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Final Report

Kenworth Bendix Fusion CalibrationApril 25th, 2018

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Prepared by: WSU Bendix Fusion Calibration Team

Nick Jones Sean Novak

Garrett Purvis Gordon Tassell

Grayson Warnock Noah Yang

Executive Summary

Kenworth is seeking to increase repeatability and simplify the set up and execution of the camera calibration process for the Bendix Fusion system. The Bendix Fusion system is currently installed on the T680 truck model and has the potential to be expanded into other truck models. The current calibration process can take anywhere between 5 - 10 minutes, and if the calibration process was performed incorrectly, the Bendix Fusion system will try to self-calibrate and fail after 10-15 miles. Kenworth assembles at least 50 trucks a day, and a repeatable calibration process is paramount to offering a safe and secure product, which is why Kenworth has requested an apparatus that will assist the Bendix calibration process.

On February 12th, 2018, the WSU Bendix Fusion Team was given a tour at both factories located at Mt.Vernon and Renton. After touring the factory in Renton, seeing how the current calibration system is used, talking to calibration specialists about possible constraints, and where there is room for improvement. A preliminary prototype was created and tested at the PACCAR Technical Center on April 2nd, 2018. Then, based on the performance of the test and feedbacks from Bendix and Kenworth representatives, modifications were made, and a final design was constructed for full production use along with a cut list, assembly instructions, user instructions, and a bill of materials.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3

DELIVERABLES ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6

DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS ----------------------------------------------------------------- 7

RESULTS/DISCUSSION ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 8

FINAL DESIGN ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10

CONCLUSIONS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11

APPENDIX 1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12

APPENDIX 2 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14

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Introduction

Automated safety-assistant driving systems are becoming more popular among car and truck manufacturers. The technology allows these manufacturers to offer a safer product to their customers. There is also an increasing interest in passing a legislation that looks at the possibility of having this technology on every new model.  However, in order to do so, the market needs to provide more data samples to increase the public support of such systems.

Kenworth offers the Bendix Fusion Driver Assistance Safety system. This system consists of a front bumper mounted radar and a forward-facing camera on the windshield. The system assists the driver with object avoidance, lane departure, and speed management by reading road signs. Currently, the T680 model is the only truck model with the Bendix Fusion system installed as standard equipment, but customers can order the system, and have it installed onto other models. Kenworth would like the camera calibration process associated with the Bendix Fusion system, to be streamlined in the event the driver assistance safety system is specified as standard equipment for other trucks.

Figure 1: Bendix Fusion Radar and Camera System

The calibration process usually occurs when a freshly assembled truck reaches the test area where technicians perform the final quality inspections. Furthermore, the calibration process needs to be completed anytime the windshield is being replaced at a dealership or factory. To ensure the system functions correctly, the camera must be calibrated with respect to the ride height and the front bumper position of the vehicle. If the calibration process is not done properly, the system will fault within or after the first 15 miles of driving, following the attempts of self-calibration. To complete the calibration, an operator places a target in front of the vehicle at two predetermined distances as shown in figure 2. The first location is right against the bumper, and the second location is 1.6 times the distance from the camera to the first location.

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a bFigure 2: Kenworth Camera Calibration

This requires the operator to exit the truck and move the target to the far location (Figure 2b), then enter back into the truck to continue the calibrations process. This was not an issue in the early production, but as demand has increased for more trucks being equipped with the Bendix Fusion Driver Assistance Safety system, the calibration process is becoming an increased labor issue.

Additionally, the quality of the calibration can vary based on the operator since the placement of the target is not repeatable and precise. There are also inconsistencies in the construction of the sign between different plants. The PACCAR Technical Center uses a tripod type of setup as shown in Figure. 3, and as for Peterbilt, they use a cart that has two of the targets at the two discrete lengths that they wheel up to the front of the truck (Figure. 4). Kenworth has contracted with our WSU team to create a more reliable calibration system that can be easily fabricated at all plants that Kenworth wants to implement the Bendix Fusion Driver Assistance Safety system on.

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Figure 3. PACCAR Technical Center Calibration Target

Figure 4: Peterbilt Calibration Target

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Deliverables

The WSU Bendix Fusion Calibration Team will produce an apparatus that will assist the calibration process with the following features:

Provide consistent placement of the calibration target within the acceptable tolerance, regardless of the operator.

The apparatus may incorporate features that allow the operator to complete the full calibration process without interacting with the calibration system once it’s started.

Calibration time under 5 minutes. Maintain plant safety requirements. Instructions to show the setup and the operation of the apparatus. Scalable to multiple truck models. Allow for single operator use.

In order to ensure that the above features are met, the design will need to incorporate specific metrics. A complete list of these metrics is listed in Appendix 1. One of the key metrics to keep in mind while designing the apparatus is to keep the component of the calibration system light and mobile, so a single person can carry/move the component without assistance. The design also must be easily manufacturable to ensure that it can be made on site and have 25+ identical models created for each test station at both the Ohio and the Renton plants.

After identifying the requirements and discussing them with the customer, a House of Quality (HOQ) was drafted with measurable parameters that are designed to help to provide the customer with an ideal calibration system. The process of drafting the HOQ helped us to determine which parameters are top priority based on the customer’s needs and how the parameters correlate to each other. The Peterbilt calibration system and the current calibration system used at the PACCAR Technical Center were also taken into consideration, and it allowed us to identify how well these calibration systems perform and to meet the customer’s needs. Based on the HOQ drafted, the three features that were placed at high priority were the calibration time, the success rate or repeatability of the calibration, and the weight of the product. The complete House of Quality is provided in Appendix 2.

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Design Considerations

Some challenges that might arise during the design process enter around when to forgo automation in favor of a manual design. A manual design will most likely be easier to design, which will allow for multiple prototype iterations and allow for partitioning resources towards additional components to improve the design. However, it might involve the technician spending more time setting up and moving the calibration system. An automated system would help the technician to spend less time on the calibration system, but it will probably be costly to manufacture, less durable, require regular maintenance, and could see more downtime when parts fail. Another tradeoff that could come up is when to use more durable materials at the cost of having an easily manufactured and handled component.

During initial contact with Kenworth, a camera system to take a picture of the truck VIN number on the calibration apparatus was desired.  After researching products on the market and understanding the security and privacy standards Kenworth has, no cost-effective camera model was found that would allow the mounted camera to take a photo remotely without using a third-party app and disabling the 24/7 video monitoring. Therefore, the VIN camera system has been taken out of the deliverables for this project. Technicians will have to use the current system that is used to record the truck VIN numbers.

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Results/Discussion

Alpha Prototype and TestingAfter visiting the PACCAR Technical Center and the Kenworth plant in Renton, as well

as talking with specialists and supervisors involved on the project. The key needs, metrics, and tradeoffs (Appendix 1) were identified and crucial design specifications were reached. One of the design specifications was the material selection for the apparatus. It was determined that designing the apparatus out of Bosch tubing would ensure that each plant would be able to fabricate the apparatus on site, since most plants use a similar extruded aluminum material (80-20) and this material was easily available through the WSU fabrication shop. It was also decided to make a cart like apparatus to avoid making the technician having to lift the product around, as well as using the tow hooks to center the calibration apparatus with respect to the truck, since this method would allow the most consistency on all current and future truck models. Another important decision was to decide on whether to incorporate one or two signs in the system. It was then determined to have a two-sign system, to avoid the need for a technician to physically move the sign back and forth, which decreased the calibration time and reduced the possibility for human error in the calibration process.

Since the first sign is only needed for the first part of the calibration process and it will block the camera’s view of the second sign. The front sign was shortened from the bottom up and a sliding mechanism was added that would allow the front sign to be moved out of the way once the camera is calibrated to it.  Additionally, since the hood length of the truck can be varied depending on the truck model, the back sign was mounted on sliders that would allow the user to set the back sign to the distance needed for each truck model based on their respective hood lengths. With these in mind, an Alpha prototype was designed, fabricated, and then taken to the PACCAR Technical Center for testing on April 2nd, 2018. (Figure 5 & Figure. 6).

Figure 5: Alpha Prototype

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Figure 6: Prototype Testing

The prototype helped a “novice” technician to complete the calibration process within 2 minutes and 20 seconds. The calibration was tested and was able to successfully drive past the 15-mile mark, where an error message would normally occur for a failed calibration. The prototype was also successfully modified to adapt to different dimension requirements on two different types of trucks that currently feature the Bendix Fusion product.

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Final Design

Following the prototype test, a few areas for improvements were identified and implemented onto the final design. For the prototype, the front sign was using friction as the catching mechanism to hold it at the top of the sliding track. The friction hold proved to be a difficult and time-consuming process when trying to drop the sign out of view of the camera. The solution was to re-dimension the pillars that made up the sliding track for the front sign and lubricate them, allowing for easy movement of the sign. Then, a simple pin system was implemented to hold the sign at the correct height at the start of the calibration process and springs were added at the bottom of the cart to catch the falling sign once the pin was pulled.

Another improvement to the prototype was to make the tow hook guides longer and easily adjustable. While the calibration time was greatly reduced due to the cart design, setting up the tow hook guides to the correct height slowed down the process. Another issue that was unforeseen during the design phase but became cumbersome during testing was the unleveled truck bumper, resulting in a slight misalignment error between the two tow hook guides. To compensate for that error, the tow hook guides were reprinted to better dimensions. Along with the original horizontal sliding design of the tow hook attachment, slotted nut and bolt holes were added to one of the guides to allow for minor vertical adjustment as needed, for an easier time with alignment when dealing with unleveled bumpers.

The final improvement that was made to the design was to increase the height of the second level of the carriage that holds the back sign. This will allow for the entire tow hook guide assembly to be easily adjusted vertically, and it is able to reach heights up to 25 inches from the ground. (see figure 7 & figure 8)

Figure 7: Final Design Figure 8: Final Design (Dropped Sign)

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Conclusion/Next Steps

Further improvements to the apparatus are possible. Along with this report, members of this team are also conducting a feasibility study on using a PLC system that would utilize pneumatic pistons, limit switches, and solenoids that could fully automate the setup phase as well as the calibration phase. The supporting material used for the front and back sign was foam board, which is inexpensive and can be easily cut to any dimensions. The supporting material for future signs could be made out of 0.060 inch thick aluminum to increase its durability and resistance to deflection. Another useful component that could be incorporated into the apparatus is a camera mounted above the back sign that could take a picture of the VIN posted on the windshield of the vehicle for recordkeeping purposes. During the research phase of the project, many inexpensive cameras with remote photo capturing capabilities were investigated, but none were found with the option to securely take a picture without subscribing to a third-party App and disabling the camera’s 24/7 viewing capability, which created security concerns. There were more expensive cameras available for such a purpose but were out of the budget for this project.

Overall, the apparatus design achieved the deliverables that Kenworth requested for the project. The final design allows for a projected calibration time of under two minutes, and a setup (or model change) time of one minute. After the device is set up and secured in the tow hooks, the only additional step the technician needs to do to ensure a complete calibration is to pull the holding pin for the front sign after it has calibrated. The final design is currently compatible with all truck models that feature the Bendix Fusion calibration system and it is able to accommodate additional truck models that will feature this product in the future.

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Appendix 1: Key Needs / Metrics / Tradeoffs

Requested Key needs from Kenworth Provide precise placement of the calibration target regardless of operator Full calibration completed without leaving the cab after initial setup Take into consideration all plant safety requirements Device should have IOT capability. Possible using the amazon IOT button to control

functions Include a camera system to take a snapshot of the vehicle chassis number located on a

cardboard plaque in the windshield. Investigate adding a QR code to the cardboard plaque that would allow actual reading of the VIN line sequence number.

Save the data to a cloud database for proof of calibrationo Vino Line sequenceo time/date stampo Total time from start to finish for the operation

Provide a tablet based augmented reality application to show how to setup and operate the system.

Key Needs: Portable Light Weight Modular Durable Repeatable Calibration (consistent, stable, level) Easy to use Safe Efficient Small Footprint Easy to store Capture truck ID

Key Metrics: Single operator Cost Calibration Height, Calibration distance from truck bumper Modular settings for multiple truck geometries Weight. Short Takt time (less than 5 minutes or 300 seconds) Ability to roll out design for manufacturing 25+ identical models

Key Trade-offs: Durable -- Lightweight Durable - Portable Automated -- manual

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Automated + number of employees Automated - cost Automated + Time tech needs to spend on system (efficiency) Automated - maintenance Modular -- ease of use Modular -- cost Modular -- safety Lightweight + footprint

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Appendix 2: House of Quality

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Version Table

Version Date WSU Approval PACCAR Approval

A April 26th, 2018

Grayson Warnock,Gordon Tassell, Noah Yang, Sean Novak, Nick Jones, Garrett Purvis, David Koch  

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