Company Press Releases

Simulator Slated For Automotive Research

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Sept. 14, 2009 – The University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), with funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, recently ordered a real-time driving simulator based on CarSim® and TruckSim® from Mechanical Simulation Corporation, Ann Arbor, Mich.

The driving simulator will be located in UOIT’s $120 million (Canadian) General Motors of Canada Automotive Centre of Excellence facility, Oshawa, Ontario, to provide researchers with a high-fidelity simulation tool to develop next-generation active safety systems for passenger and commercial vehicles.

The simulator features the industry-leading CarSim Real-Time and TruckSim Real-Time simulation software packages from Mechanical Simulation. It will provide UOIT researchers with a platform to test innovative vehicle control algorithms. Researchers, test drivers and industry experts will evaluate new technologies by driving vehicles in virtual traffic scenarios, monitoring their effectiveness in maintaining vehicle stability, and observing how the safety features interact with other vehicles.

Yuping He, Ph.D., professor of mechanical engineering at UOIT, explained why the university selected this driving simulator. “Mechanical Simulation offers high-fidelity vehicle dynamics models, and has extensive experience with high-end hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) driving simulators,” Dr. He said. “In addition, CarSim and TruckSim provide a seamless interface to MATLAB/Simulink/Real-Time Workshop, which is the industry standard tool used to develop control systems for automotive vehicles.”

About University of Ontario Institute of Technology: UOIT delivers a leading-edge learning environment that uniquely combines academic knowledge, research opportunities, hands-on skills and a vibrant student life. UOIT’s more than 5,500 students are taught by professors who are experts in their fields from around the world. As Ontario’s first laptop-based university, UOIT offers a diverse array of undergraduate and graduate degree programs through its faculties of Business and Information Technology; Criminology, Justice and Policy Studies; Education; Energy Systems and Nuclear Science; Engineering and Applied Science; Health Sciences; and Sciences. For more information, visit www.uoit.ca.

About the Canadian Foundation for Innovation: The CFI is an independent corporation created by the government of Canada to fund research infrastructure. The CFI’s mandate is to strengthen the capacity of Canadian universities, colleges, research hospitals and non-profit research institutions to carry out world-class research and technology development that benefits Canadians. Since its creation in 1997, the CFI has committed $4.4 billion (Canadian) in support of 5,800 projects at 129 institutions in 64 municipalities across Canada.

About Mechanical Simulation Corporation: Mechanical Simulation Corporation is a technology leader in the development and distribution of advanced software used to simulate vehicle performance under a wide variety of conditions. The Ann Arbor, Mich., company was established in 1996 to provide car, truck and motorcycle simulation and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) systems to more than 50 vehicle OEMs, 80 Tier 1 suppliers and over 120 universities and government research groups worldwide. For more information, visit www.carsim.com.