Kempten University relies on Barco for its simulator

When moving buildings, the IFM decided to upgrade the projection system for its driving simulator because the existing screen was not large enough. The choice was the FL40-4K system from Barco.

Barco's projection technology was used at the Institute for Driver Assistance and Connected Mobility (IFM) to upgrade your driving simulation system.

This is an institution belonging to the Kempten University of Applied Sciences (Germany). A manufacturer whose goal is to create methods and tools for automakers and their suppliers to limit the number of prototypes.

They focus on three concepts: Vehicle dynamics and controls with steering app, tires and suspension; control in cases of failure; and ADAS/AD (Advanced Driving Assistance System / Automatic Driving).

Designing new car models is very expensive and time-consuming.. Building physical prototypes slows down the process. Today's simulators allow many of the initial tests to be performed in the driving simulator.

In this way, The maturity of the new car is much greater before the first prototype is created. If he 70 or the 80% of the work is done in a virtual model, Saves a lot of time and money on car development costs. The simulators are, therefore, crucial for driving experience and automakers have several of them in their research facilities.

A large format solution

When moving to a new building, the IFM decided to update its driving simulator because the existing screen was not large enough. Test pilots could always see the wall, which took away realism.

They couldn't simply port the display system to a larger screen because additional projectors were needed, so they took the opportunity to create a completely new system. The choice was to opt for the system FL40-4K of Boat that presents great simplicity in its handling.

High speed simulators require high speed projectors. “Visualization systems are very important for simulators”, the teacher explains Bernhard Schick, founder and director of the IFM. “Not only color reproduction is important, the resolution and brightness of the projector, so is the frame rate. The update of 60 Hz a 120 Hz was already a big step forward, but the change of 120 Hz a 240 Hz is just as big. Passing test drivers 8 hours in the simulator said to reduce motion sickness and stress. Besides, the more realistic the environment looks, the more trust people have”.