Mining Test - Corner Analysis

The Corner Analysis plugin for VBOX Test Suite gives you the ability to generate reports that summarise the operator's driving behaviour for each corner.

The plugin includes algorithms for corner radius, lateral forces, braking style, acceleration style and operator variability. 

The Corner Analysis has a unique Test Setup ribbon, from which you can configure the test.

Click on the Configure button to open the Settings window where you can define the parameters of the test.

Click on the Report button to create a report from the current test results.

Click on the Maths Channels button to open the Maths Channels window to configure unique maths channels. You can find more information about maths channels in the Test Setup section.

Click on the Save Settings button to save the current test setup and add it to the Saved Settings area in the Add Test window.

The test will also be added to the list under the Mining button on the Home tab for easy access.

Click on the Export button to display a dropdown menu with the export options. You can export the selected results or line results to a .csv or a .txt file. 

When you have added a gate, the name of the currently selected gate will be displayed in the name box. Click on the arrow in the box to see a dropdown list of all the added gates. The gates will be named according to the type of gate (if applicable) and the order it was added.  

When you have added a gate, you can specify the gate width. The default gate width is 20 m.

Type the required width in the Width (m) value box. 

Click on the Rename button to edit the currently selected gate line.

Click on the Delete button to delete the currently selected gate line. 

Click on the Delete All button to delete all set gates for the session. 

Click on the Export button to export the created gate(s) as an .spl file. This file can be reused at a later date and with another VBOX product.

Click on the Import button to import a previously saved or provided .spl file. When the file is imported, the gates will be added in the order that they were saved in the .spl file.

The Add button adds a column to the Test Results area. Click this button to open a dropdown menu where you can select a channel to display in the test results window.

When you select a column header in the Test Results area, the channel name will be displayed in the Channel box (the top box in the Data Column section). Some columns will have required channels and cannot be changed, but if you can change the channel, the Channel box will become a drop-down list with the available channels.    

When you select a column header in the Test Results area, and it is a changeable channel, the Condition dropdown menu becomes available. The conditions will depend on the test and selected channel.

Examples are:

• Avg
• Max
• Min
• Delta 
• At Start
• At End

The Sort Ascending button will sort the values in the currently selected column in the Test Results area in alphabetical order from A to Z.

The Sort Descending button will sort the values in the currently selected column in the Test Results area in alphabetical order from Z to A.

Click on the Select All button to select every run in the Test Results area with one click.

Click on the Deselect All button to deselect every run in the Test Results area with one click.

Click on the Edit Data button to open the Session Data window and add various vehicle and test information, such as:

Vehicle

• Vehicle ID
• Vehicle Type
• Vehicle Specification
• Fleet
• Time Zone

Weight

• Empty Vehicle Weight (tonnes)
• Empty Weight Distribution
  • Front
  • Rear
• Payload (tonnes)
• Loaded Weight Distribution
  • Front
  • Rear
• Number of Wheels
  • Front Axle
  • Rear Axle

Ambient Temperature

• Day Temp Max (ºC)
• Night Temp Max (ºC)

When in Offline mode, the Session Data will be saved into the VBOX file.  This information will be recalled every time the file is loaded into VBOX Test Suite.

When in Online mode, a newly created session will be populated with session data from the previous session.

To save time, you can import and export the session data for other sessions. When you have completed the Session Data, you can export the data to a .vbses file by clicking on the Export button in the Session Data window. The exported file will contain all the session data and can be imported into another session via the Import button in the Session Data window.

Click on Help to automatically open an Internet browser and load the relevant section of the User Guide on the Racelogic Support Centre.

If you are creating a new test, the Settings window will open when you add the new test. This is where you can define the test parameters.

If you have already added an Accel test and you have it open, you can click on the Configure button to open the Settings window to define or amend the test parameters.

• Start Time
• Start Speed
• Min Speed
• Avg Speed
• Max Speed

• Apex Speed
• End Time
• End Speed
• Min Rad of Turn
• Avg Rad of Turn

• Max Rad of Turn
• Max Lat Acc
• Avg Lat Acc
• Max Decel
• Max Accel

Samples are evaluated between entry gate and exit gate. Heading is inspected moving forward in time from entry gate and backward in time from exit gate. Moving forward in time from the point at which the entry gate was passed, the corner is considered to have begun when a sample’s heading differs from the heading at point of passing entry gate by n or more degrees. Moving backward in time from the point at which the exit gate was crossed, the corner is considered to have ended when a sample’s heading differs from the heading at point of crossing exit gate by n or more degrees.

These samples and those in between constitute the vehicle in the corner “only whilst turning”. A higher value will be less sensitive to changes in heading to detect a corner and a lower value will be more sensitive to changes in heading to detect a corner.
 

This setting configures a value of Simulated Superelevation to be applied to all corners so a Maximum Speed Limit can be generated for that given value of Simulated Superelevation. If the entered value of superelevation (aka camber, road/bank angle) was implemented, the maximum speed limit – as per the user-defined Banked Corners relationship – will be listed for each turn.

This will form the title of the Banked Max Speed Results column (i.e. Max Speed @ n %). This compares the Minimum Radius of Turn to the Simulated Superelevation to create a theoretical Maximum Speed Limit if n % superelevation was implemented on that corner.

Without necessarily knowing the exact superelevation value for a given corner, this allows you to simulate maximum allowable speed limits for a given corner if that level of superelevation was hypothetically implemented. Comparing this banked speed limit to actual speed is useful to either change the haul road environment (i.e. superelevation) or operator driving style (i.e. corner speed limit).

• Start Speed
• Min Speed

• Avg Speed
• Max Speed

• Apex Speed
• End Speed

This allows easy visualisation of runs during which a given Speed Limit was exceeded whilst the vehicle was turning.
 

This setting configures a value of Maximum Lateral Acceleration to be applied to all corners to be easily highlighted in the Results. 

This highlights any Max Lat Acc value in the Results red if it exceeds the value entered.

This allows easy visualisation of runs during which a given value of Lateral Acceleration was exceeded whilst the vehicle was turning.
 

This setting configures the minimum number of valid runs for any given corner to be included in the report. 

This will affect the number of runs included in the G-plot for a given load status. If the minimum number of runs is less than the number entered for a single load status, the scatter plot of that load status will not be presented. For example, if the minimum number of runs is set as 20 and there are 18 loaded runs and 24 unloaded runs for a particular corner, only the unloaded data will be shown in the scatter plot.

If the minimum number of runs is less than the number entered for both load statuses, the Corner Summary will not be generated for that corner.

This allows the report to be filtered to only display results for corners with statistically significant results, which improves the relevance of the resultant G-plot.
 

This setting provides display options for Unbanked and Banked Speed Limits in the case that the Unbanked Max Speed Limit is higher than the Banked Max Speed Limit.

This involves two Results columns:

• Max Speed @ 0 %
• Max Speed at n %

You can choose to display one of the following: 

• Only display Unbanked Max Speed
• Only display Banked Max Speed
• Display both speeds

The industry standard for Unbanked Speed limits follow a different type of relationship to the default equation for Superelevation. The industry standard for Unbanked Speed Limits is actually similar to an equivalent Banked Speed Limit for Simulated Superelervation value of 3-4 %. Therefore, with low enough Simulated Superelevation values (e.g. 2 %), it is possible to automatically generate Maximum Speed Limits on Banked corners that are less than the Maximum Speed Limits on Unbanked corners.

This would effectively describe that a vehicle can go faster on an unbanked corner than if slight camber was applied to the corner, which is counterintuitive. To avoid confusion, this setting allows users to choose which speed limit to display in the case that an Unbanked Max Speed Limit is greater than a Banked Max Speed Limit listed against the same run.
 

This setting configures the smoothing level applied to the Radius of Turn in the results.
 

This setting configures the smoothing level applied to the Lateral Acceleration in the results.

You can rename a session tab by double-clicking the tab header. Changing the name on the session tab in the software will automatically change the name of the locally saved VBOX file (.vbo or .vbb).

By pressing the Edit Data button next to the name of the session in the Test Results area or on the Test Setup tab on the ribbon, you can add vehicle and test information to the session.

• When in Offline mode, this information will be saved into the VBOX file, meaning that this information will be recalled every time the file is loaded into VBOX Test Suite.
• When in Online mode, a newly created session will be populated with session data from the previous session.

This information will be included in the test report to make it easier to see under what conditions the test was conducted.

To save time, you can import and export the session information for use in other sessions (the entire range of data is exported, not just the visible screen).

Once the session information has been completed, you can export the data to a .vbses file. This file will contain all the session information that can then be imported into the open session information field.

The Test Results area has the following default columns:

The software will automatically add columns based on the configured settings.