September 2000
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September 2000 |
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As a promising side show to the much larger Demo 2000 intelligent vehicles event planned by the Japanese Ministries of Construction and Transportation, the Mechanical Engineering Lab of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MITI) is planning to showcase their work in advanced vehicle platooning concepts. The MEL demo homes in on long-term driver assistance applications, whereas Demo 2000 will focus on short-term safety systems. Info on the timing and content of MEL's event is provided here.
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Although Demo 2000 -- a major demonstration of vehicle safety technologies late this year -- has drawn the lion's share of attention within the Intelligent Vehicle community for some time, a team at Japan's Mechanical Engineering Laboratory (MEL) has been quietly developing advanced next-generation systems for vehicle platooning. They have announced demonstrations of their systems during November 22-27, just prior to Demo 2000. For this "Demo 2000 Cooperative Driving" event, MEL is teamed with the Association of Electronic Technology for Automotive Traffic and Driving (JSK) and the University of Tokyo. MEL is part of the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), and automated vehicle work there is headed by Dr. Sadayuki Tsugawa. The demo will be held on the MEL test track in Tsukuba City, about one hour north of Tokyo ... the site of Demo 2000. Wild Geese and Dolphins ? The MEL/JSK cooperative driving approach is adapted from nature. According to their demo announcement, "the formation of wild geese under migration is aerodynamically efficient. Dolphins swim without collision while communicating with each other. The cooperative driving here is defined as flexible platooning of automated vehicles over a couple of lanes performing lane changes, smooth merging, and passing, following the way of the geese and dolphins." Key to their approach is inter-vehicle communications using a unique 5.8 GHz DSRC protocol, for which they've developed -- in the best tradition of advanced highway technology projects -- a clever acronym: Dedicated Omni-purpose intervehicle communication Linkage Protocol for Highway automatioN, or DOLPHIN. Plans are to include a sensor suite consisting of differential GPS, machine vision, laser radar, and millimeter wave radar. No infrastructure components are used. A platoon of five automated vehicles will do seven maneuvers on the 3.2 km oval-shaped test track:
Introducing: Automation for the Disabled A new user segment has been defined by the University of Tokyo for their development work -- disabled persons. They will demonstrate an automated vehicle usable by disabled persons, for "independent mobility." No further details were available on their approach. Day Allotted for Overseas Visitors While presentations during the six day event
generally will be conducted in Japanese, November 27 is set aside
for international visitors ... and events will be conducted in English.
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For more information ... ... contact Dr. Tsugawa at tsugawa@mel.go.jp
... or access the JSK website at www.jsk.or.jp/eindex.html.
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Copyright 2000: IVsource.net and Richard Bishop Consulting (RBC). All Rights Reserved. |
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