Electrified Powertrain Development: Distributed Co-Simulation Protocol Extension for Coupled Test Bench Operations

The increasingly stringent CO2 emissions standards require innovative solutions in the vehicle development process. One possibility to reduce CO2 emissions is the electrification of powertrains. The resulting increased complexity, as well as the increased competition and time pressure make the use of simulation software and test benches indispensable in the early development phases. This publication therefore presents a methodology for test bench coupling to enable early testing of electrified powertrains. For this purpose, an internal combustion engine test bench and an electric motor test bench are virtually interconnected. By applying and extending the Distributed Co-Simulation Protocol Standard for the presented hybrid electric powertrain use case, real-time-capable communication between the two test benches is achieved. Insights into the test bench setups, and the communication between the test benches and the protocol extension, especially with regard to temperature measurements, enable the extension to be applied to other powertrain or test bench configurations. The shown results from coupled test bench operations emphasize the applicability. The discussed experiences from the test bench coupling experiments complete the insights

Variations of energetic particle fluxes after interplanetary shock arrivals and around significant geomagnetic storms observed by low altitude spacecraft

International audienceWe analyze variations of energetic particle fluxes measured by low altitude spacecraft after interplanetary shock arrivals and around the times of significant geomagnetic storms. Data from two different spacecraft and energetic particle detectors are used and compared. First, we use data measured by the energetic particle detector (IDP) onboard the Detection of Electro-Magnetic Emissions Transmitted from Earthquake Regions (DEMETER) spacecraft. The spacecraft operated between 2004 and 2010 on a circular Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of initially 710 km, which was decreased to 660 km in December 2005. The IDP instrument measured electron flux close to the loss cone at energies between about 70 keV and 2.3 MeV (128 energy channels). Second, we use data measured by the Space Application of Timepix Radiation Monitor (SATRAM) onboard the Proba-V satellite operating since May 2013 on a circular Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 820 km. The semi-conductor based pixelated radiation detector called Timepix is capable of detecting all charged particles and X-rays with sufficiently high energies. Electron energies higher than about 2 MeV and proton energies higher than about 20 MeV are detected. We identify the times of interplanetary shock arrivals and significant (Dst < -100 nT) geomagnetic storms during the mission durations. Then we perform a superposed epoch analysis to reveal characteristic particle flux variations around these times at different energies and L-shells. Although the used satellite missions do not overlap in time, we aim to compare the revealed flux variation signatures between these two independent data sets

Variations in Energetic Particle Fluxes around Significant Geomagnetic Storms Observed by the Low-Altitude DEMETER Spacecraft

International audienceA superposed epoch analysis is conducted for five geomagnetic storms in the years 2005 and 2006 with the aim to understand energetic particle flux variations as a function of L-shell, energy and time from the Dst minimum. Data measured by the low-altitude DEMETER spacecraft were used for this purpose. The storms were identified by a Dst index below −100 nT, as well as their being isolated events in a seven-day time window. It is shown that they can be categorized into two types. The first type shows significant variations in the energetic particle fluxes around the Dst minimum and increased fluxes at high energies (>1.5 MeV), while the second type only shows increased fluxes around the Dst minimum without the increased fluxes at high energies. The first type of storm is related to more drastic but shorter-lasting changes in the solar wind parameters than the second type. One storm does not fit either category, exhibiting features from both storm types. Additionally, we investigate whether the impenetrable barrier for ultra-relativistic electrons also holds in extreme geomagnetic conditions. For the highest analyzed energies, the obtained barrier L-shells do not go below 2.6, consistent with previous findings

A synchronized visual-inertial sensor system with FPGA pre-processing for accurate real-time SLAM

Robust, accurate pose estimation and mapping at real-time in six dimensions is a primary need of mobile robots, in particular flying Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs), which still perform their impressive maneuvers mostly in controlled environments. This work presents a visual-inertial sensor unit aimed at effortless deployment on robots in order to equip them with robust real-time Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) capabilities, and to facilitate research on this important topic at a low entry barrier. Up to four cameras are interfaced through a modern ARM-FPGA system, along with an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) providing high-quality rate gyro and accelerometer measurements, calibrated and hardware-synchronized with the images. This facilitates a tight fusion of visual and inertial cues that leads to a level of robustness and accuracy which is difficult to achieve with purely visual SLAM systems. In addition to raw data, the sensor head provides FPGA-pre-processed data such as visual keypoints, reducing the computational complexity of SLAM algorithms significantly and enabling employment on resource-constrained platforms. Sensor selection, hardware and firmware design, as well as intrinsic and extrinsic calibration are addressed in this work. Results from a tightly coupled reference visual-inertial motion estimation framework demonstrate the capabilities of the presented system

Angular distribution measurement of gamma rays from inelastic neutron scattering on 56Fe at the nELBE time-of-flight facility

Inelastic neutron scattering from 56Fe was studied at the nELBE time-of-flight facility. The incoming neutron energy ranges from 100 keV to 10 MeV in the fast neutron spectrum, where high precision nuclear data are needed. A detector setup has been installed to investigate the γ-ray angular distributions. It contains five HPGe and five LaBr3 detectors positioned at 30, 55, 90, 125 and 150 degrees relative to the beam axis. The intrinsic and the neutron induced background from the setup was subtracted by cyclical measurements with and without the natural Fe-target. Corrections for extended source efficiency and gamma-self-absorption, inside the target, were done using GEANT4 simulations. The angular distributions measured with the HPGe detectors are compared with earlier data. High neutron energy resolution up to a few keV was obtained with the LaBr3 detectors due to their much better time resolution