Biomecánicamente - iMoLab: Intelligent Mobility Laboratory

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Tuesday, 21 November 2023 11:38

iMoLab: Intelligent Mobility Laboratory ^Featured

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Authors: Juan F. Giménez Pla, Amparo López-Vicente, Raquel Marzo Rosselló, Arizona Vitoria González, Víctor de Nalda Tárrega, José Laparra Hernández, José Solaz Sanahuja, Elisa Signes i Pérez

iMoLab is a coordinated R&D project involving 6 technology institutes, to define and create a distributed smart mobility laboratory to facilitate the implementation of innovation projects among the players in the mobility sector. The institutes taking part in the initiative provide the knowledge of communications, connected infrastructures, energy management and people's needs that the new sustainable, connected and autonomous mobility sector requires.

INTRODUCTION

A range of new technologies are beginning to radically change the way we live in our cities and how we move around them. Connected, autonomous, emission-free and shared mobility solutions will lead to the creation of innovative and sustainable forms of urban coexistence at the service of people.

Valencia’s Region has endowed itself with a robust network of technology institutes that is crucial for the rapid development and consolidation of this new corporate ecosystem, promoting innovation and competitiveness, bringing wealth to our region and quality of life to its inhabitants. Pioneering companies in the field of smart mobility, together with a wide network of SMEs with advanced technological solutions, need the support of these technology institutes to help them meet the challenges of new modes of mobility, which must satisfy the needs of people and promote the use of clean energies and connected infrastructures.

The Autonomous Community of Valencia’s commitment to intelligent mobility must be based on these PEIC capacities (People, Clean Energy, Infrastructure and Communications), and go beyond merely partial approaches to support the key agents in the sector and to bring them together in a space where it is possible to gain international relevance. In the coming years, projects to implement these technologies in our cities will be supported, and the time has come to strengthen our technological fabric in a harmonized way, creating humanized, sustainable, and digitized ecosystems.

Such ecosystems need an advanced environment for research, integration and demonstration purposes, in which six technology institutes with expertise in the fields of energy (ITE), mobility infrastructures (AIMPLAS, AIDIMME, ITENE), communications (ITI) and the needs and expectations of people (IBV), can integrate their cutting-edge lines of activity in mobility to offer R&D&I services to companies in this emergent technological sector, facilitating its development and evolution through highly collaborative work.

Defined as an Intelligent Mobility Laboratory (iMoLab), this environment will allow the development of R&D projects, as well as the transfer of knowledge and technologies to companies, working with them to create and demonstrate the potential and viability of new innovative solutions that can be immediately implemented in our region (proximity value) and launched on the global market (demonstrative value of the new competitive solutions).

This paper presents the results generated by the Instituto de Biomecánica (IBV) within the framework of the iMoLab collaborative project, which includes a portable vehicle instrumentation laboratory, the detailed definition of a virtual simulation laboratory, and the conceptual definition of an intelligent mobility living lab[1].

The companies that have collaborated in the project are: FORVIA FAURECIA, ETRA INVESTIGACIÓN Y DESARROLLO, ABERVIAN, ITERNA SOLUCIONES DE INGENIERÍA, NEXT ELECTRONIC MOTORS, RENAULT RETAIL GROUP LEVANTE S.A, SIMETRIA FIDENTIA, TRAFFIC FUTURA AND V2C. In the specific case of IBV, the companies FORVIA FAURECIA and ETRA INVESTIGACIÓN Y DESARROLLO have played an active role in identifying the needs of the Virtual iMoLab digital technology simulation laboratory. FORVIA has also participated in the planning and execution of the feasibility studies for the IBV iMoLab and Virtual iMoLab.

DEVELOPMENT

The Smart City model [2] is a concept that has emerged in recent years, driven by the potential of information technologies and Big Data as tools to improve the management of resources in growing cities, and as an alternative with which to address their transformation into more livable and sustainable environments. The model proposes using data generated in an increasingly sensorised urban environment to produce indicators that support decision-making not only by governments and businesses, but also by individuals using smart data-driven services.

One of the six areas that articulate the Smart City concept, smart mobility [3] has the capacity to reduce the environmental impact of transport in cities, through various means such as reducing traffic and congestion by transforming mobility into a service [4] or changing behavior to encourage the active mobility of citizens, among others.

Figure 1: Kit used to record the user’s emotional state.

The implementation of smart mobility in the Smart City environment requires the combination of different areas of knowledge, since infrastructures and systems that facilitate the use of clean energies must be used to satisfy people’s transport needs by using communication technologies (ICT). Therefore, smart mobility implies PCEIC capabilities (People, Clean Energy, Infrastructures and Communications) and requires an approach that makes it possible to bring together key agents with the aforementioned capabilities.

In this context, the iMoLab project has addressed the definition of a smart mobility laboratory through a coordinated R&D action, facilitating the availability of prototypes/demonstrators in distributed facilities, with expertise in the field of energy, connected infrastructures, communications and people's needs and expectations.

Figure 2: Representation of the rooms included in the Virtual iMoLab.

The laboratory is structured on three levels:

- The first level is a network of six laboratories specialized in the area of knowledge provided by each technology institute, located at their respective headquarters (IITT iMoLab).

- The second level is a product and environment simulation facility, based on immersive digital technologies (Virtual iMoLab), located at the headquarters of the IBV.

- The third level is a laboratory located in the Paterna Technology Park, where products can be assessed in real-use conditions (Living iMoLab).

This network of laboratories facilitates the development of collaborative projects, and the transfer of knowledge and technologies to companies, working with them to create and demonstrate the potential and viability of new innovative solutions in the field of mobility.

IBV iMoLab

IBV iMoLab is the IBV laboratory of the distributed iMoLab network. This laboratory is envisaged as a facility focused on the determination of the emotional state of the user-passenger, using new technologies and services related to autonomous and connected driving.

The laboratory is equipped with an instrumentation kit (Figure 1) that monitors the physical, mental and emotional state of one or several passengers (physiological signals, thermal analysis of users, posture tracking, fatigue, stress, etcetera), and records the vehicle telemetry data (accelerations, braking, changes in direction, vibration level, and other relevant yet-to-be-identified physical variables) that characterize the route followed, combining the use of commercial and self-developed devices.

Virtual iMoLab

This laboratory has been designed as a facility to cover the simulation needs of the technology centers that form part of the iMoLab consortium, in their product and service development processes.

This facility therefore includes all the resources required for the digital simulation of new solutions and services, in a virtual environment specialized in new mobility. Located in the IBV facilities, the laboratory’s management is shared by all the project partners, who will use it in collaborative R&D projects with other companies. The laboratory includes virtual reality (VR),augmented reality (AR) and immersive projection technology, tracking technologies and the ability to visualize projected environments.

As shown in Figure 2, Virtual iMoLab is a flexible installation with at least four distinct rooms:

- A room for physical-digital interaction, combining real elements to be installed on a totem, with VR and haptic technologies.

- A room for the comprehensive simulation of a vehicle, also based on the principle of physical-digital interaction.

- A third room for immersive simulations, where the user can interact with products and services, in a digital environment and in the metaverse.

Finally, a room that reproduces the conditions of a control room, in which to carry out observations of the metaverse or studies and simulations associated with a digital twin.

Figure 3: Photo-realistic modelling of the intermodal station.

Living iMoLab

Living iMoLab is a facility that is designed to cover the validation needs, in a real-use environment (living lab concept [1]), of the mobility ecosystem of the Autonomous Community of Valencia. As this ecosystem comprises players from the quadruple helix innovation model (companies-academia-public sector-citizens), Living iMoLab is therefore conceived as a physical facility in which Infrastructures-Technology Institutes-Public Sector-Users converge, so that companies can test their new mobility solutions in a real-use environment.

The laboratory, which will be located in the municipality of Paterna, where five of the six technology institutes participating in the project are already located, as well as other public transport infrastructures, is proposed as a basic facility to facilitate pilot tests, in which entities, researchers and end users can become actively involved. Based on this approach, conceptual designs have been generated for three areas of intervention:

Paterna Metro/FGV station: design of an intermodal station in the station parking lot (Figure 3).
Paterna City Center: installation of electric car chargers, with the possibility of reserving charging and parking times.
Technology Park: parking spaces with access control for logistics distribution, lockers, AGV delivery area, and LEV (light electric vehicle) charging station.

The project has generated an animation that presents the living lab concept, which is accessible on an online video platform [5].

CONCLUSIONS

The implementation of the iMoLab project has allowed six technology institutes, which are part of the network of technology institutes of the Autonomous Community of Valencia, to define a distributed smart mobility laboratory. This laboratory is conceived as a facility that will allow all the players in the field of mobility, namely the public sector, companies, knowledge centers and citizens, to work together in a collaborative way.

As it is a networked center, the laboratory includes both facilities managed by the centers individually (IITTs iMoLab) and shared facilities (Virtual iMoLab, Living iMoLab), in which to undertake innovative smart city mobility projects.

The IITT iMoLab laboratories have been designed, implemented and validated by studies involving both users and companies. Virtual iMoLab has been developed to the detail level, and a part of the lab has been implemented and validated with users and companies. Living iMoLab has been developed at the conceptual level, and a project sketch and video [5], presenting the most relevant features of the laboratory, have been created.

The availability of a facility of these characteristics, which combines technologies, the knowledge of technology centers and public-private collaboration, provides an opportunity for the mobility sector to secure the competitive advantages it needs to generate innovation and value for its customers.

This "iMoLab" project (IMDEEA/2022/31) is financed by the 2022 aid program of the Valencian Institute for Business Competitiveness (IVACE) aimed at technology centers in the Autonomous Community of Valencia for the development of non-financial R&D projects carried out in collaboration with companies, co-financed by the European Union.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank the technology centers and companies that have collaborated with the Instituto de Biomecánica (IBV) in this initiative: AIDIMME, AIMPLAS, ITE, ITENE, ITI, FORVIA, ETRA INVESTIGACIÓN Y DESARROLLO S.A. (ETRA).