Thank you for your interest in the National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS) and the NADS miniSim™ driving simulators! 

miniSim Tech. Description     miniSim Overview      miniSim Examples

miniSim Website     Annual Report      NADS Engineering

The miniSim™ driving simulator is based on the software our team developed for the NADS-1 research simulator, now available for research and commercial applications through the miniSim program. Backed by decades of development and human-factors research experience, the miniSim is sophisticated and affordable. A common code base and tools are used across all our simulators, so a scenario developed on the miniSim will run on other miniSim systems, or NADS-1/NADS-2 and vice-versa.

Learn more about NADS here: Annual Reports

The miniSim hardware configurations include desktop or quarter-cab with a single Windows PC. Displays are typically panels but projection systems with flat and curved screens are available. We also build larger simulators with complex display and cab systems. Built-in automation simplifies investigation of human-automation interaction at a variety of automation levels. The miniSim can also be linked with external automation for testing and product development.

The miniSim consists of four core tools:

• Tile Mosaic Tool (TMT) for assembling a road network from a library of over 250 road/landscape segments called ‘tiles’.  You use the TMT to connect them and export a complete database to the ISAT and miniSim. We can also create new tiles or modify existing ones to meet your specific needs.
• Interactive Scenario Authoring Tool (ISAT) for building scenarios on the assembled network.  The ISAT is GUI-driven and does not require scripting.
• miniSim runs the scenario on the assembled database and provides both real-time measures and a comprehensive data acquisition file in a secure binary format for post-processing.
• nDaqTools are NADS-designed interfaces for Matlab used to identify the measures to be calculated, and to organize and control the data reduction process.

Additional Features and options include:

• Infotainment systems emulate OEM-style infotainment interfaces while providing data acquisition and operator control.
• Video Capture video recording system captures 4 channels of HD video synchronized with the simulation
• ACC and Lane Following systems are commonly used to emulate level 2 automation and hand-off of control. ACC parameters are adjustable including full-range speed control.
• LKA and LDW systems are built-in, and parameters are adjustable. The LKA system provides torque cues through the steering loader.
• NADS AutoDriver is an automated driving capability incorporated into the vehicle dynamics software to take over operation of the steer, gas and brake controls to autonomously follow a route through the world. The characteristics of the 12 available behaviors (lane change, turns, etc.) are controlled through a set of parameter files and a command vocabulary that may be given through the following mechanisms:
  • Scenario action (triggered by scenario event)
  • Manual action (button press)
  • External input via UDP
• Motion System provides onset cues for improved immersion and control. The system is 3 DOF (roll, pitch, heave) and can be added to any miniSim cab.
• Haptic systems can be triggered by a scenario action to provide driver with feedback and are typically placed in the seat or steering wheel (Engineering Acoustics, Inc.)
• Analog and Digital I/O is used to integrate driver controls and also trigger or synchronize external devices such as alerts or physiological data collection systems (Biopac, EEG, etc).
• External Control gives the advanced user remote control over the driver controls for autonomous system testing and development. Currently UDP interface. ROS interface under development.
• Web Socket and UDP interfaces allow integration with external systems and displays, such as Haptic Seats, touchscreens, etc.
• User-Defined Subsystems are user-written programs that run within the miniSim real-time environment and have read/write access to the shared memory space.

We provide the following services:

• Prompt, in-depth user support
• Turn-key experiments
• Custom scenario development
• Custom environments and models
• Custom simulator design and development
• Training
• Consulting