Scale Model AHS Research Facility (SMARF)

Details

• Alternative Title:
  IDEA PROJECT FINAL REPORT, SCALE MODEL AHS RESEARCH FACILITY (SMARF)
• Creators:
  Vera, Raul
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Automated Highway Systems Intelligent Transportation Systems Scale Models Scaling Factor
• Resource Type:
  Research Paper
• TRIS Online Accession Number:
  00734671
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Federal Highway Administration
• NTL Classification:
  NTL-INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS-INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
• Abstract:
  This Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) project focused on developing a Scale Model Automated Highway System (AHS) Research Facility (SMARF). The SMARF is intended as an innovative scale model of an AHS vehicle system, the first step in the build out of an innovative testbed for AHS development. Once fully developed, the system would embody the dynamics realism necessary to portray an automated driving process on specialized roadways while saving development cost and time, reducing safety risks, and offering repeatability and accuracy of test scenarios. An integral part of the current investigation has been the development of scaling laws which are designed to allow AHS developers to translate small-scale vehicle results to full-scale vehicles. The most significant finding of this investigation was that radar sensors employed in a scale environment require additional engineering for adaptation to longitudinal control applications. It was not possible within project resource constraints to overcome the problem of ground clutter interfering with the lead vehicle radar return. This made the task of acquiring and maintaining distance between the lead and follower vehicles impossible. In other areas the investigation yielded positive results. An exploration of the market potential of the SMARF concept identified three major areas as potential markets: Automated Highway Systems; Safety Research; and Product Evaluation. It is anticipated that additional research and development could overcome the problems with the radar and control subsystems. SMARF research is being broadened by SRI, using internal research and development funds, to employ longitudinal and lateral GPS control using carrier phase techniques to provide the centimeter-level accuracies demanded from control systems in these scale ranges. 17 p.
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:ff6dfc366c5d667eb74d1987e85d69ee93c133bc1f656d526613eaa095bb7544
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/39347/dot_39347_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 116.01 KB ]