SIMTD

SIMTD
General information
Type: Field operational test
Tested system/service: Cooperative Systems
Countries: Germany	? test users
17 partners	400 vehicles
Active from 09/2008 to 2012
Contact
http://www.simtd.de
Benjamin Oberkersch
benjamin.oberkersch@daimler.com
Daimler Germany
Catalogue entries
Data catalogue	Tools catalogue
Data sets used in this FOT: No data set is linked to this FOT Click here to create a new data set or here to browse existing data sets to link them to this FOT	The following tools were used in this FOT: No tool is linked to this FOT Click here to create a new tool or here to browse existing tools to link them to this FOT

sim^TD will put the results of previous research projects into practice. For this purpose realistic traffic scenarios will be addressed in a large-scale test field infrastructure around the Hessian city of Frankfurt am Main. The project will also pave the way for the political, economic and technological framework to successfully set up car-to-car and car-to infrastructure communication.

To achieve those objectives, numerous automotive and telecommunication companies, the Hessian state government and renowned universities and research institutions have partnered up. The Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology, the Ministry for Education and Research as well as the Ministry for Transport, Building and Urban Affairs are funding and supporting the project.

The project started in September 2008 and will run for four years: sim^TD schedule

Key milestones of the project

2008.09 - 2010.06 Phase 1: Definition and planning of the overall system and setup of system components

2010.06 - 2011.06 Phase 2: Equipment of test fleet and test region

2011.06 - 2012.09 Phase 3: Customer-oriented large-scale field operational trial and evaluation

sim^TD schedule

Video (In German)

Details of Field Operational Test

Start date and duration of FOT execution

The FOT execution and evaluation (phase 3) is planned to start in June 2011 and to last 15 months up to the end of the project in September 2012.

Geographical Coverage

The sim^TD test field is located in the Frankfurt-Rhine-Main area, in the Hesse Region. This area is an important German traffic hub with major traffic generators such as the Frankfurt Airport, the Frankfurt Trade Fare and the stadium. The area is characterised by high traffic density and therefore allow experiments on all road safety and traffic efficiency functions under normal everyday conditions. Map of the sim^TD test field.

Link with other related Field Operational Tests

COOPERS, aktiv

Objectives

sim^TD is pursuing the following principle objectives:

• Increased road safety and improved efficiency of the existing traffic system through the use of car-to-x communication
• Definition and validation of a roll-out scenario for the identified functions and applications for scientific questions through practice-oriented experiments and field operational tests
• Consolidation of car-to-x functions from the categories of traffic efficiency, driving and safety as well as value-added services
• Definition, analysis, specification and documentation of those functions that are to be developed and tested, as well as of the resulting requirements for the overall system for selected functions and tests within sub-project 1
• Development of test and validation metrics and methods in each phase of the overall system development in order to allow measurement and evaluation of the results
• Consolidation and harmonisation of requirements from the perspective of feasibility and performance as well as their compatibility of requirements within the sub-projects
• Verification of functions and requirements within the context of individual milestones

Results

As a first major result, the following functions (see applications) were selected by the consortium partners for implementation, among three categories: traffic, driving and safety, and value-added services.

Main events

2008.09.8-9 Kick-off of sim^TD project, Ingolstadt (DE).

2008.12.16 Workshop on the selection of functions, Kaiserslautern (DE).

2009.10.01 First General Assembly, Wuerzburg (DE).

Financing

Overall

69 Mio EUR

Public

Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology: 19,8 Mio EUR

Federal Ministry of Education and Research: 10,8 Mio EUR

Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development: 7,8 Mio EUR

State of Hessen: 7,8 Mio EUR

Private

22,8 Mio EUR

Cooperation partners and contact persons

• Public Authorities: Hessian State Office for Road and Traffic Affairs, City of Frankfurt/ Main

• Industry:
  • Vehicle Manufacturer: Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford, Opel, Volkswagen
  • Supplier: Bosch, Continental
  • Network Operator: Deutsche Telekom

• Users: none

• Universities: Berlin Technical University, Munich Technical University, Saarbruecken University of Applied Sciences (HTW), Wuerzburg University

• Research Institutes: German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Fraunhofer

• Supporting Organisations: German Automobile Industry Association, Car2Car Communication Consortium

Project Coordinator

Dr Christian Weiss, Daimler AG

Christian.A.Weiss@daimler.com

+49.7031 4389 550

Public Relations

Benjamin Oberkersch, Daimler AG

benjamin.oberkersch@daimler.com

+49.711 1793 307

Applications and equipment

Applications tested

Traffic

Monitoring of traffic situation and complementary information/basic functions

• Data collection in the infrastructure side
• Data collection by the vehicle
• Identification of road weather
• Identification of traffic situation
• Identification of traffic events/incidents

Traffic (flow) information and navigation

• Foresighted road/traffic information
• Road works information system
• Advanced route guidance and navigation

Traffic management

• Alternative route Management
• Optimised urban network usage based on traffic light control
• Local traffic-adapted signal control

Driving and Safety

Local Danger Alert

• Obstacle warning
• congestion warning
• Road Weather Alert
• Emergency vehicle warning

Driving Assistance

• In-vehicle signage/traffic rule violation warning
• Traffic light phase assiustant / Traffic light violation warning
• Extended electronic brake light
• Intersection and cross traffic assistance

Additional services

Internet access and local information services

• Internet-based usage of services
• Location-dependent services

Vehicle

The overall sim^TD test fleet comprises an internal fleet with up to 100 controlled test vehicles as well as an external fleet with approximately 300 vehicles.

The internal sim^TD fleet of test vehicles comprises 20 core vehicles with expert drivers. 80 further vehicles are driven by persons without special training.

The expert drivers will be asked to work together locally and on their own initiative to create certain scenarios. The other drivers’ reaction to the respective scenario can then be used to evaluate its efficiency, safety and acceptability of functions.

The external fleet with about 300 vehicles is needed to create the specific traffic load for this scenario.

Infrastructure

More than 100 ITS Roadside Stations (IRS)installed by the Hessian traffic centre and the Integrated Traffic Management Centre Frankfurt will be used to test the car-to-x communication:

• 58 IRS on motorways
• 22 IRS on rural roads
• 24 IRS in the city network (connected with signal control devices)

Test equipment

The sim^TD architecture is based on three main sub-systems: the in-vehicle sub-system, the infrastructure sub-system and the overall test system.

In-vehicle sub-system: the in-vehicle subsystem, or ITS Vehicle Station, is built into the vehicles and is comprised of two units. The Communication Control Unit (CCU) enables wireless communication with other vehicles and with the infrastructure. It also allows access to vehicle information and implements improved vehicle positioning. The Vehicle Application Unit (VAU) is the actual application carrier. It implements the in-vehicle application and provides the required system components. The VAU is also connected to the so-called Human Machine Interface (HMI) device, which is responsible for driver interaction.

Infrastructure sub-system: the infrastructure sub-system involves the ITS Roadside Stations and the ITS Central Station. The ITS Central Station is the actual sim^TD backend system, which provides the required services and implements the infrastructure-related parts of the applications to be developed. The ITS Central Station will receive information from the Hessen traffic control center as well as from the city of Frankfurt's integrated traffic control centre. The second component of the infrastructure sub-system are the ITS Roadside Stations. Those devices will be installed at motorways junctions, motorways on-ramps or other major crossroads. The ITS Roadside Station can both send traffic relevant data to vehicles and also communicate with the ITS Central Station. Some of those ITS Roadside Stations can also be connected to traffic lights in order to read and process information.

Test system: because of its cross-section character, the test system has shares in all architecture components. Its main function is to carry out the sim^TD tests and experiments, in particular to support data collection, evaluation and validation. This involves test procedure planning, the actual experiment, as well as subsequent measuring of data storage, and preparation. The test system will also implement a test bench, which allows cross-system integration tests during the development phase.

sim^TD Communication Processes

sim^TD uses three different lines of communication:

• IEEE 802.11p (ITS G5A) for direct communication between vehicles and between vehicles and the infrastructure. As they require the smallest latency, the majority of information regarding security and traffic efficiency will be exchange on this line.
• IEEE 802.11b/g modules, to establish, through the Road Side Units, an IP-based communication on the Internet with the Test Management Centre and other Backend services. Wi-Fi will eventually be installed to ensure the transmission of large data sets.
• IP-based communication through GPRS, EDGE, UMTS or HSPA.

Sources of information

sim^TD Official website: http://www.simtd.de

German Federal Government website: http://www.bundesregierung.de/Content/EN/Artikel/2007/12/2007-12-01-hightech-ikt-auto__en.html

German Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development website: http://www.bmvbs.de/dokumente/-,302.1058854/Pressemitteilung/dokument.htm