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

该项目开发了一种用于互联和自动驾驶汽车(分别为CV和AV)评估和实验的集成5合1仪器(ICAVE2)，解决了地面交通系统中的公开研究挑战，在这些系统中，事故和死亡、拥堵、燃油消耗和排放的统计数据引起了严重关注。这项工作解决了与评估和试验新兴的和潜在的变革性CV/AV技术相关的关键社会需求，开发了一种必要的仪器，可以弥合现有模拟器和道路测试设施之间的差距。该仪器对学术界和IT行业的研究人员，以及汽车制造、汽车保险和政府交通机构的开发人员和决策者都很有用。研究生助理将接受实践经验和多学科知识的培训。该工具使几个方案得以扩展，并为STEM领域的教育和培训做出贡献。因此，应该期待更好的驾驶员培训和相关的康复。iCAVE包括：1.多个驾驶模拟器(DS)，用于在虚拟现实(VR)中进行人/硬件在环实验；2.交通模拟器(TS)，其车辆可以模仿，CV和AV在具有相当逼真的交通环境的混合交通情况下移动；3.具有真实无线通信模型的网络模拟器(NS)，用于评估各种车辆到车辆(V2V)和车辆到基础设施(V2I)的通信技术，4.几个仪表化车辆(IV)，包括用于进行真实世界实验和连接数据的全仪表化CV和AV，以及5.具有各种交通传感器和用于V3V/V2I通信的路边单元的仪表化环境(IE)，覆盖大约1.2平方英里的区域，具有代表性的城市交通。仪表化环境和车辆提供真实世界的测量数据，以构建和校准参数/模型，以供集成模拟器使用。它们还可用于运行CV/AV算法和应用程序以收集数据，并评估其性能和有效性。该仪器将向本地和远程用户提供。它的主要软件模块将以实时数据分发框架为基础，使用开放API并作为开放源码项目开发。新的设计、技术、基础设施和应用程序将在部署前进行评估和验证。这个灵活、可扩展、安全和现实的平台，预计特别适合回答因人类自动化与尚不可用的技术和罕见/极端事件的交互而产生的各种与安全、效率和可持续性相关的假设问题，是此类平台中第一个具有前所未有的能力的平台，学术、工业或政府研发实验室的任何基于模拟器的仪器或试验台都无法提供这种平台。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.