Magazines

HIL Tests For Truck ESC

Vehicle Dynamics International Magazine / Second Edition 2008

Researchers at The Universtiy of Michigan Transportation Research Institute evaluate control performance and safety effectiveness of stability enhanced systems used in heavy trucks with TruckSim. The project was sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. To read the article click here.

Dynamics Development Of The Year

Automotivie Testing Technology International/ November/December 2007

Read why "CarSim 7 takes dynamics simulation to the next level" and how Mechanical Simulation won this prestigious award.

Mitsubishi Motors' S-AWC Integrally Controls Vehicle Behaviors with 2 ECUs

Nikkei Business Publications / 2007 July

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. announced July 10, 2007, that it will mount Super All Wheel Control (S-AWC), a newly-developed technology for the integration control of vehicle motion, in the new models of Lancer Evolution, which will be released in fall 2007. Please read the full article Mitsubishi Motors' S-AWC Integrally Controls Vehicle Behaviors with 2 ECUs which mentions how CarSim was used.

Simulation Commands

Vehicle Dynamics International / 2007 May

Engineers at the world's largest OEM's use kinematics and compliance (K&C) test rigs to measure suspension behavior for use in CarSim and then simulate thousands of tests evaluating advanced controllers and other vehicle components. With the introduction of CarSim 7, K&C simulation can be obtained with just a few commands in the new VehicleSim Command Language. To read the article please click here.

Powertrain Calibration

Vehicle Dynamics International / 2007 March

Powertrain calibration is ususally one of the most expensive, time-consuming tasks in the vehicle development process due to the need for on-road testing under wide range of environmental conditions. This article explains how CarSim is being used to replicate an extenisve range of vehicle behavior, while running in real time to create "powertrain-in-the-loop" test systems. Click here to read the full article.

Pony Car War! Camaro versus Mustang [Cover Story!]

Motor Trend / 2006 May

The cover story for the May 2006 issue of Motor Trend Magazine pits the Chevrolet Camaro Concept car vs. the 2006 Ford Mustang, where, in the words of author Frank Markus, "we're not afraid to cozy up to the experts who developed the best software..." To prepare the article, Phil Mather of Mechanical Simulation helped Markus estimate parameters for three possible versions of the Camaro Concept car that might exist in 2009, along with parameters of comparable Mustangs. The three pairs of vehicles ran through four tests used by Motor Trend for their regular testing process: a slalom, a figure-8 race, acceleration, and braking. Click here for the story from the Motor Trend web site. Click here for extra material about the article.

Vehicle Dynamics Software

Vehicle Dynamics International / 2006 April/May

The revolution in automotive product development that combines electronic controls with mechanical chassis systems has challenged the developers of vehicle dynamics software to envision how their tools can better serve engineers. Starting with Brake and Traction controls, vehicle simulations were extended to include Electronic Stability Control (ECS) systems performing sophisticated vehicle dynamics management. These include active steering and suspensions, powertrain controls, yaw and roll stability controls, radar and video systems, roadway infrastructure-to-vehicle communications, and vehicle-to-vehicle communications. Click here to read how the design of CarSim, TruckSim and BikeSim – software products from Mechanical Simulator Corporation – illustrate how these systems are simulated and tested long before actual prototypes are available.

The Transformation of Testing

Automotive Engineering International / 2006 March

Mechanical Simulation is highlighted in an article that discusses how the testing and simulation market is assisting engineers to increase productivity, hasten the product development cycle, and find ways to reduce costs. To purchase a copy of this article from SAE please click here.

SAE Automotive Engineering International Tech 2005 Award

Automotive Engineering International / 2005 April

Mechanical Simulation was the proud recipient of an SAE Automotive Engineering International Tech 2005 Award for Vehicle Dynamics Simulation with their CarSim6 vehicle dynamics simulation software. CarSim6 includes over 75 enhancements to the previous version, and it is much easier and faster to use.

Simulation Expansion

Vehicle Dynamics International / 2005 March

When an OEM developed an advanced active headlight controller, they needed to evaluate its performance when the vehicle ran over bumps and around curves. They chose CarSim and used its abilities to link with Matlab/Simulink. Engineers modeled the headlight controller inside Simulink and built the vehicle and roads within CarSim. CarSim fed the steering wheel angle, pitch angles and rates, and other variables into the Simulink modeled controller. Using CarSim’s animator and plotting feature, they were able to visualize where the headlights are aimed, in order to fine tune the controller. CarSim may also be used to simulate Intelligent Traffic System applications, where it is helpful to see multiple vehicles simultaneously in a given environment. One more feature of CarSim is its compatibility with many types of Real Time systems. CarSim-RT uses the exact same equations and solvers as CarSim, meaning it is very stable and efficient to use. Being able to extend CarSim with other software and Real Time packages drastically reduces testing and development time, saving the users money.

Developing Innovative Control Systems

Vehicle Dynamics International / 2005 March

The add2 company has developed MICROGen, a flexible and powerful rapid prototyping system, programmed using Simulink and based on an industry standard micro-controller. MICROGen may be used in bench testing control systems with CarSim-RT along with RT-LAB from Opal-RT, and Genix Real-Time Target hardware. This is just another example of how CarSim is used to help perform tests before controllers are placed into vehicles.

New advances in simulation

Vehicle Dynamics International / 2004 December

With the recent release of Mechanical Simulation’s CarSim 6, OEMs, suppliers, universities, and motorsport participants have access to a simulation tool that can be applied throughout the vehicle development process. CarSim 6 is easy to use, and has many features including: real time operation, accuracy, extendibility with other software, and cost effectiveness. It has been extensively validated by major OEMs and suppliers. CarSim6 includes everything needed to simulate vehicle tests and view the results, at a fraction of the cost of physical testing.

Flexibility is the key to cost-effective testing

Vehicle Dynamics International / 2004 May

High-end computing power only became widely and cheaply available recently. As a result, simulation testing remains under-utilized in an industry that stands to gain huge time and cost benefits. CarSim-RT in combination with an HIL system such as add2’s Genix creates a highly flexible and powerful testing system. Genix is tightly integrated with CarSim-RT as well as TruckSim-RT. The entire HIL system allows CarSim-RT to work in combination with Opal-RT, Matlab/Simulink, and add2’s VisualConnX graphical control interface. Together, these products have proven themselves as a means of testing a range of development and production ECU control units.

Influencing vehicle identity

Vehicle Dynamics International / 2004 May

When BorgWarner was developing its Torque-Proportioning Vehicle Dynamic Controls, Matlab/Simulink was used to model the controller, along with the CarSim vehicle and tire dynamics models. The vehicle dynamic controls were developed and tested. Co-simulation was used to point the way and to discover the range of influences hardware and software have on vehicle behavior.

Chassis Control Co-Simulation using CarSim and AMESim

Vehicle Dynamics International / 2004 March

The use of Co-Simulation allows engineers to test many vehicle systems together while using different software packages at the same time. CarSim is completely compatible with Matlab/Simulink making this job much easier. Delphi has used AMESim by IMAGINE Software (a hydraulics modeling program) together with Matlab/Simulink and CarSim when modeling an Electronic Stability Control (ESC) system. CarSim provides the vehicle data and the driving environment. It feeds the steering wheel position, yaw rate, lateral acceleration, and other data to AMESim (the hydraulics) and Simulink (the ESC system). AMESim and Simulink feed information back to CarSim and the process continues. This type of simulation allows the engineers to rapidly tune their systems in the computer before building prototypes and running physical tests, thus saving time and money.