Peter R. Grant

Bio: Peter R. Grant is an academic researcher from University of Toronto. The author has contributed to research in topics: Flight simulator & Motion system. The author has an hindex of 15, co-authored 53 publications receiving 829 citations. Previous affiliations of Peter R. Grant include University of Iowa.

Motion Washout Filter Tuning: Rules and Requirements

Abstract: Current motion-drive algorithms have a number of coefficients that are selected to tune the motion of the simulator. Little attention has been given to the process of selecting the most appropriate coefficient values. Final tuning is best accomplished using experienced evaluation pilots to provide feedback to a washout filter expert who adjusts the coefficients in an attempt to satisfy the pilot. This paper presents the development of a tuning paradigm and the capturing of such within an expert system. The focus of this development is the University of Toronto classical algorithm, but the results are relevant to alternative classical and similarly structured adaptive algorithms. This paper provides the groundwork required to develop the tuning paradigm. The necessity of this subjective tuning process is defended. Motion cueing error sources within the classical algorithm are revealed, and coefficient adjustments that reduce the errors are presented.

Driver Distraction: Evaluation with Event Detection Paradigm

Abstract: The effects of eight in-vehicle tasks on driver distraction were measured in a large, moving-base driving simulator. Forty-eight adults, ranging in age from 35 to 66, and 15 teenagers participated in the simulated drive. Hand-held and hands-free versions of phone dialing, voicemail retrieval, and incoming calls represented six of the eight tasks. Manual radio tuning and climate control adjustment were also included to allow comparison with tasks that have traditionally been present in vehicles. During the drive the participants were asked to respond to sudden movements in surrounding traffic. The driver's ability to detect these sudden movements or events changed with the nature of the in-vehicle tasks that were being performed. Driving performance measures such as lane violations and heading error were also computed. The performance of the adult group was compared with the performance of the teenage drivers. Compared with the adults, the teens were found to choose unsafe following distances, have poor ve...

Evaluation of driver distraction using an event detection paradigm

Abstract: The effects of eight in-vehicle tasks on driver distraction were measured in a large, moving-base driving simulator. Forty-eight adults ranging in age from 35 to 66 and fifteen teenagers participated in the simulated drive. Hand-held and hands-free versions of phone dialing voicemail retrieval and incoming calls comprised six of the eight tasks. Manual radio tuning and climate control adjustment were also included to allow comparison with tasks that have traditionally been present in vehicles. During the drive the participants were asked to respond to sudden movements in surrounding traffic. The driver's ability to detect these sudden movements or events changed with the nature of the in-vehicle tasks that were being performed. Driving performance measures such as lane violations and heading error were also computed. The performance of the adult group was compared to the performance of the teenage drivers. Compared with the adults, the teens were found to choose unsafe following distances, have poor vehicle control skills and to be more prone to distraction from hand- held phone tasks

Effect of Jerk and Acceleration on the Perception of Motion Strength

Abstract: In a flight simulator, the calculated aircraft motions are scaled down and filtered to fit within the envelope of the simulator motion system. A number of recent flight and ground simulation studies have reported that the simulator motion was too strong, when in fact, the motion was scaled down and filtered. This paper puts forth the hypothesis that this could be due in part to the motion drive algorithm and vehicle model exaggerating the jerk. To test the plausibility of this hypothesis a paired-comparison experiment was run to determine if the subjective impression of motion strength is a function of both the acceleration and jerk of the motion. The experiment found that the level of jerk and acceleration contributed to the perceived strength of motion, with larger jerks and accelerations leading to increased motion strength. In addition, the duration of the acceleration had a significant effect on the perceived motion strength, with longer durations leading to increased motion strength. Although the relationship between jerk and motion strength suggests that exaggerated jerk in the simulator could lead to the preference for scale factors less than one, the strength of the relationship strongly suggests that it does not entirely account for the preference.

Effect of Simulator Motion on Pilot Behavior and Perception

Abstract: A set of experiments were conducted on the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies flight research simulator to determine the effects of translational and yaw motion on pilot performance, workload, fidelity, pilot compensation, and motion perception for three helicopter yaw control tasks. The three control tasks were a yaw capture, a disturbance rejection task, and a tracking task. The yaw capture experiment was a duplication of an experiment previously run at a different simulator facility. The results of the yaw capture task were in general agreement with the previous study with the exception that, in the current study, yaw motion had a larger impact on pilot performance than the previous study. The current study found that translational motion improves performance and increases fidelity for all three tasks. Yaw motion increased performance for the yaw capture and disturbance rejection tasks. Translational motion generally improved fidelity and was easier to detect than yaw motion for all three tasks. Finally, if translational motion was present, the addition of yaw motion usually provided little additional benefit to performance, workload, compensation, or fidelity for all three tasks.

Effects of visual and cognitive load in real and simulated motorway driving

Abstract: As part of the HASTE European Project, effects of visual and cognitive demand on driving performance and driver state were systematically investigated by means of artificial, or surrogate, In-vehicle Information Systems (S-IVIS). The present paper reports results from simulated and real motorway driving. Data were collected in a fixed base simulator, a moving base simulator and an instrumented vehicle driven in real traffic. The data collected included speed, lane keeping performance, steering wheel movements, eye movements, physiological signals and self-reported driving performance. The results show that the effects of visual and cognitive load affect driving performance in qualitatively different ways. Visual demand led to reduced speed and increased lane keeping variation. By contrast, cognitive load did not affect speed and resulted in reduced lane keeping variation. Moreover, the cognitive load resulted in increased gaze concentration towards the road centre. Both S-IVIS had an effect on physiological signals and the drivers’ assessment of their own driving performance. The study also investigated differences between the three experimental settings (static simulator, moving base simulator and field). The results are discussed with respect to the development of a generic safety test regime for In-vehicle Information Systems.

Driver Distraction in Commercial Vehicle Operations

Abstract: This study investigated the impact of driver distraction in commercial motor vehicle (CMV) operations. Data from two earlier naturalistic studies were combined to create a data set of 203 CMV drivers and 55 trucks from seven trucking fleets operating at 16 locations. A total of 4,452 safety-critical events (i.e., crashes, near-crashes, crash-relevant conflicts, and unintentional lane deviations) were identified in the data set, along with 19,888 baseline (uneventful, routine driving) epochs. Data analyses included odds ratio calculations and population attributable risk estimates. Key findings were that drivers were engaged in non-driving related tasks in 71 percent of crashes, 46 percent of near-crashes, and 60 percent of all safety-critical events. Also, performing highly complex tasks while driving led to a significant increase in risk. Eye glance analyses examined driver eye location while performing tasks while operating a CMV. Tasks associated with high odds ratios (increased risk) were also associated with high eyes off forward road times. This suggests that tasks that draw the driver’s visual attention away from the forward roadway should be minimized or avoided. Based on the results of the analyses, a number of recommendations are presented that may help address the issue of driver distraction in CMV operations.