During their latest SUV launch, the E-Pace, Jaguar broke the world record for a mid-air barrel roll in James Bond style. Jaguar measured and recorded the jump and its successful landing using in the Vehico steering, throttle and brake robot whilst being fed speed and position from the VBOX 3i RTK, IMU04, and RTK base station. The event took place with a combination of manned and robot-controlled jumps carried out at the Santa Pod Raceway, an hour away from the Racelogic UK office.

Vehico Robot

The Vehico provides objective vehicle testing, precise and reproducible tests and driveless testing using GPS using Vehico robots. The vehico robots are designed for “easy operation, quick installation and a tremendous flexibility” so that all different types of vehicle testing can be performed including:

CO.ACT as the easiest product level allows the actuation of the vehicle’s pedals, steering wheel or gearshift lever by quickly installed robots.

CO.REMOTE combines a driving robot with a remote control. By remotely controlling the steering angle and the pedal movements from outside the vehicle, unmanned vehicle testing can be realised in a very simple manner.

With CO.TRACK the vehicle is steered automatically. The VEHICO track control algorithm guarantees that the test vehicle drives highly accurate and reproducible on a pre-defined course.

CO.DRIVE is an extension of the functions of CO.TRACK where the test vehicle drives completely autonomously. Besides controlling the track CO.DRIVE additionally controls freely definable speed and acceleration profiles. A human driver is no longer required because the vehicle is completely driven by CO.DRIVE. Nevertheless the driver can operate the test car in the usual way if CO.DRIVE is disabled.

Two or more autonomous vehicles can be synchronized with CO.SYNC. A special synchronization module receives the data of each vehicle involved in the test. The driving states are optimized in that way that the previously defined distances between the vehicles or absolute positions at certain times are followed precisely. Such test constellations are necessary for designing future generations of driver assistance systems like adaptive cruise control or turning assistance systems.

VBOX

The VBOX 3i RTK, IMU04 and RTK base station were used to provide the speed and position to the Vehico driving robot.  As such, position accuracy was within +/- 2 cm so that highly consistent and accurate teat runs were performed and logged.

VBOX 3i RTK

The VBOX 3i RTK is a top of the range data logger that combines the twin antenna GPS system with the GLONASS satellite tracking to produce results that are within +/- 2 cm accurate at 100kHz. This logger is used consistently to measure vehicle separation, time to collision, position within a lane, and more to 2cm precision. The two GPS/ GLONASS antennas enable the VBOX 3i RTK to measure all the normal VBOX GPS parameters, plus the azimuth and elevation between the antennas, i.e. the direction the antennas are pointing, and the angle between them measured from the horizontal. As such, the slip and pitch angle are measured.

Many other external parameters can be logged either:

• by using the four high resolution analogue inputs built into the unit
• from a number of versatile RACELOGIC VBOX Input Modules
• or directly from the CAN bus of the vehicle using the RACELOGIC Vehicle CAN Database

VBOX IMU04

The Inertial measurement unit, IM04 is a highly accurate module able to accurately measure the pitch, roll, and yaw rate using three gyros as well as the x, y, z acceleration using 3 accelerometers.

The CAN version is temperature compensated with improved calibration and stability. The IMU04 can be used stand alone or in conjunction with simple connection and configuration via the CAN bus interface, or for use with VBOX GPS data logger.

The IMU is constructed with a splash proof casing, which is rated to a limited ingress IP rating of IP67*, making it ideal for use on boats or in harsh environments, as well as automotive testing.

Using synchronous 16bit sampling for each of the internal sensors provides a high degree of accuracy, with yaw rate resolution typically 0.014 degrees per second and acceleration resolution down to 0.15 mg.

DGNSS Base Stations

The DGNSS Base Station is designed to improve positional accuracy of VBOX units and other compatible GPS/ GLONASS systems by calculating and transmitting differential correction data. By programming the Base Station with a known position, it is able to accurately monitor the difference between its programmed position and the position that it is receiving via GPS/GLONASS. The difference is then transmitted via radio to allow a remote GPS system to correct its position. The differential correction message can be broadcasted in RTCM, CMR or proprietary RTK formats using an internal or mast mounted radio modem transmitter.

Depending on the type of Base Station and roving unit used, position accuracies of up to 2cm 95% CEP are available.

A summary of each unit is presented below:

	VBOX 3i RTK	IMU04	RTK base station
FEATURES	Better than 2cm positional accuracy with an RTK Base Station ±5cm vehicle separation accuracy when used as part of a Moving Base setup Measures slip angle, pitch (or roll) angle and yaw rate at 100Hz Twice as many satellites tracked using GPS + GLONASS Very low latency: 8.5 ±1.5 mS 4 x 24bit differential analogue input channels with ±50v input range and synchronous capture Oversampled brake/event trigger input (25nS accuracy) Logs up to 16 channels of Vehicle CAN simultaneously Real-time result display via serial, USB or Bluetooth Audio voice tagging with microphone included Data logged to compact flash memory card User configurable logging conditions Wide 7V to 30V operating range Low current consumption	Yaw rate range ±450˚/s Acceleration range ±5 g in each axis Internal temperature compensation Yaw rate resolution 0.001˚/s Acceleration resolution 0.15 mg CAN Bus interface Integration with GNSS for consistent and accurate data in weak/degraded satellite signal conditions Splash proof: IP65 rating / IP67 rating providing unused connectors are fitted with Lemo bungs (RLACS080) 0.06˚(RMS) pitch/roll accuracy and 0.5˚(RMS) yaw angle accuracy when used in conjunction with a VBOX 3i	Survey grade GPS or GPS/GLONASS receiver Integral 9Ah battery supply with fast charger LCD readout for status and configuration Optional integral or mast mount radio transmitters with range of up to 10km (approx 6.2miles line of sight) and 2km in a built-up area Compatible with wide range of radios to suit location and range requirements Up to 2cm accuracy (option 2) RTCM, CMR, RTCMV3 or proprietary outputs 25-position memory to store and recall different reference locations Self-survey mode Up to 18hr battery life (depending on radios in use) or external power Rugged IP64 (splash proof) enclosure
INPUTS/ OUTPUTS	Inputs 100Hz GPS / GLONASS Engine 2x GPS/GLONASS Antennas Base Station Radio Link 2x CAN Bus Brake Trigger Log Switch 4x Analogue Inputs Voice Tagging Power Supply Outputs CAN Bus RS232 USB Bluetooth 2x Digital Outputs 2x Analogue Outputs CF Card		Inputs GPS Antenna Power Outputs Radio Antenna Display RS232 Serial Interface Power
CONNECTIONS		IMU04 used in Integration Mode (Kalman Filter) IMU04 used in RL Module Mode IMU04 used in a Daisy-Chain with other VBOX Modules IMU03 in Integration or RL Module Mode
SPECIFICATIONS	Download the datasheet here	Download the datasheet here	Download the datasheet here

For a further discussion contact our Melbourne office by email or phone: +61 3 9874 5777