Our definition of systems integration is an interdisciplinary, collaborative engineering-and-management approach that produces an integrated solution that satisfies all customer needs. This includes: developing system-engineering processes and tools to connect the product/service under development with policies, legislation and market aspects by carefully balancing manufacturer/operator requirements with user expectations/limitations and product/service properties, geometry, cost and weight.
Dr. Chris Paredis
Research focuses on systems engineering and design. Work combines aspects of decision theory, information technology, simulation, and systems theory to support the design of complex engineered systems.
Dr. Johnell Brooks
Interdisciplinary research that strives to enable drivers to maintain their independence for as long as safely possible. Use of driving simulators and instrumented vehicles to develop rehabilitation tools for clinical settings.
Dr. Pierluigi Pisu
Diagnosis of complex systems, Control and Energy Management, Components sizing and optimization in electric and hybrid electric vehicles, prognosis and aging of electrochemical systems
The automotive systems integration area has been divided into five focus areas. Please see below for a list and sampling of research in these areas.
Preventative diagnostics of hybrid electric vehicle battery packs with the objective of developing a predictive algorithm to determine when battery life will end.
Model-based system fault diagnosis and prognosis -passive robustness and aging prediction to formulate a method to reduce the computational complexity, efficiently implement adaptive thresholds, and develop an approach for calibrating adaptive thresholds based on the type of uncertainties.
Vehicle-infrastructure integration enabled plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) for energy management.
Creation of a simple and flexible energy management control strategy for PHEVs based on trip information derived through vehicle-infrastructure integration to optimize fuel consumption and the total energy used to minimize the total cost of a trip.
Assessment of/guidelines for aftermarket chassis modifications (suspension lift kits and tire/rim packages) concerning roll and yaw stability and FMVSS126 compliance.
Motorcycle safety - understanding the aging-related increase of injuries and accidents and improving motorcycle design to reduce injuries in a crash.
On-road assessment of the driving performance of aging drivers with the goals of maximizing independence and creating solutions to assess the "total" driver both inside and outside the vehicle.
Development of driving simulators for rehabilitation purposes.
Multi-physics vehicle concept tool - bring simulation, analysis, and optimization tools upstream in the vehicle concept design process to increase product maturity, improve quality, and reduce costly product/production issues.
Dimensional control systems - understand and describe functional aspects in dimensional tolerancing.
The Deep Orange initiative is an integral part of the automotive graduate program. Deep Orange aims to place this knowledge into context and tackle complex problems by collaborating with colleagues whose perspectives are shaped by radically different experiences. During the two-year M.S. program, students, faculty and participating industry partners will develop and manufacture a vehicle prototype giving the students experience in marketing, design, engineering, systems integration, prototyping and production planning from their entry into the program until graduation. The following Deep Orange programs have been completed or are in progress.
This research is made possible thanks to the generosity of the companies and organizations listed below.
BMW Group
Mazda
Ford Motor Company
Chrysler Group
Toyota
SEMA
Alcon