This thesis investigates and implements the sensor fusion necessary to autonomously reverse a full size truck and trailer system. This is done using a LiDAR mounted on the rear of the truck along with a RTK-GPS. It is shown that the relative angles between truck-dolly and dolly-trailer can be estimated, along with global position and global heading of the trailer. This is then implemented in one of Scania's test vehicles, giving it the ability to continuously estimate these states. A controller is then implemented, showing that the full scale system can be stabilised in reverse motion. The controller is tested both on a static reference path and a reference path received from a motion planner. In these tests, the controller is able to stabilise the system well, allowing the truck to do complex manoeuvres backwards. A small lateral tracking error is present, which needs to be further investigated.

The purpose of this study is to analyze trailer homes being produced in the United States in 1953 in order to determine how they might be made more livable and functional.

Manoeuvring a vehicle with additionally attached trailers is a tedious task. Albeit driver assistance systems support the driver in nearly any situation in these days, tools facilitating the manoeuvring process of extended vehicles can only rarely be found in research and especially in the market. This thesis deals with the prototypical implementation of a rear view camera parking assistance system. In particular, the visualisation of the predicted driving path of the tractor-trailer combination in the camera image is emphasised, following the representation of existing parking assistance systems for individual vehicles. A general approach is aiming at the portability of the system to nearly any kind of trailer. The superimposed guidelines are based on a state space model, which is derived on top of assumptions agreeing with results found in the literature. Due to the strong assumptions and simplifications, the model is tested in three different ways and moreover for different types of trailers. All underlying methods are described in detail and furthermore tested in several scenarios, if necessary. Special importance is attached to the comparison of the actual driven paths with their previous predictions, for which a new method has been derived, implemented and tested successfully. Beside the implementation of the guideline projection to the camera’s image, the human-machine interface is augmented by a Bird’s Eye view animation, too. A final test of the integrated system for different types of trailers shows the proper operation of the overall system during parking situations.

The highly competitive nature of the transportation industry has produced significant demand for increased equipment efficiency. This has been manifested in attempts to increase carrying capacity whilst lowering running costs. While these factors remain at the forefront of trailer design, the dependence on steel as the primary material has limited the extent to which these goals are realised. The advantages associated with the use of fibre composite materials in automotive applications have been well documented, demonstrating that the substitution of steel with fibre composite materials greatly increases the scope for tare mass reduction. However, to fully utilise the advantages produced through the use of fibre composites, it is necessary to formulate a design philosophy that incorporates the selection of materials and the definition of acceptable performance of both the material and the trailer. This dissertation addresses this broad subject. Within this greater context, this study addresses the incorporation of fibre composite materials into semi-trailers, with the significant issues being divided into two areas: - The development of a design philosophy, intended specifically to address the application of fibre composites to semi-trailers. - The design, analysis and experimental validation of a new type of fibre composite trailer chassis, utilising the aforementioned design philosophy. This PhD project is a foundational study on the suitability of fibre composite materials in the heavy transportation industry, primarily focusing on a practical assessment of the potential for tare mass reduction. The work presented in this dissertation is seen to provide a basis for fibre composite trailer design, in addition to a foundation upon which further investigation into this field can be made. The major outcomes of this project include, amongst others: - The definition of significant load cases and trailer classifications · The development of a design philosophy suited specifically to FRP semi-trailers - The establishment of selection criteria which identifies appropriate FRP materials for use in this application - The development of a new type of FRP chassis for a flatbed semi-trailer - Validation of the design philosophy through experimental testing - Affirmation of the potential of FRPs in application to flatbed semi-trailers

This research seeks to establish visual principles present in modern media and compare their usefulness. The visual principles will be explained and presented. Then they will be analyzed within two game trailers of commercial games. A correlation will then be extrapolated and then presented if the results create the presented and expected outcome.

No description available.

In this thesis improvements, implementation and evaluation have been done on a motion planning algorithm for a full-sized reversing truck and trailer system. The motion planner is based on a motion planning algorithm called Closed-Loop Rapidly-exploring Random Tree (CL-RRT). An important property for a certain class of systems, stating that by selecting the input signals in a certain way the same result as reversing the time can be archived, is also presented. For motion planning this means that the problem of reversing from position A to position B can also be solved by driving forward from B to A and then reverse the solution. The use of this result in the motion planner has been evaluated and has shown to be very useful. The main improvements made on the CL-RRT algorithm are a faster collision detection method, a more efficient way to draw samples and a more correct heuristic cost-to-go function. A post optimizing or smoothing method that brings the system to the exact desired configuration, based on numerical optimal control, has also been developed and implemented with successful results. The motion planner has been implemented and evaluated on a full-scale truck with a dolly steered trailer prepared for autonomous operation with promising results.

Multi-trailer articulated heavy vehicles (MTAHVs) exhibit unstable motion modes at high speeds, including jack-knifing, trailer swing, and roll-over. These unstable motion modes may lead to fatal accidents. On the other hand, these vehicle combinations have poor maneuverability at low speeds. Of all contradictory design criteria of MTAHVs, the trade-off relationship between the maneuverability at low speeds and the lateral stability at high speeds is the most important and fundamental. This trade-off relationship has not been adequately addressed. The goal of this research is to address this trade-off relationship through the design optimization of MTAHVs with active safety systems. A parallel design optimization (PDO) method is developed and applied to the design of MTAHVs with integrated active safety systems, which involve active trailer steering (ATS) control, anti-roll (AR) control, differential braking (BD) control, and a variety of combinations of these three control strategies. To derive model-based controllers, a single-trailer articulated heavy vehicle (STAHV) model with 5 degrees of freedom (DOF) and a MTAHV model with 7 DOF are generated. The vehicle models are validated with those derived using a commercial software package, TruckSim, in order to examine their applicability for the design optimization of MTAHVs with active safety systems. The PDO method is implemented to perform the concurrent design of the plant (vehicle model) and controllers. To simulate the closed-loop testing maneuvers, a driver model is developed and it is used to drive the virtual vehicle following the prescribed path. Case studies indicate that the PDO method is effective for identifying desired design variables and predicting performance envelopes in the early design stages of MTAHVs with active safety systems. / UOIT

This master thesis is focused on the analysis of economy efficiency of the European Modular System. This determination is going to proceed from comparison of standard and longer trucks. The sense of this thesis is to find out, if standard or longer trucks are more efficient. The comparison is going to be made with the aid of a calculation of costs, which arise on two chosen independent routes. The conclusion evaluation of the trucks is going to work on these analyses.

A car with underinflated tires can lead to both safety and environmental issues. To combat this, markets have begun requiring new cars to feature a Tire Pressure Monitoring System. Systems without pressure sensors are referred to as indirect Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems, often utilizing wheel speed sensors in combination with other available sensor information to detect tire pressure losses.  NIRA Dynamics is a company founded in Linköping, Sweden, most known for its indirect Tire Pressure Monitoring System called TPI. TPI needs to be verified in a large number of scenarios, which may be both difficult and expensive to realize in real vehicle tests. The purpose of this master thesis was to investigate and model what physical phenomena are associated with having a trailer connected to a car, relevant for TPI. The goal was to construct a hybrid simulation framework, making it possible to modify car-only data to reflect the effects of having a trailer connected.  A car-trailer model was developed, showing close resemblance in simulations to real collected car-trailer sensor data. The model was then used to design a hybrid simulation framework, where car-only sensor signals were modified to mimic having different types of trailers attached. The hybrid simulation results show close resemblance to real collected trailer sensor data. By not requiring real trailer data for every scenario to evaluate software performance on, the proposed framework opens up the possibility to simulate data from a much larger number of trailer combinations than would otherwise have been feasible to test in real vehicle tests.