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Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / This thesis investigates the types of competition that exist during the different acquisition phase of a weapon system procurement, and discusses the possible effects that competition has on the acquisition cost of these systems. Also, economic, technical and management variables are presented and discussed that may have a significant impact when considering whether to introduce production competition into a program. Five second sourcing methodologies are presented and discussed along with their relative advantages and disadvantages, and a model is presented which allows for a comparison to be performed between the five second sourcing methods. The proposed acquisition strategy for the Advanced Assault Amphibian Vehicle (AAAV) is presented and analyzed as it concerns design and production competition. An analysis of the AAAV program variables is performed, with accompanying economic analysis, which indicates that a Contractor Teaming strategy would be appropriate for introducing production competition should the decision be made to second source. / http://archive.org/details/evaluationofcomp00corc / Captain, United States Marine Corps

For  many  off-road drive   lovers,  planning a journey to  Tibet   is an ultimate dream.  However, the eco-system there  is quite sensitive and fragile. In this project I try to design  a sustainable vehicle that  could make us enjoy  an expedition to Tibet  while  protecting such precious environment. Research  about future trends, about the  environmental conditions, about emerging powertrain technologies and the Jeep brand helped me to establish my design  concept. Package  study, ideation sketches and clay modelling were used to develop both styling and functionality aspects of the vehicle. Digital modelling supported the fabrication of a quarter scale model.  Storytelling was used  to  explain the  concept and  the  situations that  Jeep  E-pic  drivers could meet  during their expedition. The result  is a self-powered all-terrain vehicle designed to carry  two occupants and their  expedition gear and equipped with various tools to handle  eventual maintenance and rescue  situations.

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<p>In new cars of today there are several electronically controlled systems that seek to aid the driver and make the journey as safe as possible. This include not only systems that directly control the vehicle such as ABS and ESP, but also systems that might make driving easier such as navigation systems, cruise control and even seat adjustments.</p><p>It is important that the effects on the driver from the use of such systems do not lead to an environment that diverts the attention of the driver from the main task, i.e. driving safely.</p><p>In this thesis a possible way of modeling the driver distractedness level due to the operation of these systems is discussed. This is done in Simulink with vehicle CAN data as inputs. An expert field test is done with 6 drivers over 18 trial runs with 31 secondary tasks on a highway. Two criteria are used to measure the distractedness, one objective based on the attributes of an element and one subjective, based on the use of the elements while driving during the trials. A lane monitoring system is evaluated and the offset from the lane center over time is used as an external criteria to the distractedness level. There is however no significant correlation between the external criteria and the subjective distractedness level.</p><p>The results of the subjective distractedness level are used in the model and possible future extensions to it are discussed.</p>

As the cost of wireless devices approaches zero, it becomes more feasible to replace wires with wireless communication. Vehicle wiring harnesses are traditionally wired to communicate both power and information simultaneously, resulting in separate circuits for each vehicle device. X-By-Wireless seeks to supplant this configuration in favor of a shared power bus and wireless inter-component communication. In doing so, we can recognize a number of benefits such as reduced weight and increased reliability, flexibility, and upgradeability. However, this introduces new problems such as longer transmission delays, interference and encryption issues, fusing difficulties, and public perception regarding safety. The purpose of this thesis is to define the X-By-Wireless concept and to investigate the benefits and drawbacks in implementing X-By-Wireless. Furthermore, we do a theoretical and case study analysis to expand upon the weight reduction benefit so as to quantify the expected improvements. We also address each of the challenges presented by X-By-Wireless and integrate them into a proposed circuit that is capable of performing all the necessary functions of wireless control, wireless sensing, and fusing. We find that the proposed device can be mass-produced as an effective solution that meets the speed and security constraints necessary for most vehicle components.

Since the dawn of the automobile, driver behaviour has been an issue. Driving can result in accidents that may harm not only the driver but also passengers and the surroundings. This calls for measures that restrict the usage of vehicles and to assist the individual driver to conduct the driving in a safe, yet practically efficient manner. The vehicles should therefore be both safe and intuitive, and preferably answer to thedifferent needs of all kinds of drivers. Driving skill can be defined in many ways, depending on the objective of the driving task, but answer in some way to the question of how well the driver can conduct the driving task. To assist low skill drivers without compromising the driving demand for high skill drivers, it is of highest importance that vehicles are tested and designed to meet those needs. This includes both the testing activities in the vehicle design phase in general but also the configuration for active systems and preventive safety, preferable with settings that adapts to the skill of the individual driver. The work here comprises the definition of skill and of driver recruitment procedures, scenario design, the development of an analysis method for objective measures, and the gathering of metrics to characterize the driver skill. Moreover, a driver model has been developed that makes use of driver skill characteristics. To gather the information needed, extensive multidisciplinary literature studies were conducted, as well as using field tests and test using an advanced moving base driving simulator. Here the focus is on path tracking skill, which is the main control aspect of driving, although the developed driving scenarios allow a varying degree of path planning, which is more related to regulation. The first simulator test was done with a very simple criterion fordriver selection, but the results gave a good insight into the variation between drivers ingeneral. For the following tests the recruitment procedure was refined to find drivers with high or low vehicle control and regulation skill, a recruitment that also was verified to really represent two different populations. A method was defined that successfully identified sets of skill-related measures, with some variation in composition depending on the path tracking demand on the driver. Int he curving road scenario, for example, the highest number of skill-related measures is identified in the curves, which is reasonable since the straight segments do not require the same amount of active control from the drivers. The driver model developed uses a quasi-static analytical description of the driver knowledge of the vehicle dynamics, but possesses the capability of nonlinear descriptions. The parameters in this model are mainly physical properties that easily can be related to the driving process. Metrics gathered are used for identification of the driver model setup for a double lane change scenario using an optimization routine, with adjusted parameter settings for different velocities. With a subjective comparison of the recorded driving simulator data, the method is verified to enable driver skill settings for driver models. In addition, the method allows metrics to be gathered for driver skill identification routines, meeting the defined objectives of the project. / QC20100701

Noise from heavy trucks is an important environmental issue. Several sources contribute to the total noise level of a vehicle, such as the engine, gearbox, tires, etc. The tonal noise from the gearbox can be very disturbing for the driver, even if the noise level from the gearbox is lower than the total noise level. The human ear has a remarkable way of detecting pure tones of which the noise from loaded gears consists of. To be allowed to sell a heavy truck within the European Union, the so called pass-by noise test must be completed successfully. The maximum noise level permitted is 80dB(A) and undercertain conditions, the gearbox can be an important contributor to the total noise level. Gear noise is therefore an important issue for the automotive industry. In this thesis gear noise and dynamic transmission error is investigated. Traditionally, transmission error (TE) is considered to be the main excitation mechanism of gear noise. The definition of TE is ”the difference between the actual position of the output gearand the position it would occupy if the gear drive were perfect”. Measurements of dynamic transmission error (DTE) and noise have been performed on a gearbox. The measurement object was a commercial truck gearbox powered by an electrical motor. The torque used was in the normal operating range of the gearbox and the correlation between gear noise and DTE, when the torque is changed, is investigated. The result differs for different gear pairs and for the first gear stage, located close to the housing, the correlation is high for most speeds. The measured DTE and noise show a poor correlation with calculated transmission error. A minimisation of TE therefore does not necessarily mean a minimisation of gear noise. A transfer function can be employed to calculate the relationship between DTE and noise. The general trend of the gear noise is an increase of 6dB per doubling of the rotational speed together with fluctuations around the mean due to resonances of the system. The magnitude of the transfer function can be estimated using the amplitudesof the gear mesh orders and harmonics. Two gear pairs with similar macro geometry but different profile modifications are investigated. Although the gear pairs have similar transmission error, the noise level display a significantly different trend, further strengt hening the position that transmission error is not the single most important gear noise excitation mechanism. Further analysis concludes that shuttling forces and friction forces can be more important than what is often suggested. A dynamic model including transmission error and shuttling forces is used to investigate the two gear pairs. The bearing forces show that for some frequency regions shuttling forces can be of the same order of magnitude as the forces caused by transmission error. This work highlights the importance of considering other excitations of gear noise besides transmission error when designing quiet gears. The influence of transmission error can not be determined by investigating the gears only. A deeper knowledge of the gear system is needed in order to minimise gear noise for a specific gear design. / QC 20100719

In new cars of today there are several electronically controlled systems that seek to aid the driver and make the journey as safe as possible. This include not only systems that directly control the vehicle such as ABS and ESP, but also systems that might make driving easier such as navigation systems, cruise control and even seat adjustments. It is important that the effects on the driver from the use of such systems do not lead to an environment that diverts the attention of the driver from the main task, i.e. driving safely. In this thesis a possible way of modeling the driver distractedness level due to the operation of these systems is discussed. This is done in Simulink with vehicle CAN data as inputs. An expert field test is done with 6 drivers over 18 trial runs with 31 secondary tasks on a highway. Two criteria are used to measure the distractedness, one objective based on the attributes of an element and one subjective, based on the use of the elements while driving during the trials. A lane monitoring system is evaluated and the offset from the lane center over time is used as an external criteria to the distractedness level. There is however no significant correlation between the external criteria and the subjective distractedness level. The results of the subjective distractedness level are used in the model and possible future extensions to it are discussed.