Speaker: Andrew Tomlinson from The University of Leeds

Andrew is responsible for managing the day to day operations of the ITS simulation facilities, which comprise a full motion vehicle (car) simulator, a truck simulator and a large pedestrian simulator.

He also plays a small role in maintaining and developing the software for the University of Leeds Driving Simulator (UoLDS), to in implementing new simulator features.

Andrew had a teaching role within ITS for 1.5 days/week on average where he mainly focuses on Masters and Undergraduate teaching around Public Transport and in organising field trips and special one-off learning experiences.

As a late arriver in the field of transportation studies, his professional background is in software engineering and his role within the driving simulator allows him to combine both interests.

Ecaterina operates at the forefront of transport systems simulation, applying her expertise in software engineering and Machine Learning to deliver breakthroughs in how simulation technologies are used to solve the biggest challenges facing organisations in the aerospace, aviation and automotive sectors.

As a senior member of TSC’s Technology team, Ecaterina takes ownership of the end to end software development lifecycle, from requirements definition through development and integration testing, with specific attention to algorithmic efficiency.

Key to Ecaterina’s success is her ability to get buy in to her technical proposals from internal and external stakeholders through the communication of complex concepts in a clear and concise manner.

Accomplishments

• Winner of the Novell prize for the development of an innovative
  passenger tracking system, using GPS data processing to optimise
  the flow of passengers across public transport networks.

• Supported the development of the high level architectural design
  of a transport simulator, enabling public and private sector
  bodies to study the behaviour of autonomous vehicles in
  different environments.

• Delivered a “concept-to-completion” SpaceWire software
  architecture simulation system for spacecraft, satellite, rocket
  and aircraft systems, enabling vital insights to be gained on
  capacity utilisation, traffic loading and latency.

Michael is Head of Strategy at Meridian. He is on secondment from the UK Government’s Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV), of which he was a founding member in 2015.

Prior to CCAV, Michael was Head of Horizon Scanning in the Government’s Horizon Scanning Programme, establishing a cross-Government Emerging Technologies Community of Interest reporting to the Cabinet Secretary’s Advisory Group.

1)       A59 GLOSA was an Innovate UK research project funded by the National Infrastructure Commission and Highways England (Roads for the Future competition).  Python event-based scripting was used to simulate communications between traffic signals and vehicles to model GLOSA (Green Light Optimised Speed Advisory), a system to advise a target speed for vehicles to reach upcoming traffic signals on green.  This incorporated simulation of both Connected and Autonomous vehicles, and the assessment of instantaneous emissions outputs.

2)       AECOM conducted a research project to study impacts of platooning on the UK road network. In this project, a micro-simulation model was developed to simulate platooning using vehicles equipped with cooperative adaptive cruise control systems. The micro-simulation software in combination with the Driver Model API were used to develop this model. By conducting extensive experimental testing, impacts of platooning on the traffic flow, network capacity and vehicle emissions were evaluated.

Speaker: Katy Thorpe and Shayan Kavakeb from Aecom

Katy Thorpe MSc(Eng), MMath(Maths), MCIHT, is an Associate Director with over 14 years’ experience in traffic engineering and transport planning.  Her particular interests are in traffic modelling, with a national role within AECOM as a micro-simulation and traffic signals specialist.

Shayan Kavakeb PhD, MSc, BSc, is a senior Software Development Consultant with over 8 years’ experience in software development, transport and traffic modelling. He is currently responsible for the development of bespoke software solutions and algorithms for traffic and pedestrian modelling / simulation. He has a PhD in Computer Science from Liverpool John Moores University, focussing on Intelligent Transport Systems.

Speaker: Mike Dempsey Managing Director of Claytex

Mike is the Managing Director of Claytex and a technical expert in modelling and simulation.  Mike studied Automotive Engineering at Loughborough University and then worked at Ford and Rover on powertrain simulation. After starting Claytex as a consultancy, the company has grown and now also distributes and develops simulation solutions for the automotive market.  We develop models that predict the dynamic behaviour of the vehicle systems using Dymola and integrate these into Driver-in-the-Loop simulations using rFpro.  We are currently developing sensor models to enable the virtual development and testing of autonomous vehicles. Claytex works with Formula 1 and NASCAR teams as well as Automotive OEM’s to deliver models and tools covering many different applications helping to create next generation of products.