MRI: Development of iCAVE2 (Instrument for Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Evaluation and Experimentation)

该项目开发了一种集成的5合1仪器，用于联网和自动驾驶汽车（分别为CV和AV）的评估和实验（iCAVE2），解决了地面交通系统中事故和死亡、拥堵、燃油消耗和排放等统计数据引起严重关注的开放性研究挑战。这项工作通过开发一种必要的仪器，弥合现有模拟器和道路测试设施之间的差距，解决了与评估和试验新兴和潜在变革的CV/AV技术相关的关键社会需求。该工具适用于学术界和IT行业的研究人员，以及汽车制造、汽车保险和政府运输部门的开发人员和决策者。研究生助理将接受实践经验和多学科知识的培训。该仪器可以扩展几个项目，并有助于STEM领域的教育和培训。因此，更好的驾驶训练和相关的康复应该是预期的。iCAVE由以下几个部分组成：在虚拟现实（VR）中进行人/硬件在环实验的多个驾驶模拟器（DS）， 2。2 .交通模拟器（TS），其车辆可以模拟cv和AVs在混合交通情况下的移动，具有相当真实的交通环境；网络模拟器（NS）与现实的无线通信模型，以评估各种车对车（V2V）和车对基础设施（V2I）通信技术。4 .几辆仪表化车辆（IVs），包括一辆完全仪表化的CV和一辆自动驾驶汽车，用于进行现实世界的实验和连接数据；具有各种交通传感器和用于V3V/V2I通信的路边单元的仪表环境（IE）覆盖约1.2平方英里的区域，具有代表性的城市交通。仪表化的环境和车辆提供真实世界的测量数据，用于构建和校准集成模拟器使用的参数/模型。它们还可以用于运行CV/AV算法和应用程序来收集数据，并评估其性能和有效性。该仪器可供本地和远程用户使用。它的主要软件模块将基于实时数据分发的框架开发，具有开放的api，并作为一个开源项目。新的设计、技术、基础设施和应用程序将在部署之前进行评估和验证。这个灵活、可扩展、安全、实用的平台，预计将特别适合回答各种“假设”问题，这些问题与人类自动化与尚未可用的技术和罕见/极端事件的交互有关，涉及安全性、效率和可持续性，是同类中第一个具有前所未有的能力的平台，没有任何基于模拟器的仪器或学术、工业或政府研发实验室的试验台提供。该工具还应支持与大数据运输系统相关的活动。

This project, developing an integrated 5-in-1 instrument for connected and autonomous vehicle (respectively, CV and AV) evaluation and experimentation (iCAVE2), addresses open research challenges in surface transportation systems where statistics on accidents and fatalities, congestion, fuel consumptions, and emissions have raised serious concerns. This work addresses a critical societal need related to evaluating and experimenting with the emerging and potentially transformative CV/AV technologies by developing a necessary instrument that can bridge the gap between existing simulators and road testing facilities. The instrument is useful to researchers in academia and IT industry, and developers and decision makers in the auto-manufacturing, auto-insurance and government transportation agencies. Graduate assistants will be trained with hands-on experiences and multi-disciplinary knowledge. The instrument enables expansion of several programs and contributes to the education and training in the STEM fields. Consequently, better driver training and related rehabilitation should be expected.iCAVE consists of: 1. Multiple driving simulators (DS) to conduct human/hardware-in-the-loop experiments in a Virtual Reality (VR), 2. A traffic simulator (TS) whose vehicles can mimic, CVs and AVs move in mixed traffic situations with a fairly realistic traffic environment, 3. A Network Simulator (NS) with realistic wireless communication models to evaluate various Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communications technologies, 4. Several Instrumented Vehicles (IVs) including a fully instrumented CV and a AV to conduct real-world experiments and connect data, and 5. An Instrumented Environment (IE) with various traffic sensors and road-side units for V3V/V2I communications covering an area of approximately1.2 square miles with representative urban traffic. The instrumented environment and vehicles provide real-world measurement data to build and calibrate parameters/models for use by the integrated simulators. They can also be used to run CV/AV algorithms and applications to collect data, and evaluate their performance and effectiveness. The instrument will be available to both local and remote users. Its main software module will be developed based on a framework for real-time data distribution, with open APIs and as an open-source project. New designs, technologies, infrastructure, and applications will be evaluated and validated before deployment. This flexible, scalable, safe, and realistic platform, expected to be particularly suitable for answering various "what-if" questions related to safety, efficiency, and sustainability arising from human-automation interactions with not-yet-available technologies and rare/extreme events, is the first-of-its-kind with unprecedented capabilities, not offered by any simulator-based instrument or test-beds in academic, industrial or government-based R&D laboratories. The instrument should also enable activities related to Big Data transportation systems.