Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), in partnership with PUC Minas, has opened SIMCenter, the first Center for Simulation of Vehicle Dynamics in Latin America. Located at the PUC Minas’ Coração Eucarístico Campus in Belo Horizonte, SIMCenter offers the most advanced simulation technology worldwide and aims to generate innovations and research focused on the safety of vehicles, people and road systems.
FCA’s investments exceeded R$ 18 million, as a result of the Inovar-Auto incentive policy and support from the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES).
The FCA system, the first of its kind in the world, consists of a platform that performs all the movements of a real vehicle through nine actuators; a cockpit equipped with audio system that reproduces the sounds of the engine and the reactions of the tires with the floor; and a curved screen with a viewing angle of 230°. The cockpit movements are integrated into the screen images and aligned with the commands performed by the driver, guided in real time by the control room instruments.
By the means of the simulations, it is possible to define the technical and functional features of each vehicle component that determine its dynamics, such as shock absorbers, springs, tires, steering, brakes and stabilizer bars. Once defined in the simulations, these features become technical specifications for the physical parts construction that will compose the vehicle.
At SIMCenter, it is possible to evaluate, for instance, different suspension geometries in real time, in a fully controlled environment, without having to go to a test track.
“We are able to immediately identify the impact of that change on the performance and vehicle safety in order to design the best driving sensation. We no longer need to wait to build a prototype to test it”, explains Gustavo Costa, supervisor of FCA’s Virtual Chassis Engineering Analysis.
FCA’s Director of Engineering Chassis, Leandro Quadros, highlights the legacy the new environment will promote. “Several technical solutions and active safety and driver assistance systems will be developed in the SIMCenter,” he states. “The FCA was not settled here by accident. We started from a solid knowledge base of Vehicle Dynamics, we did several studies and a wide benchmarking around the world until we arrived at the best configuration of a simulator”, guarantees Quadros.
For the professor of PUC Minas Janes Landre, one of the initiative coordinators, the new center, uniting the expertise of the two institutions in the automotive area, designs the University internationally. “Because it is the first excellence center in this field throughout the southern hemisphere and because there are only eight other state-of-the-art laboratories like this one around the world, it makes PUC Minas a reference in vehicle dynamics. We have already received a series of contacts from educational institutions in countries such as England, Italy and the United States, interested in carrying out research projects in cooperation with us”, Landre points out.
TOTAL IMMERSION
With state-of-the-art technology, SIMCenter enables total driver immersion with maximum driving sensation. Inside a Jeep Renegade or any other vehicle, the rider can be “beamed in” to any circuit in the world, such as the FCA testing area in Balocco in Italy on a snowy day. You just need to configure this reality and you're done! It is already possible to have a variety of vehicle and driver behavior data in that environment in the computers.
The great differential is the driver’s interaction. Most of the simulations are done in “offline environment”, that is, in the computer, without the presence of the real pilot. At SIMCenter, the driver-in-the-loop concept is applied, which allows the driver, in real time, to evaluate the vehicle's behavior as the variables are adjusted.
At SIMCenter, the focus is not only automotive systems simulation. By means of telemetry signals such as speed, acceleration, steering wheel angle, powertrain, torque and engine power, in addition to the driver’s reactions, it is possible to perform a complete car analysis and the ecosystem where it is inserted. Thus, the technology applied in the Center allows the data generation on the drivers’ behavior in different stimuli, such as fatigue distraction and the effect of alcoholic beverages; man-machine interaction and ergonomics; road infrastructure with evaluation of road signs and trails that have not yet been built, always in a controlled and safe environment.
COLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENT
Created in a collaborative and multidisciplinary environment, SIMCenter will be used in partnership by professionals from the FCA group, students and researchers from different PUC Minas’ subjects, such as Engineering, Architecture, Medicine, Psychology, Virtual Environments, among others. “The Center places Brazil in a leading position in the know-how development, innovation and cutting-edge automotive technologies that will be in the car of the future, always in interface with several knowledge areas”, said Toshizaemom Noce, FCA Innovation Supervisor.
“SIMCenter is a result of what we call the triple propeller: the involvement of the federal government, with BNDES, FCA and PUC Minas partnership. They are the government, the company and the university together, working to generate knowledge and innovation for the country and the world”, complements Sérgio de Morais Hanriot, Provost of Research and Post-Graduation at PUC Minas.
