Southwest Research Institute RAPTORTM

RAPTORTM (Rapid Automotive Performance Simulator) is a mature and robust MATLAB®/Simulink® application program that allows simulation in a virtual environment for vehicle optimization, performance, fuel economy, emissions, and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) analysis. RAPTORTM can accurately model vehicles ranging from scooters to class-8 trucks for both on and off-road applications, whether conventional, electric, electric hybrid, or hydraulic hybrid. To efficiently simulate this broad range of vehicles, mathematical descriptions of vehicle components are assembled in RAPTORTM and simulated under user-specified driving schedules. Conventional vehicle simulations take full advantage of the Simulink® configurable subsystem architecture, allowing users to create thousands of different vehicle powertrain combinations while requiring only two vehicle templates. A graphical user interface automatically builds the vehicle model based on the user’s component selections using recalled simulations or information stored in a database. The RAPTORTM database stores vehicle models, data, simulation parameters, drive cycles, and simulation results, providing users and user groups synchronization and configuration management. The database simplifies selection of component data for new vehicle development, streamlines validation of fleet results, and facilitates efficient corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) predictions. Hybrid vehicle simulation models are auto-generated using vehicle configuration parameters provided by the user, allowing full configurability for today’s complex and ever-evolving hybrid powertrains. RAPTORTM supports both hybrid electric as well hydraulic vehicles with a variety of built-in transmission, engine, and hydraulic models. The hybrid vehicle models in RAPTORTM have been extensively validated against field collected data. RAPTORTM is currently being used by commercial industry and the U.S. military. Components of the RAPTORTM software include vehicle dynamics, tires, engine, engine accessories, transmission, driveline, brakes, motors, generators, energy storage, emissions, and vehicle and engine controllers. In addition to these standard vehicle components, RAPTORTM supports trailer tow simulation, off-road terrain and grade modeling, high fidelity co-simulation with other off-the-shelf simulation packages, and HIL testing.

A real-time configuration of RAPTORTM simulates the vehicle or vehicle components real-time in a HIL configuration. Since the signals generated in the simulated vehicle are identical to the signals seen on the real vehicle, RAPTORTM has the ability to drive external physical hardware in either off-line or on-line mode of operation. In off-line operation, the entire vehicle is simulated and all of the control loops are closed within the system of models. For this mode of operation, output signals are generated for operating the hardware of interest either in parallel with the simulation or independent of the simulation execution. These output signals are generated either real-time or faster than real-time and are used to drive the physical vehicle hardware real-time. In on-line HIL mode, the component of interest is not modeled since the simulation will occur real-time and will utilize the physical component hardware in parallel with the RAPTORTM simulation. Feedback of the physical hardware response is monitored by the RAPTORTM models, forming a closed-loop control system and resulting in very close tracking of the hardware component operation and the expected operation in the simulated vehicle. RAPTOR™ has a 15-year history of development, validation and application at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI®) and was a recipient of an R&D 100 Award. Co-developed with DaimlerChrysler, RAPTOR™ has been used extensively as a simulation tool by commercial clients and as a research and development tool internally to SwRI® for government and commercial customers. For more information on RAPTORTM or SwRI® modeling and simulation or electric and hybrid vehicle services, please contact: Jack Harris, Senior Research Engineer Engine, Emissions & Vehicle Research Division E-mail: jack.harris@swri.org

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