Company Press Releases

Meritor Takes Delivery of a Six DOF Driving Simulator from Mechanical Simulation

Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 25, 2011: Mechanical Simulation Corporation has delivered an innovative driving simulator to Meritor’s engineering laboratory in Troy, Mich. The six degree of freedom motion simulator features Mechanical Simulation’s flagship vehicle simulation software product - CarSim RT for Driving Simulators. The simulator will be used by Meritor engineers to improve the development, testing, and demonstration of the company’s active and passive driveline and chassis technologies.

This advanced driving simulator is an extended real-time Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) system that enables Meritor engineers and product developers the opportunity to evaluate new technologies and control strategies while driving on a wide variety of three-dimensional road surfaces. In this application Mechanical Simulation has developed integrated system architecture to manage the simulation of vehicle dynamics, motion control, motion cueing, and MATLAB/Simulink models with a single computer. The simulator features three 42” high-definition monitors, a 5.1 channel surround sound system, and driver console that provides manual and automatic shifting and instrumentation controls for managing the simulation environment.

As a long-time user of CarSim, the selection of a Mechanical Simulation driving simulator was the right solution for Meritor. “When we consistently use the same set of tools throughout the product development process, we will be able to deliver products to the market much quicker and at a lower cost,” said Simon Dean, Sr. Director of Advanced Engineering and Electronics. “In fact, we worked very closely with Mechanical Simulation to define the performance and operational requirements of the simulator. This successful collaboration resulted in an open-architecture tool that we will be able to integrate with a wide range of engineering and business operations. With a CarSim RT based simulator, we will able to evaluate new technologies or concepts and immediately receive subjective data from our development team and potential customers.”

Before commissioning the simulator, Meritor could only receive subjective feedback late in the product development process. The motion simulator allows the company to develop and evaluate many alternative controls system strategies before committing to invest in developing a prototype vehicle or incurring additional costs of utilizing the proving grounds.  In addition, the simulator is a key tool in communicating and educating Meritor’s customers, management, and sales groups in the relevance of its advanced projects.

Since the simulator is designed as an engineering tool, the level of customization that can be accomplished by Meritor was also a compelling advantage. “Most simulators provide a single vehicle, a limited number of roads, and set motion cueing parameters,” said John Peterson, Vehicle Dynamics Controls Engineer. “With this simulator, we have complete control of vehicle properties, the driving scene - complete with 3D models of our customer’s vehicles - and the simulator’s motion properties. This lets us tune the simulator to provide the most realistic driving experience for each technology we want to demonstrate.”

Dean said, “It has already proven to be a valuable tool from both engineering and marketing perspectives.”

About Meritor
Meritor, Inc. is a leading global supplier of drivetrain, mobility, braking and aftermarket solutions for commercial vehicle and industrial markets. With more than a 100-year legacy of providing innovative products that offer superior performance, efficiency and reliability, the company serves commercial truck, trailer, off-highway, defense, specialty and aftermarket customers in more than 70 countries. Based in Troy, Mich., more than 11,000 employees are located in manufacturing facilities, engineering centers, joint ventures, distribution centers and global offices worldwide. Meritor common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MTOR. For more information, visit the company's web site at meritor.com.

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 company was established in 1996, and from its Ann Arbor, Mich., headquarters provides car, truck and motorcycle simulation packages, training and ongoing support to more than 90 OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, and over 160 universities and government research groups worldwide. For more information, visit www.carsim.com.