Search Results

The combustion efficiency of direct injection engines is largely dependent upon the mixing of fuel in air, thereby creating a combustible mixture. Such a process is highly dependent upon the motion of the charge in the cylinder. The shape of the intake runners and valves determines the charge motion generated within the engine. Swirl and tumble, generated along the vertical and horizontal axis respectively, govern the charge motion and hence distribution of combustible mixture. Unlike traditional parametric optimization where the parameter space has to be predetermined, adjoint optimization utilizes the gradient of objective functions obtained from a computational fluid dynamics solution to modify the shape of the original CAD geometry. During the optimization process, specific parts of the geometry can be morphed in any direction freely. The final design is a fluid volume generated as a result of such adjoint computations.

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) can support the development of low-cost and high performance navigation and guidance architectures for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and, in conjunction with suitable data link technologies, the provision of Automated Dependent Surveillance (ADS) functionalities for cooperative Sense-and-Avoid (SAA). In non-cooperative SAA, the adoption of GNSS can also provide the key positioning and, in some cases, attitude data (using multiple antennas) required for automated collision avoidance. A key limitation of GNSS for both cooperative (ADS) and non-cooperative applications is represented by the achievable levels of integrity. Therefore, an Avionics Based Integrity Augmentation (ABIA) solution is proposed to support the development of an Integrity-Augmented SAA (IAS) architecture suitable for both cooperative and non-cooperative scenarios.

Understanding the flow characteristics and, especially, how the aerodynamic forces are influenced by the changes in the vehicle body shape, are very important in order to improve vehicle aerodynamics. One specific goal of aerodynamic shape optimization is to predict the local shape sensitivities for aerodynamic forces. The availability of a reliable and efficient sensitivity analysis method will help to reduce the number of design iterations and the aerodynamic development costs. Among various shape optimization methods, the Adjoint Method has received much attention as an efficient sensitivity analysis method for aerodynamic shape optimization because it allows the computation of sensitivity information for a large number of shape parameters simultaneously.

This paper focuses on current research efforts in the field of automatic vehicle identification (AVI) within the Heavy Vehicle Electronic License Plate (HELP) program. HELP is developing a commercial vehicle monitoring and management system integrating AVI with weigh-in-motion, automatic vehicle classification and a computerized communications network. A primary emphasis to date in the HELP program has been technology research and development, with AVI being central to this effort. Initial research, undertaken by CRC, has led to the development of a radio frequency based, open specification for an AVI system representing the technological state-of-the-art. However, in parallel with the HELP AVI research, the American Trucking Association (ATA) has recently adopted its own radio frequency identification (RFID) equipment standard. A new research effort is therefore being performed by CRC to develop compatible AVI standards meeting the requirements of both the ATA and HELP.

The Radio Data System (RDS) consists of a silent data channel already being broadcast by most VHF-FM radio stations in the United Kingdom. One of the additional features currently being developed for RDS is the Traffic Message Channel (TMC). This will provide motorists with a constant stream of traffic information, either displayed on an in-vehicle receiver or by speech synthesis. Significant work has already been carried out on messages to be broadcast, location codes and message management issues for RDS-TMC, which is reported in this paper. Through the European DRIVE Road Transport Informatics project called RDS-ALERT (Advice and Problem Location for European Road Traffic), this work is now continuing toward standards for RDS-TMC throughout Europe.