SimVal

SimVal, short for Simulation and Validation, is the system primarily responsible for justifying high level decisions through custom simulation software and real-world testing of the car. It is comprised of two subsystems: simulation and validation. Much of the time spent in SimVal is dedicated to the development of the in-house simulation software, developed in Python and MATLAB. Software projects within this system include the kinematic model: which simulates the three-dimensional geometry and motion profile of our suspension assembly, LapSim: a transient, full vehicle, lap time simulation tool, and the tire model: a collection of tools for fitting industry tire testing data to mathematical representations of tire data.

Beyond theoretical simulations, SimVal is also primarily responsible for organizing and processing real-world testing of the various systems on the car. Testing of the car ranges from isolated evaluations of a single corner of the suspension to full-scale runs of competition-style dynamic events. SimVal’s responsibility is to assist other systems in developing testing plans to collect the data needed to validate models and make decisions, as well as develop the software tools necessary to process and analyze data collected from the team’s extensive sensor suite.