IDT563

Control Design and Movement Logic of the Steering Wheel in Japanese Cars

By Ahmad Zaki b. Mohamed Salleh (2010856802) Mohd Syakir b. Abdul Latif @ Baharudin (2010814276) Muhammad Afq b. Abdul Rahim (2010688636) Safwan b. Md Arifpin (2010442416) Adam b. Abdullah (2010860776)

For Mr. Erwin

Table of Contents
Introduction Control design of the steering wheel Movement logic of the steering wheel Human factors in steering design Implementation in japanese cars Conclusion References 1 2 6 7 9 12 13

Introduction
The steering system holds a signicant and dominant role as a control device to a vehicle. Through time, the steering wheel has evolved and matured into a system more complicated than its previous iteration, with the aim to enhance movement and control while remaining safe to operate. Most of the time, especially in newer production vehicles, the steering wheel is the only part of the steering system thats visible to the vehicle operator. The car is controlled by turning the steering wheel into the direction the driver wants the vehicle to go. Invisible to the operator though, this turning motion is transferred to the shaft and column where they are connected to the steering arms and the axle by gears. These gears dene the degree of movement the driver is going to attain through the turn radius which he performed. The automotive steering systems further differentiates the different type of gears available by providing a steering ratio between 10:1 to 25:1 which reduces the effort required to turn the vehicle while increasing the steering precision. In newer cars, further assistance are provided via power steering where hydraulic assist is utilised to gain control. Thus, a lot can be done to manipulate the feel and quality of the steering system. In this report, were going to look into the control design and movement logic of the steering wheel specically in japanese cars and analyse the type of system being implemented, using several books that we picked as a benchmark to evaluate the level of execution. Our study will include a look into the human factor of the design as well, relating our experience of operating the chosen vehicle .

Control design of the steering wheel

To improve drive safety and operational convenience, a new human machine interface (HMI) switch control concept was proposed and studied with a driver simulator-based simulation analysis. This new concept is composed of a remote multi-functional switch module, located proximate to the driver such as on the steering wheel, a control module, and a visual display unit such as head-up-display (HUD) unit that provides the driver with indicia of the function controlled by each switch during operation. It offers an integrated control interface for the driver of a vehicle in operating such on-board devices as audio and multimedia, HVAC, and navigation systems. Furthermore, to improve functionality of the HMI switch control, a touch panel switch with gure writing input and character recognition capability was then proposed. This newly added feature would provide a fast program search (for albums, songs, street names, etc) mechanism that can be in particular meaningful for future car multimedia or infotainment systems. Many different HMI design methods like haptic switches, touchpad switches, and speech/voice recognition have been evaluated, and their advantages and disadvantages have been studied. A new concept HMI system that features multi-function switches as input devices to control the infotainment system and a HUD as visual feedback was proposed and implemented on a 2004 Grand Prix for concept demonstration. Figure 1 shows the HMI switch control concept. In this design, the HUD projects the critical driving information and other necessary information onto the windshield and forms a imaginary image at the distance of the front bumper, which gives the driver visual feedback without forcing a change of viewing angle. It signicantly reduces the distraction to the driver by eliminating the need to look away from the road for some other information. The multi-function switches with integrated menu navigation logic serve for input of many different control functions with a very limited number of switches, thus reducing the package space requirements. A control module (HMI ECU) hosts the menu navigation logic and controls the HUD display based on the switch input. This HMI design enhances drivers operation convenience and improves safety by keeping the drivers hands on the steering wheel and eyes on the road. Additionally, the reduced number of switches may also help OEMs to reduce the cost and allow more exibility in interior design.

Control design of the steering wheel

The HMI switch control concept

The current in-vehicle implementation uses a new OEM production radio, and includes most of the frequently used radio operations, including volume control, band, CD, forward/backward seeking, preset program selection, equalizer control, XM category and program selection. The HMI system consists of three modules, namely the steering wheel switch module, the heads-up display (HUD) module, and the gateway module (see Figure 2). Each module is controlled by a Motorola Star12 microchip with the proper memory size for the required software and communicates with each other through CAN (Controller Area Network). Vehicle information which comes in J1850 format is translated to CAN format by gateway module for HUD to display.

Control design of the steering wheel

HMI system conguration The study indicated that The menu navigation logic design has a signicant inuence on the users overall rating of the system. How to design the menu logic such that the most frequently used functions are easy to access, as well as how many menu layers are within the users comfort level need to be carefully studied. The HUD graphics design, including display contents, timing and layout is another key to the HMI design. Adding more control functions like Bluetooth cell phone, external media player control will add signicant value to the system. Among these additional functions, iPod control appears to be the most important one based on the market trend.

Control design of the steering wheel

Different input device like touch panel that can interpret users input including write and motion may bring additional convenience to operation. Other kind of display like the driving information center, the navigation panel, or a separate VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Display) unit on top of dashboard need to be evaluated to provide display solution for different vehicle congurations. These commonly used display units are not as sophisticated as a HUD but have advantage in cost reduction. In order to address these considerations in a time and cost efcient manner, a software method using Model-Based Design is adopted in the present study for rapidly concept prototyping. As it will be shown in the following section, this design approach will give portable HMI concept demo model that can be easily used for engineering evaluation and customer presentation. With Model-Based Design, new design change and modication may also be easily achieved and evaluated, which results in a signicantly reduced development cycle. In this development work, the focus is on how to control an iPod by using touch panel input with a secondary small display unit on dash.

Movement logic of the steering wheel

Human performance regularities in the form of quantitative models not only constitute important development in human sciences, but also lay theoretical foundations for user interface design and evaluation. This relationship is similar to laws in physical sciences and engineering. It is inconceivable to conduct modern mechanical or electrical engineering without Newtons laws and the like. Discovering human performance regularities hence holds critical importance to user interface technologies, including virtual reality. The logic movement of steering wheels shown that every single direction is the law of movement by steering itself. It is conceivable that the logic movement of steering may play a role in each of these steering wheels movement. However, the steering wheels need accelerate, which is the control when driving, power is less important by a limiting factor of movement. So, we have decided take a driving test to test the logic of steering wheels movement. In order to test if there is any difference due to direction of turning, clockwise (right turn) and counter-clockwise (left turn) driving on the circular path were treated as separate tasks. Hence there were a total of three types of paths in the experiment: straight, right circular and left circular driving.

Human factors in steering design

Driver-side airbags, made a requisite in the United States since 1984. They are designed to reduce head and upper torso injuries to the driver in frontal crashes of motor vehicles. Despite the overall protective effect of airbags, they can cause fatal and nonfatal injuries if the driver's head, neck, chest, or arms are too close to the deploying airbag. Widely publicized information about these airbag-induced injuries has led to signicant public concern A new US government regulation allows drivers who are at risk of airbag-induced injuries to disconnect their airbags. Eligibility criteria for airbag disconnection via an on-off switch include driver attested inability to operate a vehicle while maintaining a 10-inch distance from the center of the steering wheel to the center of the driver's chest. Eligibility criteria for airbag deactivation in the absence of a switch include a driver body height of 54 inches or less. Both the decision to disconnect an airbag and the burden of assessing the eligibility to do so fall on the driver. Studies reporting measured distances between the driver and the steering wheel indicate that 0% to 14% of men and 0% to 30% of women sit within 12 inches of the steering wheel when driving a vehicle and that 0% of men and 5% of women sit within 10 inches. 12-15 in contrast, a telephone survey found that 32% of women and 16% of men believed that they sat within 12 inches of the steering wheel. These studies used different denitions of distance from the steering wheel, and none compared perceived and measured distances. However, the studies collectively suggest that drivers may misperceive their distance from the steering wheel. 17-20 we investigated the frequency of such misperception and explored the factors that characterize drivers who are more likely to misperceive their seating distance from the steering wheel. In doing this, we put special emphasis on shorter drivers (including women) because they were thought likely to represent the largest proportion of individuals who sit too close to the wheel. 15 Methods During the summer of 1997, trained interviewers asked drivers refueling at 15 randomly selected gasoline stations in the Boston metropolitan area to participate in the study. Criteria for participation included completion of a survey instrument and measurement of the driver's nose-to-steering wheel seating distance during the refueling stop.

Human factors in steering design

The survey instrument contained questions about driver and vehicle characteristics as well as about the driver's perceptions regarding airbags. Drivers participating in the survey were asked, "When driving, how far do you think you sit from the steering wheel (in inches measured from the bridge of your nose to the wheel)?" After instructing the driver to take his or her normal driving posture, the interviewer made manual measurements of the distance from the bridge of the driver's nose to the center of the steering wheel (in accordance with the measurements reported in the then-current literature'2-14"16). The interviewer also collected information about airbag equipment and driver seat-belt use. For statistical analysis, drivers were categorized as short (<64 inches), medium (>64-<70 inches), and tall (.70 inches) on the basis of the height quartiles of the survey sample. Proximity of a seated driver to the steering wheel was dened as a distance of 12 inches or less, 12-1416 although we conducted a sensitivity analysis with alternative denitions of proximity as 14 and 16 inches. To compare perceived and measured distances of drivers from the steering wheel, we computed the Pearson correlation coefcient and the diagnostic test values of perceived distances, consisting of sensitivity (and false-negative results, dened as a real distance that was less than the perceived distance from the steering wheel), specicity (and false-positive results, defamed as a real distance that was more than the perceived distance from the steering wheel), and positives and negative predictive values. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the factors that predicted false positive and false-negative results. Those factors evaluated included age, sex, height, seatbelt use, presence of a driver-side airbag in the vehicle, perception of an airbag as safe or not, year of the driver's vehicle, transmission type of the vehicle, and the interactions between sex and height, sex and perception of airbag safety.

Implementation in japanese cars

The car weve chosen to analyse in comparison with our study of the steering system is the Suzuki Swift Sport. Through our observation, weve found that the system used in the Suzuki Swift is consistent with the ndings from Automotive Chassis Systems. The Suzuki Swift Sport utilises the rack-and-pinion system. This particular system suits this compact car better because of its simpler and lighter weight than standard systems. In fact, its a well-acknowledged fact that the rack-and-pinion system are often tted to smaller cars just like the Suzuki Swift itself. A lot of people give credit to the system for being more responsive and providing the driver a better feel of the road. This is achieved from a faster gear ratio than the standard system. Despite that, a drawback suffered by most Swift Sport owners is a poor turning radius. With a minimum turning radius of 5.2m, we can conrm that a lot mustve failed in performing some uturns before. Its also obvious that the rack-and-pinion system is suffering from poor shock absorbent as they transmit a lot of the road shock to the steering wheel. This is apparent in longdistance drive upon which after some time, fatigue can be felt up the elbow and shoulder. Moreover, the hard suspension system that came with the Swift Sport is delegating some of the shock to some degree via the steering wheel as well. As a consequence, the driver may have to suffer shock issues as a sacrice for better handling.

Implementation in japanese cars

Looking outside the system now, the Suzuki Swift Sport is equipped with a well-designed steering wheel that ergonomically conforms the hands. The wheel is actually wrapped in perforated leather that provides extra grip especially for those wet-handed drivers. In addition to a sporty feel, the highlighted bump is also visible in the steering wheel design. We found in a countless instance that this feature help place the controlling hand in the correct position providing greater control to boot. Referring back to our guideline source, weve also discovered that the steering wheel designated position is on par with the RAMSIS cockpit layout. The RAMSIS model has dened the standards in outward visibility and reachability of control elements. These standards are met by Suzuki with their steering wheel placement whereby its not obstructing the drivers view of the road. As a result, better safety for both driver and pedestrian can be attained. The proof is in the picture where its clear that the top-most part of the steering wheel is lower than the windshields base line. We did nd one limitation with the steering placement though in its adjustment setting. The steering only comes with a tilt adjustment system. While having this sufce our physical requirement, some people might nd it a hindrance and may require telescopic wheel adjustments for more adjustability to suit their physical requirement. Therefore, we can see that the steering wheel design and ergonomics met the guideline of our source and provide a high usability factor.

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Implementation in japanese cars

Also connected to the steering wheel is the control interface to navigate the radio functions and channels, and adjust volume settings. A study evaluating the effectivity of the steering wheel switch compared to centre console switch has found that the centre console switch requires less time to operate than that of the steering wheel switch. This can be explained by a simple logic. Since the centre console switch has more buttons, it requires less pushes to get to the desired channel. In collation, the steering wheel switch has less buttons thus requiring more pushes to get to a channel. However, this doesnt prove the effectivity of a system as it might take less time to operate, but require the driver to take his eyes off the road presenting a hazard in turn. Thats exactly the case here as operating the centre console switch almost always requires the driver to look at the targeted switch while operating the steering wheel switch allows the driver to focus on maneuvering the vehicle. Additionally, the steering wheel switch provides tactile feedback to the driver via two bumps on the volume and channel button. This minor addition further favours the driver by letting him focus on the task on hand. The experiment conducted by our source further strengthen the belief that operating the steering wheel switch takes less than half the glance time as required to operate the centre console switch. Last but not least, our reference source indicate that operating harder controls such as those of the centre console switch requires more reach and glance time in addition to affecting the cars steering angle. The shift in steering angle indicate lost of control in maneuverability while operating the control, thus verifying the lack of usability for such control.

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Conclusion
From our experience of driving the Suzuki Swift Sport, the car undoubtedly handles like a true champion. This is parallel to our reference study that using a rack-and-pinion steering system especially in smaller cars enhances the response time of the vehicle. While a little bit of comfortability had to be sacriced to gain the handling performance, we believe most driving enthusiast wouldnt mind as they are the market whom this car is targeted to. On the other hand, The radio control switch on the steering wheel proves vital in maintaining drivers vision of the road. They provide enough tactile feedback to let the driver navigate around the controls using his touch. These qualities would further ensure safety standard while making operating the vehicle a pleasant experience. To sum up, we have to agree that while the steering only performs a simple function, to get the performance right requires a calculated effort, accounting for mechanical efciency as well as human factors in the design of the control device. These calculation would have to meet certain standards in usability, safety and reliability. We can happily conclude that the Suzuki has satised the standard requirement and provided us with a pleasant experience with the Swift Sport.

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References
Human Factors in Driving and Automotive Telematics and Seat Comfort, SAE International Katsu Saito, Yasushi Ishiai, Ted Cates Study and Evaluation of New HMI Switch Control Concepts through Demo Vehicle and Module Development, SAE Paper 2006-01-0815 Hiroaki Kosaka, Akira Kurosaki, Masaru Noda, Hirokazu Nishitani, Evaluation of a New Invehicle HMI System Composed of Steering Wheel Switch and Head-Up Display, SAE Paper 2006-01-0576 Thomas W. Birch, Automotive Chassis Systems Hans-Hermann Braess, Ulrich Seiffert, Handbook of Automotive Engineering

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