Title: Fractal terrain generation for vehicle simulation

Authors: Jeremy J. Dawkins; David M. Bevly; Robert L. Jackson

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, 270 Ross Hall, Auburn University, AL 36849, USA ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, 270 Ross Hall, Auburn University, AL 36849, USA ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, 270 Ross Hall, Auburn University, AL 36849, USA

Abstract: This paper presents a methodology for generating rough terrain surfaces for the purpose of vehicle simulation. A 3D Weierstrass-Mandelbrot function was used to generate terrain surfaces with varying roughness. The terrain surfaces were evaluated using the Root Mean Squared Elevation (RMSE), Power Spectral Density (PSD), and International Roughness Index (IRI). Vehicle simulations were conducted at varying speeds on the generated terrains using Carsim, and the vehicle body motions were studied based on Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) outputs. It was determined that the Weierstrass-Mandelbrot function is an effective way to create simulated surfaces to match a wide range of terrain roughness.

Keywords: terrain-vehicle interaction; terrain characterisation; vehicle modelling; vehicle simulation; fractal surfaces; rough terrain; vehicle speed; vehicle body motion.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVAS.2012.047693

International Journal of Vehicle Autonomous Systems, 2012 Vol.10 No.1/2, pp.3 - 18

Received: 28 Apr 2010
Accepted: 14 Oct 2010
Published online: 31 Dec 2014 *

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