Road and Transport
The Road and Transport Engineering group engages in research and teaching concerning the planning, construction, and maintenance of the transport sector's infrastructure. This includes:
- Transportation economics
- Transportation analysis and modeling
- Traffic regulation
- Traffic safety
- Road and highway planning
- Road technology
- Road construction
- Administration and maintenance
- Rail technology
Research topics
- Operations theory
- Transport modeling
- Intelligent traffic control systems
- Development of environmentally friendly asphalt
- Utilization of reusable materials
- Winter operations and the effects of climate changes
- Traffic control
- Value analysis in road projects
- Traffic safety audit of planned and existing roads
The research group advises both masters and PhD
Related study specializations
See also:
- Archive: Master's thesis completed in this subject area.
Driving simulator
A national competency center for the study of the interaction between people, vehicles and the road.
The simulator provides a fully immersive environment consisting of a Renault Magnum truck cabin, a complete Renault Megan Scenic car, and large front-screen visuals spanning a 180-degree field of view. The two driving cabins, which share the same simulator infrastructure, have to be operated independently. This is performed by physically switching the cabins, plugging them into the system, and loading the appropriate software. The whole operation takes less than two hours.
The concept opens the possibility for adding even more cabins. NTNU and SINTEF already plan to add specialised cabins for disabled drivers, while future considerations include a bus cabin.
According to Terje Moen — the SINTEF scientist in charge of the simulator, and the person who designed and built the video based simulator at the institute — an AUTOSIM simulator concept was chosen for its ability to drive in realistic environments, to present high-risk and dangerous traffic situations which are impossible on the road, and to expose test candidates to numerous traffic situations during a limited time. Moen also points out that the included Renault SCANeR II traffic- and monitoring software is ideal for his organisation's "what went wrong" research on young drivers in the above driving situations. "Putting this experience into an educational context in simulator training makes it possible to change the driver's behaviour and decrease the number of road accidents," says Mr. Moen.
The Visual System
Three 2 x 3 meter back-lit front screens, each covering a sector of 60 degrees, making a total of 180 degrees of front view. The back visual is a two-channel large screen front projection system displayed directly on the wall behind the vehicles. A Silicon Graphics Infinite Reality system is feeding the front channels with 1024 x 768 antialiased resolution graphics at 30 Hz, while the back channels are driven by PCs and advanced graphic boards. Five DLP projectors from DAVIS take care of the projection of the visual system.
Motion rendering
The truck cabin consists of seat vertical motion combined with vibration, while the car is provided with a car body vibration system. Optionally, the car may be equipped with electrical actuators rendering more of the motion caused by the road surface, and part of the acceleration forces.
The sound
The sound is provided by a four-channel, high-fidelity sound system with loudspeakers inside the cabin. The system provides sound from the driver's vehicle as well as from other vehicles, and lets the driver experience both directional and doppler effects.
The scenario building and monitoring tools
Part of the Renault SCANeR II software, which is not only effective for training purposes, but is also specifically developed for research environments, and is used by Renault's own research department in their car, truck and human factor research.
