Automotive Engineering Commons^™

Mpc-Based Autonomous Driving Control With Localized Path Planning For Obstacle Avoidance And Navigating Signalized Intersections, Sai Rajeev Devaragudi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Connected and autonomous vehicles are becoming the major focus of research for the industry and academia in the automotive field. Many companies and research groups have demonstrated the advantages and the requirement of such technology to improve the energy efficiency of vehicles, decrease the number of crash and road accidents, and control emissions.

This research delves into improving the autonomy of self-driving vehicles by implementing localized path planning algorithms to introduce motion control for obstacle avoidance during uncertainties. Lateral path planning is implemented using the A* algorithm combined with piecewise Bezier curve generation which provides an optimum trajectory reference to …

Benchmarking And Evaluating The Efficiency Of Mass Transit Systems Based On Best Practice Using Data Envelopment Analysis, Jacqueline Nayame, Maoloud Dabab, Timothy Anderson

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Public transit systems in the USA have been faced with mounting pressure to decrease their operating costs while at the same time expected to increase ridership and meeting multiple societal needs. The primary objective of this study is to measure the efficiencies of mass transit agencies based on best practice in the US, identify the influencing factors leading to their efficiencies, and how these strategies and policies can be used improve inefficiency in transit agencies. Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method, the study analyzed the mass performance of 334 transit agencies across the US using data from the national transit …

การตรวจสอบรอยแตกร้าวบนพื้นผิวคอนกรีตในรูปแบบมัลติสเกลโดยการประมวลผลภาพ, ปิยวัฒน์ ตันติ์ศรีสกุล

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

รอยร้าวบนพื้นผิวคอนกรีตอาจจะมีลักษณะความแตกต่างตามสาเหตุที่เกิดขึ้น หากได้มีการตรวจสอบในระดับที่ใกล้ชิดกับพื้นผิวรอยร้าว แล้วสามารถนำมาวิเคราะห์แยกลักษณะความแตกต่างของรอยร้าวตามสาเหตุที่เกิดขึ้นได้ ก็จะได้รูปแบบที่จะช่วยลดขั้นตอนการตรวจสอบและเพิ่มขีดความสามารถของบุคลากรในการตรวจสอบรอยร้าวได้ งานวิจัยนี้เป็นกรณีศึกษา โดยตั้งสมมติฐานลักษณะความแตกต่างของรอยร้าวตามสาเหตุที่ได้กำหนด จากนั้นทำการหล่อและทดสอบตัวอย่างคอนกรีตที่ได้กำหนดไว้ คือ การทดสอบแรงดัด การทดสอบแรงเฉือนและการทดสอบแรงดึง จากนั้นนำ Chula Smart Lens ที่มีกำลังขยาย 20, 40 และ 50 เท่า มาใช้งานร่วมกับโทรศัพท์มือถือ Iphone7 ในการถ่ายรูปรอยร้าวที่เกิดขึ้นบนพื้นผิวคอนกรีตและนำภาพถ่ายไปวิเคราะห์โดยการสร้างแบบจำลองและกระบวนการประมวลผลภาพ เพื่อหาลักษณะความแตกต่างและตรวจวัดรอยร้าวที่เกิดขึ้นที่พื้นผิวบนคอนกรีต ผลจากงานวิจัยลักษณะรอยร้าวบนพื้นผิวคอนกรีตจากการสร้างแบบจำลองและการประมวลผลภาพ พบว่ามีบางส่วนเป็นไปตามสมมติฐาน แต่มีบางส่วนที่ไม่เป็นไปตามสมมติฐาน ดังนั้น สมมติฐานลักษณะความแตกต่างของรอยร้าวที่ได้ตั้งไว้ตามสาเหตุที่ได้กำหนดจึงไม่เป็นจริง ส่วนการตรวจวัดรอยร้าวคอนกรีตนั้นสามารถหาค่าความกว้าง ความยาวและพื้นที่ของรอยร้าวที่เกิดขึ้นได้การการประมวลผลภาพ เมื่อรู้ค่าดังกล่าวแล้วสามารถที่จะนำไปหาวิธีในการซ่อมแซมบำรุงรักษาต่อไป

Combined Trajectory, Propulsion, And Battery Mass Optimization For Solar-Regenerative High-Altitude Long Endurance Unmanned Aircraft, Nathaniel S. Gates, Kevin R. Moore, Andrew Ning, John D. Hedengren

Faculty Publications

Combined optimization of propulsion system design, flight trajectory planning and battery mass optimization for solar-regenerative high-altitude long endurance (SRHALE) aircraft through a sequential iterative approach yields an increase of 20.2% in the end-of-day energy available on the winter solstice at 35 deg N latitude, resulting in an increase in flight time of 2.36 hours. The optimized flight path is obtained by using nonlinear model predictive control to solve flight and energy system dynamics over a 24 hour period with a 15 second time resolution. The optimization objective is to maximize the total energy in the system while flying a station-keeping …

Reduction Of Nox Emissions In A Single Cylinder Diesel Engine Using Sncr With In-Cylinder Injection Of Aqueous Urea, Anthony Timpanaro

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The subject of this study is the effect of in-cylinder selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) of NO_x emissions in diesel exhaust gas by means of direct injection of aqueous urea ((NH₂)₂CO) into the combustion chamber. A single cylinder diesel test engine was modified to accept an electronically controlled secondary common rail injection system to deliver the aqueous urea directly into the cylinder during engine operation.

Direct in-cylinder injection was chosen in order to ensure precise delivery of the reducing agent without the risk of any premature reactions taking place. Unlike direct in-cylinder injection of neat water, …

Roadnet: Robust Adaptive Network For Information Diffusion In Vanet, Priyashraba Misra

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The automotive industry has changed more in the last one decade than ever before. Rapid advancements in autonomous driving have opened up opportunities for CAVs (Connected and Automated Vehicles). Vehicles today rely on a sensor-suite to map the surrounding and use that information for safety and navigation. The sensor's view is limited to its line of sight and this drawback can be tapered off by using Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I), generally referred to as Vehicle to Everything (V2X) communication. In this thesis, we specifically focus on utilizing V2V communication using on-board Dedicated Short Range Communication …

Retinex-Based Visibility Enhancement System For Inclement Weather With Tracking And Distance Estimation Capabilities, Marwan S. Alluhaidan

Dissertations

Road conditions affected by weather are well known to have an impact on the number of vehicle accidents and fatalities, due to low- to no-visibility conditions. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there are more than 1,259,000 crashes each year. On average, 6,000 people are killed and more than 445,000 people are injured annually due to severe weather conditions. These accidents could be significantly reduced if real-time visibility enhancement systems were made available. However, eliminating the impact of weather conditions on visibility is still lacking and beyond our control. The time has come to develop technology that is capable …

Reinventing The Wheel, Esther K. Unti, Ahmed Z. Shorab, Patrick B. Kragen, Adam M. Menashe

Mechanical Engineering

Reinventing the Wheel selected tires and designed wheels for the 2018 Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo Formula SAE combustion vehicle. Available tire options were evaluated for steady-state and transient performance as well as vehicle integration. A single-piece composite wheel with hollow spokes was designed to meet stiffness, strength, and tolerance requirements. A detailed study of wheel loading and geometric structural efficiency was performed. Finite element analysis was used to iterate the geometry and laminate. A two-piece male mold was designed and machined to manufacture the wheel. Removable silicone inserts were used to create the hollow spokes.

Daimscale — 1:14th Tractor-Trailer For Testing Driver Assistance Technology, Christopher Marrale, Jase Sasaki, Devin Bodmer

Mechanical Engineering

Active driver assistance systems are becoming increasingly wide-spread throughout the automotive industry due to their potential for safer roads and decreased costs of transportation, but testing these systems on real trucks can be time consuming, dangerous, and costly. Testing these systems on a small-scale tractor-trailer combination will lead to faster and more efficient development of driver assistance systems and can be used by both engineers and students, leading to a larger field of experienced developers to improve these systems.

Our goal will be to design, manufacture, and build a scale 6x2 model of the tractor portion of a Daimler semi-truck …

Object Detection, Classification, And Tracking For Autonomous Vehicle, Milan Aryal

Masters Theses

The detection and tracking of objects around an autonomous vehicle is essential to operate safely. This paper presents an algorithm to detect, classify, and track objects. All objects are classified as moving or stationary as well as by type (e.g. vehicle, pedestrian, or other). The proposed approach uses state of the art deep-learning network YOLO (You Only Look Once) combined with data from a laser scanner to detect and classify the objects and estimate the position of objects around the car. The Oriented FAST and Rotated BRIEF (ORB) feature descriptor is used to match the same object from one image …

Polymer Injection Forming: A New Age Technology For Manufacturing Polymer-Metal Hybrids, Saeed Farahani

All Dissertations

Due to global competition, manufacturing firms in high-wage countries must target innovation in production processes and technologies that allow the mass manufacturing of customized products through highly efficient processes. Motivated by the concept of the integrative production systems, hybrid process of polymer injection molding and sheet metal forming, known as polymer injection forming (PIF), has been introduced to manufacture sheet metal-polymer components using a single tooling, machinery, and operating system. During this process, the sheet metal blank inside the injection mold is deformed by means of tool movement and/or by pressure of the polymer melt. As the melt cools, the …

A Novel All Wheel Drive Torque Vectoring Control System Applied To Four Wheel Independent Drive Electric Motor Vehicles Utilizing Super Twisting And Linear Quadratic Regulator Methods, Kenneth Daniel Schmutz

Master's Theses

This thesis contains the design and simulation test results for the implementation of a new all-wheel drive (AWD) torque vectoring (TV) control system. A separate algorithm using standard control methods is included in this study for a comparison. The proposed controller was designed to be applied to an AWD independent drive electric vehicle, however the main concepts can be re-purposed for other vehicle drive train configurations. The purpose of the control system is to assist the driver in achieving a desired vehicle trajectory whilst also maintaining stability and control of the vehicle. This is accomplished by measuring various real time …

Crash Severity Analysis Of Rear-End Crashes In California Using Statistical And Machine Learning Classification Methods, Alidad Ahmadi, Arash Jahangiri, Vincent Berardi, Sahar Ghanipoor Machiani

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Investigating drivers’ injury level and detecting contributing factors that aggravate the damage level imposed on drivers and vehicles is a critical subject in the field of crash analysis. In this study, a comprehensive vehicle-by-vehicle crash data set is developed by integrating 5 years of data from California crash, vehicles involved, and road databases. The data set is used to model the severity of rear-end crashes for comparing three analytic techniques: multinomial logit, mixed multinomial logit, and support vector machine (SVM). The results of the crash severity models and the role of contributing factors to the severity outcome of rear-end crashes …

Advances In Automotive Conversion Coatings During Pretreatment Of The Body Structure: A Review, Mark Doerre, Larry Hibbitts, Gabriela Patrick, Nelson K. Akafuah

Institute of Research for Technology Development Faculty Publications

Automotive conversion coatings consist of layers of materials that are chemically applied to the body structures of vehicles before painting to improve corrosion protection and paint adhesion. These coatings are a consequence of surface-based chemical reactions and are sandwiched between paint layers and the base metal; the chemical reactions involved distinctly classify conversion coatings from other coating technologies. Although the tri-cationic conversion coating bath chemistry that was developed around the end of the 20th century remains persistent, environmental, health, and cost issues favor a new generation of greener methods and materials such as zirconium. Environmental forces driving lightweight material selection …

Dscr Based Sensor-Pooling Protocol For Connected Vehicles In Future Smart Cities, Mostafa El-Said, Samah Mansour, Vijay Bhuse

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Smart cities are racing to create a more connected Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) that rely on collecting data from every possible sensor such as a smart utility meter or a smart parking meter. The use of more sensors resulted in generating a lot of information that maps the smart city environment conditions to more real time data points that needed to be shared and analyzed among smart city nodes. One possibility, to carry and share the collected data, is in autonomous vehicles systems, which use the Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) technology. For example, in a Car-to-Parking-Meter or a Vehicle-to-Vehicle …

The Robot-Transporter: Sex Trafficking, Autonomous Vehicles, And Criminal Liability For Manufacturers, Olivia Phillips

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Despite global condemnation, sex trafficking continues to plague our world. Even in developed countries, the problem persists. Technological advancements, like the Internet, have spurred the development of organized sex trafficking networks and have made “transactions” easier. Although law enforcement agencies have tried to adapt their investigative techniques to combat the problem, developments in technology move at a much quicker rate.

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) will present a new set of challenges for law enforcement agencies in the fight against sex trafficking. In the not-too-distant future, AVs, or “self-driving cars,” will dominate the roadways. An AV will be completely aware of the …

Maximizing Financial Benefit Of Lean Six Sigma Projects Through Optimized Selection Criteria, Colin Wasiloff

Operations Research and Engineering Management Theses and Dissertations

As evolving threats across the globe keep pace with increasing budget constraints, the US Army’s major subordinate commands and their sub-organizations are constantly challenged to do more with less. Resources such as human capital, information technology, facilities, and budgeted funding are stretched as thin as ever, while requirements to serve the Warfighter remain paramount. Each dollar of financial benefit gained through cost reduction efforts at the US Army can affect the Warfighter directly. Budgeted money saved or avoided is reprogrammed both locally and atop the hierarchy at the Department of Treasury to serve the Warfighter better.

Ordinal Logistic Regression was …

Does Length Of Ride, Gender Or Nationality Affect Willingness To Ride In A Driverless Ambulance?, Stephen Rice, Scott R. Winter, Rian Mehta, Joseph R. Keebler, Bradley S. Baugh, Emily C. Anania, Mattie N. Milner

Publications

Due to the frequent lack of ambulances and personnel, the purpose of this study was to examine consumers’ willingness-to-ride in an ambulance that was either driven by a human driver or completely automated (with no human driver) based on the gender of the participant and their nationality, either Indian or American. A two-study experimental design was utilized using over 1,000 participants. In Study 1, the length of the ride and the type of driver were manipulated while in Study 2, the length of the ride was manipulated across genders and nationality. Study 2 also collected affect measures to complete a …

An Improved Control Algorithm For Ship Course Keeping Based On Nonlinear Feedback And Decoration, Xiaxiao Yao

Maritime Safety & Environment Management Dissertations (Dalian)

No abstract provided.

Development Of Iowa Dot Combination Bridge Separation Barrier With Bicycle Railing, Chaz M. Ginger

Department of Engineering Mechanics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The Iowa Department of Transportation typically builds separation barriers between vehicle and pedestrian/bicycle facilities when sidewalks or trails are present on vehicular bridges. Currently, Iowa DOT employs a combination bridge rail that utilizes a concrete parapet that previously had been successfully evaluated to National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 350 Test Level 4 (TL-4) criteria for these situations. While the parapet had been successfully evaluated, the combination bridge rail system as a whole had not been evaluated to any crash test standards. Iowa DOT desired that researchers at Midwest Roadside Safety Facility (MwRSF) design and test a combination bridge …