRACT An efficient and collaborative process for the realization and implementation of an electrical power management strategy for a modern military vehicle is demonstrated. Power, software and hardware engineers working together and using simulation and emulation tools are able to develop, simulate and validate a power strategy before prototype vehicle integration, reducing integration cost and time. For demonstration, an intelligent electrical power management strategy is developed for a generic military vehicle with conventional engine/transmission propulsion and an inline generator. The challenge of this architecture is maintaining electrical bus stability/regulation at low engine speed given that electrical power demands may exceed power supplied. The intelligent electrical power management strategy presented limits the total power demand to power available by overriding the demands of the individual loads. Based on load prioritization and vehicle system dynamics, power limits
ABSTRACT This paper will incorporate product development methodology from the FED program where AVL is responsible in collaboration with World Technical Services Inc., for delivering a fully developed hybrid propulsion system integrated into the demonstrator vehicle. Specifically, the paper will discuss via case study the unique methodology employed by AVL Powertrain to develop, validate, and integrate our hybrid propulsion system into the FED vehicle. Content will include traditional and virtual powertrain development methodologies that maximize product development efficiency, ensure a robust final design, and minimize development costs. Hybrid controls development, calibration techniques and vehicle design issues will also be discussed
ABSTRACT US Army and Marine Corps tactical networking and command post programs have a widely-acknowledged critical need to improve mobility, including the objective of moving to mobile, vehicle-mounted command posts that can move hourly. The current state of the art for tent-based command posts requires hours of setup, which includes thousands of feet of copper wiring that delay network availability. To enable mobility for warfighting, the National Security Agency (NSA) established a program (with a set of guidelines) called “Commercial Solutions for Classified” (CSfC). CSfC-based mobility solutions have great potential to enable command post mobility and soldier dismounted situational awareness using ground vehicles as network nodes. However, the extensive requirements and processes involved are complex and not well understood. This paper compares various CSfC network architectures, and proposes several approaches for CSfC solutions optimized for mobility use cases. The paper further
ABSTRACT Vehicle design today takes longer than it ever has in the past largely due to the abundance of requirements, standards, and new design techniques; this trend is not likely to change any time soon. This paper will explore how advancements in gaming engines can be leveraged to bring realistic visualization and virtual prototypes to the beginning of the design cycle, integrate subsystems earlier in the design, provide advanced simulation capabilities, and ensure that the final design not only meets the requirements but is fully vetted by stakeholders and meets the needs of the platform. The Unreal Engine and Bravo Framework can be used to bring this and more to vehicle designs to reduce design churn and bring better products to market faster. Citation: A. Diepen, O. Vazquez, A. Black, C. Gaff “Leveraging Simulation Tools to Accelerate Design,” In Proceedings of the Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium (GVSETS), NDIA, Novi, MI, Aug. 16-18, 2022
ABSTRACT This study applies an augmentation to systems engineering methodology based on the integration of adaptive capacity, which produces enhanced resilience in technological systems that operate in complex operating environments. The implementation of this methodology enhances system resistance to top-level function failure or accelerates the system’s functional recovery in the event of a top-level function failure due to functional requirement shift, evolutions, or perturbations. Specifically, this study employs a methodology to integrate adaptive resilience and demonstrates key aspects of its implementation in a relevant explosive reactive armor (ERA) system case study. The research and resulting methodology supplements and enhances traditional systems engineering processes by offering systems designers a method to integrate adaptive capacity into systems, enhancing their resilient resistance, or recovery to top-level function failure in complex operating environments. This
ABSTRACT One primary system integration challenge for a terrain measurement system is the triggering and time synchronization of all subsystems. Since individual measurement systems vary in their triggering requirements, both in terms of voltage levels and response times, a comprehensive triggering architecture is difficult to implement. Examples of triggering signal inputs include: a transistor-transistor logic (TTL) compliant signal, an RS-232 compliant signal, and an open/close switch circuit. Pulse-triggering signals are also present, and enable continuous time synchronization between instruments. Therefore, a triggering scheme is proposed capable of accurately initiating, synchronizing, and concluding data collection from multiple sensors and subsystems. Simulation of complete circuit designs show that the trigger circuit is capable of properly processing a single physical switch input signal into a TTL-compliant trigger signal. Synchronization pulse signals are likewise amplified
ABSTRACT The IGVC offers a design experience that is at the very cutting edge of engineering education, with a particular focus in developing engineering control/sensor integration experience for the college student participants. A main challenge area for teams is the proper processing of all the vehicle sensor feeds, optimal integration of the sensor feeds into a world map and the vehicle leveraging that world map to plot a safe course using robust control algorithms. This has been an ongoing challenge throughout the 26 year history of the competition and is a challenge shared with the growing autonomous vehicle industry. High consistency, reliability and redundancy of sensor feeds, accurate sensor fusion and fault-tolerant vehicle controls are critical, as even small misinterpretations can cause catastrophic results, as evidenced by the recent serious vehicle crashes experienced by self-driving companies including Tesla and Uber Optimal control techniques & sensor selection
ABSTRACT For this particular effort, the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) Center for Systems Integration (CSI) was tasked to develop a buoyancy/survivability kit that would serve multiple functions. The underbody kit would meet or surpass current required protection levels. Plus the kit was to ensure that the LAV-25A2 (Light Armored Vehicle) continues to meet the swim requirement. However, the overarching objective is to meet the survivability, ground mobility, and water mobility requirements. Combining the accomplishments in the TARDEC & PM-LAV (Program Manager for the Light Armored Vehicle) survivability program in 2013-2014 with the TARDEC & PM-LAV buoyancy/survivability kit developed in 2015-2016, the overall weight is decreased, water mobility is improved, and survivability is significantly improved. This is a unique challenge as a combination of buoyancy, mine blast, and structural requirement on a ground military vehicle is novel
ABSTRACT Raytheon is in the final stages of production of three high performance thermal imaging / fire control systems being integrated on existing USMC and US Army armored vehicles. A goal in the design of these systems was to provide integration into the host vehicle that when viewed by the customer and user provided the enhanced capabilities of today’s latest thermal imaging and image processing technology as well as operating in concert with the vehicle as originally designed. This paper will summarize the technical solutions for each of these programs emphasizing the thermal imaging, fire control, image processing and vehicle integration technologies. It will also outline guiding philosophies and lessons learned used to focus the design team in achieving the successful integration. The programs to be reviewed are; USMC 2nd Gen Thermal Imaging System, the USMC LAV-25 Improved Thermal Sight System (ITSS) and the USMC / US Army M1A1 50 Cal Thermal Sight / DayTV System
ABSTRACT Hardware/software integrated system ensures a system will operate as intended in the same configuration it will be used in the field. Manual system testing can be a very slow and error prone process, as well as being incapable of testing interfaces that humans cannot interact with. Many existing solutions exist to introduce test hardware into the loop for verifying systems, but most of these solutions provide a separate component for each hardware interface. This paper presents an approach for a single integrated system that can test all hardware interfaces of a system under test, managed by a single controller. This test system provides the capability to abstract away the hardware being tested so a test developer can develop tests while only understanding the manual interfaces of the system being tested. We show that this approach can provide a significant acceleration to the time to execute tests, as well as improving the reliability, and consistency of the tests. Citation
ABSTRACT This paper reviews the UK Defence Standard 23-009 for Generic Vehicle Architecture (GVA), describes how the standard is being applied to the UK vehicle procurement programme, and the benefits expected from adopting the approach and standard. The expansion of the use of GVA to other countries will be discussed including the adoption of the fundamental approach by NATO/ 5 eyes countries
ABSTRACT As contracts move from cost plus to fixed deliverables, total project cost and reducing schedules become more important. This paper will show how Model Driven Development can address common challenges in the system design, verification & testing of complex systems and systems of systems. Project success requires that hardware, software, and test teams fluently integrate application software, controlling firmware, analog and digital hardware, and mechanical components, which often proves to be costly in terms of time, money, and engineering resources. Model Driven Development and virtual prototyping using a tools flow emphasizing requirements tracing, UML / SysML system modeling, and linking to functional FPGA, IC, PCB and cabling domains supports system engineering teams along with software, digital hardware, analog hardware, system interconnect algorithm development, hardware / software co-simulation, and virtual system integration. This paper covers such solutions that
ABSTRACT The Bradley Combat Vehicle Motor Chatter case study focuses on one aspect of a combat vehicle program, specifically, responding to a vehicle production situation where combat vehicles produced with in-spec components and subsystems exhibit out-of-spec and failing system behavior. This typically results in an extended production line-down or line-degraded situation lasting for several quarters until the problem can be diagnosed, fixed, validated and verified. Subsequently, adequate quantities of the modified or replaced sub-systems must be put back into the production flow. The direct and indirect costs of an occurrence like this in peace-time are measured in the 10’s to 100’s of Millions of dollars. The schedule, program and perception impact to the vehicle platform can be potentially devastating. In war-time all of these impacts are magnified greatly by the added risk to soldiers’ lives. This paper describes the Bradley Combat Vehicle Motor Chatter case study and the
ABSTRACT The Modular Open RF Architecture’s (MORA) core objective is to logically decompose radio frequency (RF) systems for efficiency, flexibility, reusability, and scalability while enabling management, health monitoring, and sharing of raw and/or processed data. MORA extends the Army’s Vehicular Integration for C4ISR/EW Interoperability (VICTORY) architecture. MORA was introduced to the GVSETS community in 2015 at version 1.0 of the specification, and has matured with the help of community, industry, and academia partners to its current version 2.3. This paper discusses the current state of the MORA specification and how it has evolved beyond its initial topology to encompass the entirety of the RF chain in an open and modular fashion. In addition, this paper will describe the purpose of MORA, the objectives of its development, its foundation, and the basic concepts and core features. Citation: J. Broczkowski, D. Bailey, T. Ryder, J. Dirner, “Modular Open RF Architecture (MORA
ABSTRACT The IGVC offers a design experience that is at the very cutting edge of engineering education, with a particular focus in developing engineering control/sensor integration experience for the college student participants. A main challenge area for teams is the proper processing of all the vehicle sensor feeds, optimal integration of the sensor feeds into a world map and the vehicle leveraging that world map to plot a safe course using robust control algorithms. This has been an ongoing challenge throughout the 27 year history of the competition and is a challenge shared with the growing autonomous vehicle industry. High consistency, reliability and redundancy of sensor feeds, accurate sensor fusion and fault-tolerant vehicle controls are critical, as even small misinterpretations can cause catastrophic results, as evidenced by the recent serious vehicle crashes experienced by self-driving companies including Tesla and Uber Optimal control techniques & sensor selection
ABSTRACT BAE Systems Combat Simulation and Integration Labs (CSIL) are a culmination of more than 14 years of operational experience at our SIL facility in Santa Clara. The SIL provides primary integration and test functions over the entire life cycle of a combat vehicle’s development. The backbone of the SIL operation is the Simulation-Emulation-Stimulation (SES) process. The SES process has successfully supported BAE Systems US Combat Systems (USCS) SIL activities for many government vehicle development programs. The process enables SIL activities in vehicle design review, 3D virtual prototyping, human factor engineering, and system & subsystem integration and test. This paper describes how CSIL applies the models, software, and hardware components in a hardware-in-the-loop environment to support USCS combat vehicle development in the system integration lab
ABSTRACT As U.S. Army leadership continues to invest in novel technological systems to give warfighters a decisive edge for mounted and dismounted operations, the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) and other similar systems are in the spotlight. Continuing to put capable systems that integrate fighting, rehearsing, and training operations into the hands of warfighters will be a key delineator for the future force to achieve and maintain overmatch in an all-domain operational environment populated by near-peer threats. The utility and effectiveness of these new systems will depend on the degree to which the capabilities and limitations of humans are considered in context during development and testing. This manuscript will survey how formal and informal Human Systems Integration planning can positively impact system development and will describe a Helmet Mounted Display (HMD) case study
ABSTRACT Global Positioning System (GPS) technology has seen increased use in many different military applications worldwide, beyond navigation. The Warfighter uses GPS to enhance Situational Awareness on the battle field with systems such as Land Warrior, Blue Force Tracker, TIGR, and various electronic mission planning tools in locations where the GPS signals are normally not available. For example, this includes the inside of a HMMWV, Stryker, or MRAP. GPS retransmission, or the art of repeating a live GPS signal, has evolved into a technically advanced solution to provide GPS signals to the Warfighter mounted inside ground vehicles, protecting themselves from sniper and IED threats, while providing mobility and Situational Awareness from vehicle mounted communication & navigation systems. The objective of this technical paper is to communicate a relevant understanding of how this technology is being embraced by the Warfighter to accomplish their mission safer and more efficiently
ABSTRACT The Vehicular Integration for C4ISR/EW Interoperability (VICTORY) Systems Integration Lab (SIL) is established and developed at the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Command (TARDEC). The VICTORY SIL will be utilized for the development and integration of the extensive set of C4ISR/EW technologies that are to be systematically down selected to provide the comprehensive VICTORY services & infrastructure required in the development of mission capabilities of the Army’s tactical and combat vehicles. A fully functioning VICTORY SIL will be utilized for validation and independent verification of the Army’s and the vendor provided C4ISR/EW sub-systems. The lab will emphasize the importance of testing the data, power & physical interface strategy of the sub-systems in a low-cost laboratory environment before integration onto a vehicle. This paper describes how the VICTORY SIL will advance the RDECOM’s vision for a standardized electronic architecture
ABSTRACT The Center for Ground Vehicle Development and Integration (CGVDI) is a U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center (TARDEC) capability responsible for design, fabrication, integration, and support of additional capabilities for fielded systems as well as overall project management. CGVDI provides customers a single office that coordinates activities across the U.S. Army Research Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) to conduct the complete spectrum of activities required to support Project Management Offices with design, development, integration, and testing of ground systems to meet the needs of the Warfighter. To better serve the organizations and programs supported by CGVDI, the TARDEC Systems Engineering Group worked to infuse Systems Engineering (SE) processes into CGVDI standard operating procedures as a way to effectively meet project cost, schedule, risk, and performance goals
ABSTRACT Ultra-wideband (UWB) radio ranging technology was integrated into a local positioning system (LPS) for tracking mobile robots. A practical issue was the occasional large sporadic errors in the radio range data due to multipath due to reflections and attenuation effect caused by radio penetration through mediums. In this paper, we present a filtering and system integration of the radios with vehicle sensors to produce location and orientation of a moving object being tracked. We introduced a fuzzy neighborhood filter to remove outliers from range data, a progressive trilateration filter to improve update rate and produce a fused estimate of vehicle location with a compass and wheel speed sensors. Experiments were recorded and estimated position and orientation were validated against the video recording of vehicle ground truth. The UWB LPS can be used for navigation and guidance of multiple mobile robots around a command vehicle, and employed for tracking of assets of interest
Automotive radar plays a crucial role in object detection and tracking. While a standalone radar possesses ideal characteristics, integrating it within a vehicle introduces challenges. The presence of vehicle body, bumper, chassis, and cables in proximity influences the electromagnetic waves emitted by the radar, thereby impacting its performance. To address these challenges, electromagnetic simulations can guide early-stage design modifications. However, operating at very high frequencies around 77GHz and dealing with the large electrical size of complex structures demand specialized simulation techniques to optimize radar integration scenarios. Thus, the primary challenge lies in achieving an optimal balance between accuracy and computational resources/simulation time. This paper outlines the process of radar vehicle integration from an electromagnetic perspective and demonstrates the derivation of optimal solutions through RF simulation
The Army can increase its software modernization effort for Embedded System software development by leveraging the Cloud to expand the capability of the DevSecOps environment to include automated testing at scale. The Cloud will support the integration of current and new off-the-shelf technologies; and merging next generation technologies from industry partners into a coherent DevSecOps Cloud ecosystem. The following areas are critical to meeting mission requirements and applications: virtual simulation, trade study analytics, technology adoption, DevSecOps capabilities, artificial intelligence applications and infrastructure, and collaborative single vehicle Systems Integration Laboratory (SIL). These areas are all essential to shortening the vehicle product lifecycle and time to deliver mission essential capabilities to the field to support warfighter needs
A digital twin is a virtual model that accurately imitates a physical asset. This can be as complex as an entire vehicle, a subsystem, and down to a small functioning component. The digital twin has a level of fidelity that aligns to the goals of the project team. The usage of a digital twin inside a digital engineering (DE) ecosystem permits architecture and design decisions for optimized product behavior, performance, and interactions. This paper demonstrates a methodology to incorporate the digital twin concept from requirement analysis, low fidelity feature level simulation, rapid prototypes running inside a System Integration Lab, and high fidelity virtual prototypes executing in an entirely virtual environment
The once rarified field of Artificial Intelligence, and its subset field of Machine Learning have very much permeated most major areas of engineering as well as everyday life. It is already likely that few if any days go by for the average person without some form of interaction with Artificial Intelligence. Inexpensive, fast computers, vast collections of data, and powerful, versatile software tools have transitioned AI and ML models from the exotic to the mainstream for solving a wide variety of engineering problems. In the field of braking, one particularly challenging problem is how to represent tribological behavior of the brake, such as friction and wear, and a closely related behavior, fluid consumption (or piston travel in the case of mechatronic brakes), in a model. This problem has been put in the forefront by the sharply crescendo-ing push for fast vehicle development times, doing high quality system integration work early on, and the starring role of analysis-based tools in
Today, the battery development process for automotive applications is relatively decoupled from the vehicle integration and system validation phase. Battery pack design targets are often disregarded at very early development phases even though they are thoroughly linked to the vehicle-level requirements such as performance, lifetime and cost. Here, AVL proposes a methodology guided by virtual testing techniques to frontload vehicle-level validation tasks in the earlier phase of battery pack testing. This paper focuses on the benefits of the methodology for both battery suppliers and automotive OEMs. Applications will be explained, based on a modular virtual testing toolchain, which involves the simulation platform and models as well as the generation of model parameters and test cases
This standard only defines interconnect, electrical and logical (functional) requirements for the interface between a Micro Munition and the Host. The physical and mechanical interface between the Micro Munition and Host is undefined. Individual programs will define the relevant requirements for physical and mechanical interfaces in the Interface Control Document (ICD) or system specifications. It is acknowledged that this does not guarantee full interoperability of Interface for Micro Munitions (IMM) interfaces until further standardization is achieved
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