Aktualités

OpenSCENARIO based Real-Life Testing of Automated Vehicles with many simultaneous operated Objects 

During last week iMAR demonstrated additional features of the well-known iSWACO-ARGUS toolchain to interested visitors. Seamless import of OpenSCENARIO descriptions are part of this as well as the implementation of sophisticated safety and security features. Also the latest release of the iARGUS-CMD software has been presented and demonstrated, which allows to operate also more than 10 vehicles simultaneously. 

The presentation took place at iMAR's proving ground (TRIWO) at Zweibrücken, which recently had been  completely surveyed by 3D Mapping Solutions, working in partnership cooperation with iMAR. Also the highway A6 close to iMAR headquarters in St. Ingbert had been surveyed. Based on these OpenDRIVE data, iMAR can operate even most complex traffic scenarios on the proving ground. The same system is used e.g. for swarm monitoring on public roads.   

MOSES by measX – the key to efficient vehicle dynamics measurements on the proving ground

iMAR's iTraceRT-MVT series for vehicle dynamics measuring is supported by MOSES, a leading vehicle dynamics test software, made by measX. iTraceRT-MVT is the well-known successor of the iDIS-FMS, which is supported by MOSES already for many years. Both systems are e.g. in daily use at many German and international automobile manufacturers and suppliers. 

About MOSES:
Vehicle dynamics tests are a fixed part of modern vehicle development. The in-vehicle data acquisition software MOSES optimally supports you in planning, executing and evaluating your tests. MOSES was developed by measX in cooperation with one of the world’s leading vehicle manufacturers and is oriented around the workflow of testing engineers and test drivers down to the smallest detail. The software controls the entire test process – from integration of the sensors to test planning and all the way to quality control and verification of measurement validity. All steps are coordinated with each other, and as much as possible takes place automatically. One particular highlight of MOSES is the consistently maneuver-oriented design with an extensive collection of predefined maneuvers and interfaces for the data acquisition.

Further information:

MOSES Product Information: The Key to Efficient Driving Dynamics Testing (Link to web site of measX)
MOSES: Flyer incl. List of supported Test Scenarios (english - pdf)
MOSES: Flyer incl. Liste der unterstützten Fahrmanöver (deutsch - pdf)
iTraceRT-MVT Series - INS/GNSS systems for advanced Driving Dynamics Testing

iMAR on Tour: 4 Tage kulturelle Impressionen und Weiterbildung in "Elbflorenz"  

Der diesjährige Betriebsausflug führte die Mitarbeiter der iMAR Navigation Ende Juni 2019 für 4 Tage von der Saar an die Elbe nach Dresden.

Dort standen neben  einer ausführlichen Stadtführung die Besichtigung der Gläsernen Manufaktur von VW und eine sehr interessante Führung durch das Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrtmedizin der Luftwaffe in Königsbrück mit Humanzentrifuge und Unterdruckkammer auf dem Programm. Ferner besuchten wir das architektonisch von Daniel Libeskind gestaltete Militärhistorische Museum. Außerdem absolvierten alle Teilnehmer eine interne Schulung zum Thema "Einfluß anwendungsbedingter Eigenschaften gestützter und ungestützter inertialer Meßmethoden auf die Systemkonzeption moderner Meßsysteme".

Eine abendliche mehrstündige Schiffahrt mit einem historischen Raddampfer auf der Elbe bildete einen entspannten Ausklang von 4 sehr abwechslungs-, bildungs- und kommunikationsreichen Tagen in Dresden bei bestem Sommerwetter.   

PEGASUS Safeguarding Toolchain demonstrated on the new ZalaZONE Test Track

After we demonstrated the new seamless workflow for safeguarding for highly automated driving cars during the PEGASUS Symposium together with AUDI AG on the Volkswagen proving ground in Ehra-Lessien / Germany just last week, we had been invited to demonstrate an even more complex setup during the inauguration of the new European proving ground ZalaZONE in Hungary today, together with the introduction of the new 5G technology by T-Systems and Ericsson. 

About 150 invited high ranking guests from industry, research and politics visited our life demonstration during the ZalaZone test track inauguration, where we showed in a joint activity of T-Systems and Ericcsson, how to control a fully automated driving "Traffic Simulation Vehicle" iTSV-KIA within a complex traffic scenario, first time via their 5G communication on a proving ground, and how to perform communication between several participating cars and the iARGUS-CC Control Center.

The impressive demonstration showed as an example a setup to verify or homologate the functions of ACC (active cruise control) of a standard Golf VII car by stimulation via the iTSV-NIRO, where the visitors had been even allowed to interact with the iTSV-KIA during the test execution via a panel, to trigger the lane change or the emergency braking execution in real-time.

Prof. Zsolt Szalay from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) and Head of Innovation and Research of the ZalaZONE Test Course  guided the visitors with an ambitioned talk through the demonstrations.

iMAR has also a research cooperation with Prof. Szalay's university department of automotive technologies (GJT).

Further information:

YouTube Video from the ZalaZONE Event

Press Echo "Such a Technology..."

ZalaZone Proving Ground in Hungary

iTSV-KIA: iMAR's Traffic Simulation Vehicles

iSWACO-ARGUS: iMAR's Proving Ground Instrumentation Suite

PEGASUS Project: Standards for the safeguarding of highly-automated vehicles

In order for functions for the safeguarding of highly-autmated vehicles to be approved, new quality standards and methods had been developed in the recent 3 years – through the close cooperation between the automotive industry and innovative, agile engineering companies. This is what the PEGASUS joint project, funded by the German Government / BMWi) stands for: Project for the Establishment of Generally Accepted quality criteria, tools and methods as well as Scenarios and ("Und") Situations for the release of highly-automated driving functions. The objective ihad been to develop a procedure for the testing of automated driving functions, in order to facilitate the rapid implementation of automated driving into practice.

iMAR Navigation participated in PEGASUS and developed and provided one of the most reliable and easy-to-use metrology for trajectory generation from common simulation formats (OpenScenario / OpenDrive), trajectory stimulation & vehicle control and motion surveying for both, on the proving ground and on the highway. Within PEGASUS, the results had been obtained within a close collaboration between AUDI AG and iMAR Navigation GmbH. Partially also TÜV Süd had been involved to cover also the requirements of future homologation needs within the developed system. 

Safe the Date: The PEGASUS Symposium is held on May, 13th and 14th  2019 at the proving ground in Ehra-Lessien at Volkswagen facilities. An exhibition of the results  incl. life presentations on the proving ground is included. iMAR Navigation will present the full proving ground implementation incl. INS/GNSS localization, stereo-vision based signal processing and a "robot-free" proving ground setup for the testing of highly and fully automated driving vehicles up to SAE level 5, using an Audi RS7 and a KIA-NIRO, both with iMAR's control interface.

The presentation in May 2019 is held in close cooperation between Audi AG and iMAR Navigation.

Further information:

Poster about iMAR / Audi novel Proving Ground Setup (from Simulation to Real World)

PEGASUS Symposium: May 13/14, 2019 (english Invitation)  |  (deutsche Einladung)

Link to PEGASUS project (official web site) 

Automotive Projects:  Additional secured Space for Test Vehicles  

In February 2019 we installed at our headquarters in St. Ingbert an additional, secured garage area, which enables us  to store additional testing vehicles, also  incl. iinstalled test setups.

This further expands our capabilities within our customer driven projects in the wide area of automated driving, vehicle control and motion dynamics. Same capabilities are available also at our proving ground in Zweibrücken, only 25 km away from our headquarters in St. Ingbert. 

Highly Automated Vehicle for Public Transportation  

iMAR is in process to integrate its positioning and vehicle guidance & control technology into the FLAIT Fast Lane Artificial-Intelligence Transportation System. FLAIT is an advanced vehicle design for efficient public transportation of individuals as well as for last-mile cargo transportation, ovecoming many of the well-known disadvantages of current solutions.

FLAIT only uses half of the space of one lane, supports driving to individual destinanations for individual passengers (where the operation of a larger bus with more than 2 passengers for public transportation is uneconomical), comes with a very small turning circle (important for urban areas), supports tilting technology for high passenger comfort and fast motion capability and also supports platooning, where several passengers intend to visit the same destination.

FLAIT is designed by Innovative Dragon Ltd., located in London / UK and based on more than 30 years experience in advanced engineering. Details can be found on www.iDragon.eu

The FLAIT has been presented by Innovative Dragon and iMAR on the CAR Symposium on February 6th, 2019 in Bochum / Germany and had been subject of high interest.     

New GNSS Simulator in Operation in iMAR's Development and Production  Departments  

The SKYDEL GNSS simulation software is known as one of the best solutions for flexible real-time testing of GNSS engines. NOFFZ in Germany now provides a turnkey solution based on the SKYDEL software, a software defined radio, a GPU and the required support electronics. This allows running individual signal simulations in real-time. The integrated Scenario Editor allows free definition of trajectories in up to 6 degrees of freedom. It supports GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO and other optional constellations, differential and RTK GNSS and multi-vehicle simulation, GNSS satellite orbit modification, unlimited pseudorange additive ramps and many things more.

Beside of the simulation, the system also allows to acquire GNSS RF data from test tracks and to use them in a replay mode or even to modify the real-world signals before using them for INS/GNSS system testing. The GNSS simulator can be operated synchronized to iMAR's hexapod motion simulator, which can generate 6 DOF motion for payloads up to 1 ton with up to 1 g and 30 deg roll / pitch / yaw.  

The simulator is used for the iMAR R&D department as well as on the production floor.

The new GNSS simulator enables iMAR to test our data fusion algorithms, the used GNSS engines and our entire systems under GNSS conditions, which had been more difficult so far with standard solutions. 

Navigationssysteme für 338 Fahrzeuge der deutschen Katastrophenhilfe (BBK) 

iMAR is contracted in 12/2018 to equip all 338 CBRN vehicles of the German Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katasprophenhilfe, BBK) with the well-known navigation and localization system iNAT-M200/MLD. CBRN stands for the detection and documentation of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear contamination. 

The selection of the iNAT-M200 had been done within a worldwide competition, considering cost, reliability and performance.

Further information:

Product Information iNAT-M200/MLD

Ride Control System installed on Brittany Ferry’s high speed craft „Normandie Express“  

Another catamaran vessel now benefits from the reliable and high performance of our ship motion damping Ride Control.  The system, jointly developed and supplied with our Dutch partner KWANT controls B.V., was installed on-board during an extensive retrofit of the vessel last week.

The Ride Control System adaptively damps undesired roll and pitch motion of the ferry. An INS/GNSS based inertial measurement system from our iATTHEMO product series is provided to monitor the motion of the ship. Based on this information iMAR’s ride control algorithm commands the vessel’s trim tabs and foils for optimal motion damping. The algorithm automatically adapts to changing sea states and effectively increases passenger comfort under all conditions.

We were confirmed by the crew of the ship: The new system is a big step forward for this ferry, compared to what we knew from before, both in performance and operability.

Further information:

Product Information iATTHEMO-M

Datasheet iATTHEMO-M

Complex Multi-Object -Scenario demonstration at AEB Praxis Conference together with 4a Systems  

iMAR has shown that complex testing of highly automated driving vehicles with several synchronized participants is possible in a highly accurate and repeatable manner.

In cooperation with 4active Systems, a future EuroNCAP Jjunction Scenario, comprising of two 4a Soft Crash Targets and iMAR’s self-driving iTSV-KIA-NIRO has been performed with highest reliability during the AEB praxis conference in Schlüsselfeld / Germany at September 20/21, 2018 in front of many professional visitors from automobile manufacturers and their suppliers.

All moveable objects had been equipped with iMAR’s high accurate INS/GNSS systems of type iTraceRT-MVT-xxx, providing position, velocity, acceleration, orientation and timing for synchronisation and control of the whole scenario.

For October 1, 2018 iMAR is invited  to present the iTSV-KIA-NIRO at the opening ceremony of CERMcity, an advanced urban test field on the proving ground in Aldenhoven / Germany (RWTH Aachen).

Further information:

Datasheet iSWACO-ARGUS: Proving Ground Instrumentation for vehicle tests up to SAE level 5

Datasheet iKIA-NIRO: Self driving traffic simulation vehicle

Accurate Calibration of 3D Magnetometers at iMAR Facilities  

iMAR manufactures precise 3D magnetometers with integrated IMU already since a longer time. Now a new, iron-free, fully magnetic clean calibration facilities has been installed at the iMAR headquarters in St. Ingbert which allows an even more automated calibration of magnetometers, unaffected by any other magnetic distortions. 

This includes also an own designed 3D Helmholtz coil to apply well defined magnetic fields. The range covers even significantly stronger fields than the magnitude of earth magnetic field. 

Precise INS/GNSS Solution for Radar Antenna Azimuth and Elevation  Reference  

iMAR wins the contract to deliver more than a dozen of iPRENA-III systems for the precise radar antenna pointing application for the mobile radar system of a well-known European manufacturer. 

The system consists of the mature iPRENA RLG based  INS/GNSS system with gyro compassing capability, including an additional independant heading solution, which allows a cost efficient comparision of two dissimilar heading results to fulfill also  demanding SIL requirements.     

Further information:

Datasheet iPRENA-II/III/IV Precision INS/GNSS Navigation and Piointing Reference for Defence Applications 

Most reliable navigation solutions from iMAR Navigation now for ABD robot systems certified  

Anthony Best Dynamics (ABD) has launched an Approval Certificate which certifies the compatibility of the system families of iNAT and iTraceRT-MVT by iMAR Navigation with ABD robot systems. Successful Ethernet communication and path following was demonstrated in August 2018. 

This allows users of ABD equipment worldwide to use iMAR's most reliable and accurate INS/GNSS systems within their ABD setup.

Approval Certificate

 On April 6, 2019, the transmitted GPS week number in the navigation message of GPS will rollover from 1023 to 0.

Recently manufactured / delivered GNSS receivers inside of iMAR products should not be affected by this issue.  In case you detect any data inconsistency, please contact our support team.

The users of automated operating platforms and operators of reference stations shall pay special attention to this issue during the rollover. 

Testing of highly automated driving vehicles for verification and validation  

AUDI AG has decided within the context of the wellknown PEGASUS project to enter into a deep cooperation with iMAR Navigation to develop and implement advanced testing facilities for highly and fully automated driving vehicles. 

Link: Demonstration of proving ground instrumentation with generalized PEGASUS setup (Video, 6/2018)

Precise, Economic Navigation and LocalizationSolution for Heavy and Lite On-road and Off-road Vehicles  

In early 2018 iMAR delivered the first batches of iSULONA-V against an order of 60 systems. A fleet of HTRVs (Heavy Tactical Revovery Vehicles) will be equipped with these systems, which allow a precise localization, using GNSS aiding or (in case of GNSS unavailability) also waypoint aided navigation. The iXCOM-CMD software provides a powerful but simple to use HMI for daily operation as well as for route planning or maintenance. Furthermore, the open command and data exgange interface allows the user to implement his own HMI, using the also provided SDK. 

The Site Acceptance Test (SAT) had been successfully performed in February 2018.

The iSULONA-V is compatible to iMAR's other systems of the iSULONA, iCOMBANA and iPRENA family, providing navigation and localization performance from MEMS class over FOG and HRG performance up to RLG performance. 

Further information:

iSULONA Datasheets (INS/GNSS with included odometer interface and sophisticated data fusion)

iXCOM-CMD Operator Software

Download links to the operator's software iXCOM-CMD and also to the  iXCOM-CMD-MVT ("MVT = Multi Vehicle Tracking), which also allows to localize and guide a swarm of vehicles simultaneously:

Award for the "Most Advanced Real-Life Testing & Simulation Techniques in Autonomous Driving"  

The Automotive Tech.AD is the No. 1 European event on technical challenges for vehicle automation L4+. It is Europe’s leading knowledge exchange platform bringing together every year in Berlin / Germany 350+ stakeholders who are playing an active role in the vehicle automation scene. Topics are Testing & Validation, Sensor Fusion, Deep Driving, Operational Safe Systems, Cognitive Vehicles, Software Architectures &  much more.

Link to Tech.AD

iMAR is very proud to announce, that we have won the Tech.AD Award 2018 on March 6, 2018 during an official ceremony with our system solution iSWACO-ARGUS, our advanced proving ground automation equipment to perform fully automated economical testing of highly autmated vehicles up to SAE level 5 on arbitrary proving grounds.
iSWACO-ARGUS, which stays for "Swarm Control & Continuous Surveillance", is the unique toolchain for vehicle testing purposes specially designed to cover today's challenging requirements - including INS/GNSS based localization and control of all vehicles on sub-decimeter level (iTraceRT-MVT), RF mesh based communication between all vehicles (iDMN) and the central mobile control center, data analysis as well as trajectory and scenario planning software to plan, simulate and execute complex perfectly emulated traffic scenarios on the proving ground, including operation of traffic lights, traffic signs or rain simulators etc. (iARGUS-CMD)

All together, iSWACO-ARGUS enables the OEMS as well as the testing organizations to carry out the type approval or homologation for automated and autonomous vehicles, to test the VUT under probably all environmental conditions in real Traffic Scenarios now and in the future, up to SAE Level 5.       

Further information:

Ceremony of Tech.AD 2018 Award: Video  (3:59)

iSWACO-ARGUS: Video of operation with testing scenarios of traffic jam and a lane change (driverless driven TSV by iMAR technology without any need of any steering robot) on proving ground Pferdsfeld / Germany with TÜV-Süd Auto-Service GmbH and Volkswagen AG in 10/2017 (6:45)

iSWACO-ARGUS: Product Flyer (4 pages)

Precise INS/GNSS Solution for Radar Antenna Alignment   

iMAR just delivered the 12^th iPRENA-M-H system, a high performance INS/GNSS/ODO inertial navigation, localization and surveying system. This system is a replacement of the "historical" DRU / MAPS modular azimuth position system, which is out of production by several vendors since a longer time now. 

iMAR's replacement allows the user to keep all traditional cabling and communication inside the trucks or tanks alive without any need for changes while replacing the INS.   

Further iPRENA-M-H systems are under contract and in production.

Further information:

Datasheet iPRENA-M-H Precision Navigation for Defense Applications (DRU / MAPS replacement)