About the Car

Sting 1, the base vehicle, is a stock Porsche Cayenne. The high-end SUV was selected because it comes from the factory with a significant degree of automation and computer control already built in. Almost all secondary controls can be accessed through the factory-installed, integrated "controller area network," or CAN, the onboard computer network that sends data to and receives data from the vehicle's electronic control unit. The Cayenne's standard air-conditioning package provides sufficient cooling power to keep the onboard computer brain of the vehicle comfortable.

The Cayenne was also chosen for space and power. The team felt that no other vehicle could hold and power all of the computers. In addition, the Cayenne's seating enabled the researchers to sit in the vehicle and solve problems by seeing what the robot was seeing.

Sting 1 has been retrofitted for complete computer control of steering, throttle and brakes as well as secondary systems such as lights and windshield wipers. The retrofit was performed by EMC. Sting 1's "brain" is a rack of eight dual-core Pentium computers installed in the trunk space, running the Ubuntu Linux operating system and custom sensor and driving software.

Sting 1 upgrades include:

• Eight dual Pentium computers running Ubuntu Linux
• GPS navigation (upgraded to Omnistar satellite-based wide-area differential GPS for more accurate and reliable reception)
• Inertial navigation
• Six video cameras
• Nine SICK® laser range finders (lidar/ladar)
• One Riegl laser rangefinder
• Six 24 GHz Eaton radar units. Two units on each side, one forward looking unit, and one rear facing unit

OneSAF Test Support

Testing a vehicle with no driver in a real urban setting poses serious challenges. Therefore, SAIC engineers acquired a license for the Army's OneSAF® — officially, One Semi-Automated Forces — to provide facilities that allow virtual testing of Sting 1.

SAIC engineers used the modeling and simulation package to create a virtual model of the Sting 1, virtual models of courses and environments. Virtualization of Sting 1 facilitates vehicle testing without risk of collision and no need for extra fuel, extra drivers, or extra vehicles.

In order to simulate the urban environment and crowd behaviors, SAIC adapted AI Implant®, a commercial off-the-shelf software package used in the high-end gaming and film industries, to simulate crowd behaviors and urban traffic environments. That meant the software powering and guiding Sting 1 could be tested in a variety of traffic and weather conditions, all without actually moving an inch.