Motion Parameter Tuning and Evaluation for the DLR Automotive Simulator

Abstract

The DLR dynamic driving simulator is a 6 degrees of freedom (DoF) motion base with a range of 3 m in the horizontal plane and 2 m in the vertical direction. A real car is placed within the mounted cabin with a 270 degree field of view. This paper describes the first evaluation tasks associated with the commissioning of a new motion-based driving simulator and presents a comprehensive strategy to prove its validity. After a short description of the laboratory environment, the classification according to a given validity definition and the prioritization of the subsequent tasks are explained. Within the first phase, the parameters of the motion filter algorithm are optimized following an adapted tuning paradigm. Different maneuver specific tuned parameter sets are compared and evaluated during the main experiment consisting of two parts: a real world drive and a simulator test. Besides the objective criteria, i.e. comparison of steering behavior or speed choice in the real and the virtual world, the subjective assessment of the motion cueing is introduced as an important contribution to the evaluation goals.