Centreline Deviation Testing

Overview


End of line testing determines that manufacturers must ensure their vehicles do not 'pull' to the left or right whilst being driven in a straight line and with no steering input. The VBOX Centreline Deviation package features specific software which allows for accurate assessment of a vehicle's ability to achieve this.

The system can also be used to understand the effects of side winds, suspension geometry errors, and deviation during braking and lane change manoeuvres.

The vehicle heading is determined based on data captured immediately prior to the start of the centreline deviation test itself - allowing the test operative to drive in any direction across the test pad - as long as the vehicle is kept straight before letting go of the steering wheel. This flexibility is useful for different proving ground layouts, and means that tests can take place in a variety of locations.

If a run is completed without a satisfactorily steady heading having been achieved during the pre-test averaging phase, the centreline deviation software will highlight and 'reject' it, allowing for immediate analysis and for further runs to be conducted. In this manner, complete accuracy and consistency of testing is ensured.

System Features

Key Features
• Clear indication of required accuracy
• No complicated data processing required
• View data live in the vehicle
• Simple to set-up and use • User definable test range
• Dedicated centreline deviation software
• End of manufacturing line testing systems available

Measured Parameters
• Centreline deviation
• Speed
• Heading
• Yaw Rate
• Steering Angle (either from Vehicle CAN or external sensor)

Dedicated Test Software
Centreline-deviation-software
RACELOGIC Centreline Deviation Software is a standalone application specifically designed for RACELOGIC customers who are performing centreline deviation tests using a VBOX 3i or a VBOX 100Hz Speed Sensor.

The software is able to process both live serial data and recorded VBO files in order to generate results from either brake trigger or distance tests. This allows customers to perform multiple tests and view the results in a visually clear manner.

The software is more configurable, clearer and visual than the Report Generator centreline deviation results in VBOX Tools.

Live data can also be monitored in the 'Current Data' window on the right (see screenshot above), displaying speed, satellite number, trigger status and up to four selected available CAN channels.


The 'Results' tab displays live data and deviation results from previously recorded data.

Centreline deviation results shown in red indicates that the vehicle was not driven straight enough during the immediate time before the test start condition was met, exceeding the configured 'Full Period Standard Deviation' threshold.

Results shown in yellow indicate the standard deviation warning threshold has been exceeded.

The 'Current Graph' shows the live plot of user configured channels for the current test run.

The 'Map View' displays centreline deviation (y-axis) against centreline distance (x-axis). The graphs contain data for the most recent run and up to nine previous runs.


Test Procedures
In order to establish the vehicle heading to base the deviation calculation on, data is sampled in the short time before the centre line deviation test. This means that the test engineer can drive in any direction accross the test pad,
as long as the vehicle is kept in a straight line before letting go of the steering wheel.

This is useful for different proving ground layouts, and means that tests can take place in a variety of locations. To maintain accuracy, any runs in which the heading before the start of the test was not within user-defined tolerances during the averaging period are highlighted.

Test Procedure Example
• The test driver sets the start or end line and centreline distance
• Test driver proceeds to the start position, attempting to maintain a constant heading
• The centreline is calculated during the averaging period (if the deviation is too high the test is aborted)
• The centre line and start speed are then updated on the screen, the status displays 'test started' and the software beeps
• During the test the centre line distance, centre line deviation, end speed, and average speed are updated every sample and shown in the live window
• The tests ends on a GPS end line or pre-defined centreline distance, and the final results are displayed.

How does it work?

Commonly used for applications such as measuring side wind susceptibility, and vehicle deviation during various manoeuvres; the centre line deviation function can be used to show the deviation of a vehicle from a specified centre line to an accuracy of between 1 and 2cm (over a 30 second time period).

The high accuracy, Doppler derived velocity channels are measured and used to determine the lateral deviation from a specified track heading at every sample using geometric theories. This calculated deviation (lateral displacement) is an accumulative distance measurement, so it is most accurate when measured over short periods of time.

The above diagram simply displays how the accumulative deviation from a given centre line (H) is calculated.

Once the centre line deviation value starts calculating (S1), it will initially take the heading value recorded by the Doppler shift, and create a heading difference value (h1), relative to the defined Centre line deviation heading. Knowing the velocity at which the vehicle was travelling between samples (v) allows a sample measured deviation distance to be accurately determined. Using trigonometric relationships, this deviation distance is calculated using the following equation.

(Sin (heading diff) * Speed (m/s))*sample time

For successive samples a heading difference is then determined by comparing the current heading sample to the one previous.

The sample measured deviations are then accumulated throughout the test to produce a final centre line deviation result.

Back