DOE Project on Heavy Vehicle Aerodynamic Drag FY 2005 Annual Report

Class 8 tractor-trailers consume 11-12% of the total US petroleum use. At high way speeds, 65% of the energy expenditure for a Class 8 truck is in overcoming aerodynamic drag. The project objective is to improve fuel economy of Class 8 tractor-trailers by providing guidance on methods of reducing drag by at least 25%. A 25% reduction in drag would present a 12% improvement in fuel economy at highway speeds, equivalent to about 130 midsize tanker ships per year. Specific goals include: (1) Provide guidance to industry in the reduction of aerodynamic drag of heavy truck vehicles; and (2) Establish a database of experimental, computational, and conceptual design information, and demonstrate the potential of new drag-reduction devices

Ein integriertes Navigationssystem für Binnenschiffe

A selfcontained, integrated navigation system for the automatic guidance of inland ships is described. Besides the usual navigation sensors, an image producing sensor (radar) is primarily used. The sensor information is combined with a-priori knowledge in the form of an electronic river chart and dynamic ship models, in order to determine the position of the navigating ship and the trajectories of other traffic participants in global coordinates. Knowing the own ship‘s position, relevant information for ship maneuvering can be requested from the electronic chart. A multiple-target tracking method is implemented for the determination of the trajectories of other vessels and thus for the evaluation of the actual traffic situation. Further processing steps of the integrated navigation system are the planning of a pilot line and the guidance of the ship along this pilot line. The methods were successfully tested in practice. The structure of this integrated navigation system, developed for the case of inland shipping, may be transferred to other traffic systems. (28 References

Autonom mobile Systeme in der Binnenschiffahrt Schlussbericht

With 13 figs.SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: FR 6011+a-b / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman