Truck Driving Research Simulator Laboratory

This Truck Driving Simulator is a fully instrumented Mack Trucks, Inc. CH cab mounted on a Moog, Inc. motion base. Two software programs control the system:

- The vehicle dynamics model software program, written by STI, gives orders to the cues; and
- The Renault software, which generates the images on the screens and the surrounding traffic.

The three front screens provide a 140-degree field-of-view, and the two rear-view screens add more realism in the environment rendering.

At the current stage of the simulator, two 2-axle straight trucks of 20 ft wheelbase (empty and fully loaded) of 16,000lbs and 24,000lbs with six-speed manual and automatic transmission can be driven. Also an open-loop brake system can be used to study braking performance at different brake pressure distribution. The vehicles can reach 75 mil/hr and the effects of various designs and operating conditions on rollover dynamics, steering response and braking performance on wide range of road types can be studied in details. The near future more capabilities will be added to the simulator to include more road condition, heavier vehicle configurations, including 5-axle tractor/semitrailers.

Penn State Truck Driving Simulator