Cal Poly Design Team to Represent North America at International Vehicle Safety Competition in June

SAN LUIS OBISPO – A Cal Poly multidisciplinary engineering student design team is heading to Lyon, France this summer. The team will represent North America at the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles International Collegiate Student Safety Technology Design Competition.

Cal Poly students developed a vehicle pre-crash sensing and automated braking system using a custom-made test cart, a laser range finder and an ultrasound sensor. After an on-campus review in March, representatives from the U.S. Department of Transportation chose the Cal Poly team based on their work, presentation, and demonstration of the test vehicle that anticipates and reacts to collisions. Three teams from North America, two from Asia-Pacific, and three from Europe will compete at the finals.

The Cal Poly team achievement represents three years of work by sixteen students from mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering programs. “This competition provided an exciting opportunity for students from multiple disciplines to combine on-going research activities in vehicle sensing,” says faculty advisor Peter Schuster.

In 2004-05, three students worked to identify, collect and perform baseline tests on a variety of exterior sensors. During 2005-06, eight students performed testing with LIDAR and RADAR sensors, developed sensor-filtering algorithms, and designed and built a mobile test vehicle for evaluating sensor performance. Over summer 2006, two students refined the sensor processing algorithms, and during the current academic year, the team of four students completed the integration of the sensor algorithms with the mobile test vehicle. The result of this ongoing research and development is a vehicle that demonstrates autonomous warning, braking, and simulated airbag deployment.

Schuster, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, is proud of his team’s success: “The students worked hard at integrating many mechanical and electrical systems to create a fully functional test and demonstration vehicle showcasing crash avoidance technologies,” he said. “They deserve this award.”

The mechanical engineering team that represented Cal Poly at the ESV Conference include faculty advisors Peter Schuster from Atascadero and Charles Birdsong from San Luis Obispo. Students include seniors Danny Murphy from Arnold, D.J. Parsons from Cameron Park, Justin Carpenter from Auburn, and Duane Howard from San Luis Obispo.

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