Open Module

Overview

Using the STISIM Drive® Open Module Programming (OMP), you can create your own customized modules that can be directly integrated into the STISIM Drive® driving simulator. The OMP provides an easy and efficient way to integrate your particular needs into STISIM Drive®. Simply put, OMP provides the user with a means of extending the capabilities of the STISIM Drive® driving simulator beyond what has been provided by Systems Technology, Inc. (STI). The Open Module extension allows users to programmatically add their own capabilities to the simulation by creating their own custom Open Module DLLs. These DLLs contain numerous methods (source code functions) that are accessed at various points within the main STISIM Drive®.

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Module Features

Drive program and that transfer control from the simulator to your code so that custom events can be added to the simulator. After your code has finished it passes control back to STISIM Drive® for the remainder of the current simulation frame and then it all starts over again. Some of the capabilities that the OMP approach provides include:

• Defining new events that can be called from your scenario file including event attributes
• Creating 2 dimension screen images for warning systems and other applications
• Controlling appearance, movement and disappearance of roadway display objects as a function of time or distance
• Adding auditory cues and feedback to the driver
• Performing specialized data collection
• Controlling external hardware (serial ports, digital input and output, etc.)
• Modifying the vehicle dynamic response to control actions

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Program Your Own Capabilities

The idea behind OMP for STISIM Drive® comes from the many requests that STI receives for program modifications. STISIM Drive® is a comprehensive driver-in-the-loop driving simulator that includes roadway display generation, user inputs, data collection, and numerous "events" that allow any user to create their own customized simulation scenarios. However, there is no way of designing STISIM Drive® so that it can encompass every conceivable task that all the users require. By allowing the user to create events and integrate them into the current simulator, STI has made the process of creating custom modifications to STISIM Drive® more time efficient, hands on, and cost effective. The majority of the program currently exists as Visual Basic code, however because of the requirements of today's very fast graphic accelerators, all of the graphic primitives have been written in C++. In addition the program takes advantage of several Microsoft Application Programming Interface (API) libraries. The way the OMP option works is simple in its design. At certain points within the main STISIM Drive® program, the source code makes specific calls out to any OMP DLL that has been specified. Within the OMP DLL, the code must recognize that it is being called and perform any duties that the user desires. After all of the DLL code has been executed control is returned to the main STISIM Drive® component that in turn carries on with the simulation run. This process occurs during each frame of the simulation loop. It is assumed that OMP users are experienced programmers who understand COM objects and preferably the Visual Basic programming language. In addition knowledge of 3D graphic displays, sound systems, and any additional hardware that may be interfaced with the system, is a plus.

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