Researchers affiliated with the laboratory are concerned with studying transportation operations and safety issues from a multi-modal perspective. The high fidelity simulators allow researchers to evaluate many more scenarios that would be practically possible in other experimental mediums while simultaneously controlling for extraneous variables. As a result, drivers and bicyclists can be exposed to risky scenarios that would be either very difficult or impossible to evaluate in the real world.
Driving and Bicycling Simulator
Research
Facilities
Faculty Researchers
Fee Schedule
Location
3550 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, Oregon 97331
Full Scale Driving SimulatorThe Oregon State Driving Simulator is a high-fidelity simulator, consisting of a full 2009 Ford Fusion cab mounted on top of a pitch motion system. Three projectors produce a 180-degree front view and a fourth projector displays a rear image for the driver’s center mirror. The two side mirrors have LCD displays. The vehicle cab instruments are fully functional and include a steering control loading system to accurately represent steering torques based on vehicle speed and steering angle. Image
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Full Scale Bicycling SimulatorThe OSU Bicycling Simulator is one of only a handful of bicycle simulators in the world, and can operate simultaneously with the OSU Driving Simulator in the same virtual environment. Braking, pedaling, and steering inputs from the cyclist are reflected in the visual field which includes a rear view mirror. To increase the demographic variety of subjects, three different bicycles (men’s, women’s, and a smaller child size) have been instrumented and can be easily swapped on the adjustable platform. Image
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Desktop Development SimulatorThe desktop development simulator is used to build and test experimental designs and scenarios for both the full scale driving and bicycling simulators. The multimonitor platform of the desktop development simulator, with the incorporated steering wheel and floor pedals, is useful for creating, coding, and testing developed scenes. This desktop development simulator allows for quick troubleshooting during environment development. Additionally the desktop simulator can be used to conduct a variety of research studies. Image
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Eye-TrackingEye movement data can be collected using the Mobile Eye-XG platform from Applied Science Laboratories. The Mobile Eye-XG allows the subject to have unconstrained eye and head movement, generating a sampling rate of 30 Hz and with an accuracy of 0.5 to 1.0 degree. The subject’s gaze is calculated based on the correlation between the subject’s pupil position and the reflection of three infrared lights on the eyeball. Two laptop computers operate Argus ETAnalysis software for processing the eye movement data. Image
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Data Acquisition SystemThe SimObserver data acquisition system is used to collect data from the full scale driving and bicycling simulators when operating independently or while networked. This platform can record performance data such as speed, position, and headway of the subject vehicle or any other dynamic actor in the simulation environment at a sampling frequency of up to 60Hz. In addition to dependent measures, 5 digital cameras mounted in and around the vehicle and 3 digital cameras mounted in the bicycling simulator synchronously record video with the dependent measurements. Image
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Autonomous Vehicle SimulationThe Oregon State Driving Simulator Laboratory employs SimDriver software, which can simulate different levels of autonomous vehicle (AV) technologies. SimDriver is fully integrated with the full scale driving simulator using JavaScript, allowing the research team to easily modify the AV behavior for testing a variety of research questions. The dashboard of the full scale driving simulator has been updated using AltiaDesign to allow for a wide range of images to be displayed in conjunction with the SimDriver software. Image
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