Moog Industrial Group, a division of Moog Inc., has just provided the high dynamic motion control system and software portion of the Daimler AG driving simulator. The dynamic driving simulator owes its successful completion to the motion control expertise provided by Moog. The system is installed at Daimler’s new driving simulator center, which is part of the Mercedes-Benz Technology Center, in Sindelfingen, Germany.
The new simulator center in Sindelfingen features multiple simulators, which are optimized for specific test situations including research, assessment and training. Both fixed base driving simulators and a ride and comfort simulator, provided by Moog, are included in the centre.
“Meeting the challenge of our customers with innovative motion control and test solutions is the key to their worldwide success. For the last decade, simulators have been applied in many areas including research, assessment and training. The development of Daimler’s latest dynamic driving simulator was very challenging in terms of the technologies required to meet their specifications. We were one of the committed partners to the project and we were able to bring new ideas and approaches to satisfy the technical requirements and meet the project specifications and objectives” said Pim van den Dijssel, business manager Europe, for Moog.
The Moog electrical motion base is a hexapod consisting of six moveable legs supporting a dome. Inside the dome there is a full-size Mercedes-Benz car model where test drivers sit and view a 360 degrees projection screen showing real-life traffic scenes with moving pedestrians, oncoming traffic and buildings. The entire motion system is mounted on a lateral rail, which allows for the simulation of sideways movements, such as lane changes. The complete motion system is controlled by Moog real-time software. From the driver’s inputs to pedals and steering wheel the Daimler vehicle models calculate position, velocity and acceleration data. Moog software ensures that this information is translated to movements in the hexapod and lateral rail so the driver’s expectations are matched. Consequently, driving the simulator feels the same as driving a car.
The system, integrated by Daimler engineers, also features leading-edge energy efficient technology. “For the last decade, simulators have been applied in many automobile test areas, including research, assessment and training. The development of Daimler’s latest dynamic driving simulator was very challenging in terms of the technologies required to meet their specifications. We were able to bring new ideas and approaches to satisfy the technical requirements and meet the project specifications and objectives,” said van den Dijssel.
