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Visual Place Recognition (VPR) excels at providing a good location prior for autonomous vehicles to initialize the map-based visual SLAM system, especially when the environment changes after a long term. Condition change and viewpoint change, which influences features extracted from images, are two of the major challenges in recognizing a visited place. Existing VPR methods focus on developing the robustness of global feature to address them but ignore the benefits that local feature can auxiliarily offer. Therefore, we introduce a novel hierarchical place recognition method with both global and local features deriving from homologous VLAD to improve the VPR performance. Our model is weak supervised by GPS label and we design a fine-tuning strategy with a coupled triplet loss to make the model more suitable for extracting local features.

Meeting the California Medium-Duty truck emissions standards presents a significant challenge to automotive engineers due to the combination of sustained high temperature exhaust conditions, high flow rates and relatively high engine out emissions. A successful catalyst for an exhaust treatment system must be resistant to high temperature deactivation, maintain cold start performance and display high three-way conversion efficiencies under most operating conditions. This paper describes a catalyst technology and precious metal loading study targeting a California Medium-Duty truck LEV (MDV2) application. At the same time a direction is presented for optimizing toward the Federal Tier 1 standard through reduction of precious metal use. The paper identifies catalytic formulations for a twin substrate, 1.23 L medium-coupled converter. Two are used per vehicle, mounted 45 cm downstream of each manifold on a 5.7 L V8 engine.

With the development of economic globalization, the speed of development of container terminals is also very rapid. Under the pressure brought by the surge in throughput, the unmanned and intelligent terminals will become the future development direction of terminals. As the cornerstone of the unmanned terminal, the positioning technology provides the most basic position information for system scheduling, path planning, real-time correction, and loading and unloading. Therefore, this paper is aimed to design a low-cost, high-precision, and easy-to-maintain unmanned dock positioning system in order to better solve the problem of unmanned dock positioning. The main research content of this paper is to design a positioning algorithm for unmanned terminal Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) based on single-line lidar, including point cloud data acquisition, background filtering, point cloud clustering, vehicle position extraction, and result optimization.

A requirement for larger trucks and higher operating speed is indicated. The present report presents wind tunnel data on drag of a Chevrolet truck-trailer combination. Possible means of drag reduction are examined. Although side force and yawing moment data are presented, their effect on directional stability are not, at present analyzed.

The transient characteristics of combustion and emissions during the engine start up at different higher cranking speeds for hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) applications were presented in this paper. Cycle-by-cycle analysis was done for each start up case. Intake air mass during the first several cycles decrease as the engine was cranked at higher speed. Ignition timing is delayed with higher cranking speed, which leads to an increase of exhaust temperature. For various start up cases, similar quantity of fuel is injected at the first cycle, but the ignition timing is significantly delayed to meet the acceleration requirement when cranking speed enhanced. Because of the deterioration of intake charge, the air-fuel mixture is over-enriched in the first several cycles for the cases at higher cranking speed. With cranking speed is increased, the in-cylinder residual gas fraction rises, which leads to poor combustion and decrease of mass fraction of burned fuel.

Splash and spray conditions created by tractor-trailer combinations operating on the Federal highway system have been studied and tested for many years with mixed results. Past events are reviewed briefly in this paper. In additional testing during 1983, using new state-of- the-art splash/spray suppressant devices, some encouragement was provided that these devices could work. The 1984 Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association (MVMA) test program was designed to develop practicable and reliable test procedures to measure effectiveness of splash and spray reduction methods applied to tractor-trailer combination vehicles. Over 40 different combinations of splash/spray suppression devices on five different tractors and three van trailer types were tested. The spray-cloud densities for some 400 test runs were measured by laser transmissometers and also recorded by still photography, motion pictures, and videotape. On-site observers made subjective ratings of spray density.

Diesel exhaust gas dilution and odor intensity were measured in the immediate vicinity of a transit bus equipped with a rear-mounted horizontal exhaust pipe, a rear-mounted vertical exhaust pipe, and a roof-top diffusion system. Exhaust dilution ratios were measured indoors during vehicle idle operation, using propane added to the exhaust gas as a tracer. Exhaust odor intensities were measured also indoors during vehicle idle operation by a human panel, using a threshold odor measurement technique. On the average, the dilution of the exhaust gas around the bus with the vertical exhaust pipe was about eight times greater than it was with the horizontal pipe. Odor intensity, as measured by the threshold response distance, was about 35% less with the vertical pipe than with the horizontal pipe. The roof-top diffuser was not as effective as the vertical exhaust pipe in increasing exhaust gas dilution or in reducing exhaust odor intensity.

For model year 2003, the General Motors Corporation is introducing new medium duty trucks - the Chevrolet Kodiak and GMC TopKick. These new trucks replace the previous versions of the Kodiak and TopKick medium duty trucks that were introduced in 1989 and the Chevrolet and GMC 3500HD that debuted in the 1991 model year. This new series of trucks marks a clear change in General Motors' strategy in the medium duty marketplace. It emphasizes General Motors' strong commitment to the medium duty market, as well as a strong focus on customer needs, vehicle quality and reliability. This paper describes the General Motors strategy in the medium duty market, along with the history of the design and development of these new products. Finally, this paper will discuss performance to program objectives.

The electricity energy consumption for passenger cabin heating can drastically shorten the driving range for electric vehicles in cold climates. Mobile heat pump system is considered as an effective method to improve heating efficiency. This study investigates the system characteristics of mobile heat pump systems for electrical vehicle application. Based on KULI thermal management software, simulation models including HFC-R134a direct heat pump (DHP) and secondary loop heat pump (SLHP) were developed. The secondary loop employed in the SLHP includes a coolant pump, an indoor heater core and a plate heat exchanger, instead of an indoor condenser in the DHP. The use of a secondary loop has advantages to improve air outlet temperature uniformity. The simulation models were verified by measured data obtained from calorimeter experiments. By adopting simulation models, the effects of indoor and outdoor temperatures on system performance and cycle characteristics were discussed.

Posture selection during standing exertions is a complex process involving tradeoffs between muscle strength and balance. Bodyweight utilization reduces the amount of upper-body strength required to perform a high force push/pull exertion but shifts the center-of-gravity towards the limits of the functional stability region. Thus balance constraints limit the extent to which bodyweight can be used to generate push/pull forces. This paper examines a two-handed sagittal plane pulling exertion performed during a battery maintenance task on a member of the family of medium-sized tactical vehicles (FMTV). Percent capable strength predictions and functional balance capabilities were determined for various two-handed pulling postures using the University of Michigan's 3D Static Strength Prediction Program (3DSSPP). Through this simulation study, preferred postures that minimize joint torques while maintaining balance were identified.

This paper describes some methods for greatly reducing or possibly eliminating subjective tuning of suspension parts for ride and handling. Laptop computers can now be used in the vehicle to guide the tuning process. The same tools can be used to select solutions that reduce sensitivity to production and environmental variations. OBJECTIVE Reduce or eliminate time required for tuning of suspension parts for ride characteristics. Improve the robustness of ride performance relative to variations in ambient temperature and production tolerances. PROBLEM REQUIRING SOLUTION AND METHOD OF APPROACH Traditional development programs for new vehicles include time-consuming subjective ride evaluations. One example is shock absorber tuning. Even if sophisticated models define force-velocity curves, numerous hardware iterations are needed to find valvings that will reproduce the curves. Many evaluation rides are needed to modify the valvings to meet performance targets.

Lift-off length is defined as the distance from injector hole to the location where flame stabilized on a high injection pressure direct injection (DI) diesel spray. In this paper we used the high-speed (40 kHz) Schlieren and time-averaged OH chemiluminescence imaging technique to simultaneously measure the flame lift-off locations on a DI diesel spray in an optically accessible and constant-volume combustion vessel. The time-resolved development of the diesel spray acquired from the high-speed Schlieren imaging system enabled us to observe the instantaneous spray structure details of the spray flames. The OH chemiluminescence image obtained from a gated, intensified CCD video camera with different delay and width settings was used to determine the quiescent lift-off length. Experiments were conducted under various ambient temperatures, ambient gas densities, injection pressures and oxygen concentrations.

Measurement of gear noise requires accurate measurement of gear mesh harmonic sound levels. The sound signal may include sidebands, such that the frequency bandwidth and computation method of respective “order tracking” analysis will have a profound effect on measured sound levels. A further consideration is the spatial distribution of the sound field inside typical passenger cars and light duty trucks, in which sound levels can change dramatically within small distances. This paper provides a discussion of the data processing and measurement location effects at hand. It explains their influence and provides guidelines for their selection.

Although rollover crashes represent a small fraction (approximately 3%) of all motor vehicle crashes, they account for roughly one quarter of crash fatalities to occupants of cars, light trucks, and vans (NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts, 2004). Therefore, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has identified rollover injuries as one of its safety priorities. Motor vehicle manufacturers are developing technologies to reduce the risk of injury associated with rollover collisions. This paper describes the development by General Motors Corporation (GM) of a suite of laboratory tests that can be used to develop sensors that can deploy occupant protection devices like roof rail side air bags and pretensioners in a rollover as well as a discussion of the challenges of conducting this suite of tests.

Motor speed synchronization is important in gear shifting of emerging clutchless automated manual transmissions for battery electric vehicles (BEV) and other kinds of parallel shaft-based powertrains for hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). Difficulties of the problem mainly come from random delay induced by network communication and unknown load torques from air drag, oil drag, and friction torques, etc. To deal with these two factors, this paper proposes a robust speed synchronization controller based on act-and-wait control and disturbance observer. The former is a kind of periodical controller specially for regulating problems with feedback delay while the latter is a technique for active disturbance rejection. Firstly, the dynamic model of the motor shaft is formulated, and the system parameters are offline identified. The speed tracking problem is then transformed into a regulating one.

Aiming at the high altitude operation problems for piston-type aero-engines and to improve the practical ceiling and high altitude dynamic performance, this thesis analyzes a controllable three-stage composite supercharging system, using a two-stage turbocharger coupled supercharger method. The GT-Power simulation model of a four-cylinder boxer engine was established, and the control strategy of variable flight height was obtained. The simulation research of engine performance from 0 to 20,000 meters above sea level has been carried out, which shows that the engine power is at the same level as the plain condition, and it could still maintain 85.28 percent of power even at the height of 20,000 meters, which meets the flight requirements of the aircraft.

The Auto/Steel Partnership established the Light Truck Frame Project Group in 1996 with two objectives: (a) to develop materials, design and fabrication knowledge that would enable the frames on North American OEM (original equipment manufacturer) light trucks to be reduced in weight, and (b) to improve corrosion resistance of frames on these vehicles, thereby allowing a reduction in the thickness of the components and a reduction in frame weight. To address the issues relating to corrosion, a subgroup of the Light Truck Frame Project Group was formed. The group comprised representatives from the North American automotive companies, test laboratories, frame manufacturers, and steel producers. As part of a comprehensive test program, the Corrosion Subgroup has completed tests on frame coatings. Using coated panels of a low carbon hot rolled and pickled steel sheet and two types of accelerated cyclic corrosion tests, seven frame coatings were tested for corrosion performance.

THIS paper describes the development of a truck automatic transmission, from a statement of broad objectives through the growing pains, to road testing of the final product. Emphasis is placed upon original thinking that led to the decision to undertake such a project, compromises that suggested themselves throughout the various stages, and features tried and found wanting as well as those retained. The finished product is described full though not in detail, stress being placed upon interesting and novel design features.

Electric vehicles (EVs) have become a hot research topic due to the petroleum crisis and air pollution issues, and Hybrid EVs (HEVs) equipped with engines and motors are popular nowadays due to their advantage over Pure EVs. The energy distribution between the engine and the motor is the major task of the control strategy or energy management for HEVs. Rule-based and optimization-based approaches are developed in this area, but not much work has been done for large-size super-capacitor (SC) equipped HEVs, like Hybrid buses. In this paper, a new optimization-based control strategy for a hybrid bus equipped with SCs as the energy regeneration system is presented. Considering the driving patterns of a bus that is of frequent accelerations and decelerations, it is proposed to characterize each time instant by its speed and acceleration, and the energy distribution is optimized based on these two state variables.

The numerical simulation of ice melting process on an iced helicopter rotor blade is presented. The ice melting model uses an enthalpy-porosity formulation, and treats the liquid-solid mushy zone as a porous zone with porosity equal to the liquid fraction. The ice shape on the blade section is obtained by the icing code with a dynamic mesh module. Both of the temperature change and the ice-melting process on the rotor blade section surface are analyzed. The phenomenon of ice melting is analyzed through the change of temperature and liquid fraction on the abrasion/ice interface. The liquid fraction change as with time on the abrasion/ice surface is observed, which describes the ice-melting process well. The numerical results show that the ice melting process can be simulated effectively by the melting model. The de-icing process can be monitored by observing the change of the liquid fraction of the area around the abrasion/ice interface.