Class-8 Heavy Truck Duty Cycle Project Final Report - Center for ...

2.8 CONDUCTION OF FOT
The FOT lasted 12 months and required ongoing involvement of the test team in regular data
collection, equipment maintenance, and preliminary data analysis to diagnose sensor problems.
2.8.1 Upload Procedure
Data collected during the FOT was uploaded periodically from each test vehicle onto an ORNL
project computer. An ORNL staff member would travel from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Jefferson
City, Tennessee, a distance of about 50 miles (one-way), and would upload the collected data from
the DAS of each of the instrumented tractors in the Schrader truck yard. Typically, all of the tractors
would return to Jefferson City for the weekend which provided a good opportunity to upload the
collected data. Initially, data was uploaded weekly in order to quickly diagnose and correct
instrumentation and configuration problems early in the FOT. After several weeks of regular uploads
without encountering any major problems with the instrumentation suite, data was uploaded
approximately every two weeks. This procedure included verifying that the sensors were working,
uploading the data, and archiving the data to prevent data loss. This procedure is detailed in the
SDOD (Appendix D, Section 8.2.1). On several occasions, a tractor would not be available at the
Schrader truck yard over the weekend. There was sufficient capacity in the DAS memory to allow
about a month’s worth of data to be collected between data uploads.
2.8.2 Issues Encountered during the FOT
During the FOT, the majority of the equipment functioned as expected. Preliminary testing of each
DAS allowed most of the problems to be discovered and resolved before the actual FOT. The
problems which were not foreseen during the early stages of the testing involved the long-term nature
of the project which could not be simulated prior to the start of the FOT.
On several occasions, the weather stations ceased to generate data, and were found to have been
water-damaged in use. After the weather stations were repaired, they were mounted at a different
location in order to avoid the damage that had been experienced. The weather stations were mounted
on the driver’s side mirror rather than the front mirror. After re-deploying, water damage to the
weather station was experienced again. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that all of the
Schrader trucks were being power-washed regularly, and that this power-washing damaged the
weather stations. It was requested that Schrader personnel cover the weather stations during washing,
and by doing so, no further water-related weather station problems were encountered for the
remainder of the FOT.
Technical difficulties were also encountered with the VBOX. For several data collection periods, no
data was being reported by the VBOX. Upon investigation, the problem was found to be the result of
failing antennas, again from water infiltration. This problem was corrected by replacing the antennas
on the failing units and restarting the VBOX. Because the channels were checked each time the data
was uploaded, this problem was identified and corrected soon after deployment, resulting in a
minimum loss of data. It is not clear if the water infiltration was due to the pressure washing of the
Schrader trucks or from normal exposure to rain at highway speeds.
34