Car Navigation System

An automotive navigation system is a satellite navigation system designed for use in automobiles. It typically uses a GPS navigation device to acquire position data to locate the user on a road in the unit's map database. Using the road database, the unit can give directions to other locations along roads also in its database. Dead reckoning using distance data from sensors attached to the drivetrain, a gyroscope and an accelerometer can be used for greater reliability, as GPS signal loss and/or multipath can occur due to urban canyons or tunnels.

Some sorts can be taken out of the car and used hand-held while walking.

HISTORY
                     Automotive navigation systems were the subject of extensive experimentation, including some efforts to reach mass markets, prior to the availability of commercial GPS.

Most major technologies required for modern automobile navigation were already established when the microprocessor emerged in the 1970s to support their integration and enhancement by computer software. These technologies subsequently underwent extensive refinement, and a variety of system architectures had been explored by the time practical systems reached the market in the late 1980s. Among the other enhancements of the 1980s was the development of color displays for digital maps and of CD-ROMs for digital map storage. However, there is some question about who made the first commercially available automotive navigation system. There seems to be little room for doubt[says who?] that Etak was first to make available a digital system that used map-matching to improve on dead reckoning instrumentation. Etak's systems, which accessed digital map information stored on standard cassette tapes, arguably made car navigation systems practical for the first time. However, Japanese efforts on both digital and analog systems predate Etak's founding. Steven Lobbezoo developed the first commercially available satellite navigation system for cars. It was produced in Berlin from start 1984 to January 1986. Publicly presented first at the Hannover fair in 1985 in Germany, the system was shown in operation on the evening news (item in the Hannover fair) from the first German television channel in that year. It used a modified IBM PC, a large disc for map data and a flat screen, built into the glove compartment. It was called Homer (after the device from a James Bond movie).
Alpine claims to have created the first automotive navigation system in 1981. However, according to the company's own historical timeline, the company claims to have co-developed an analog automotive navigation product called the Electro Gyrocator, working with Honda. This engineering effort was abandoned in 1985. Although there are reports of the Electro Gyrocator being offered as a dealer option on the Honda Accord in 1981, it's not clear whether an actual product was released, whether any customers took delivery of an Electro Gyrocator-equipped Accord, or even whether the unit appeared in any dealer showrooms; Honda's own official history appears to pronounce the Electro Gyrocator as not practical. See below for Honda's history of the project.
Honda claims to have created the first navigation system starting in 1983, and culminating with general availability in the 1990 Acura Legend. The original analog Electro Gyrocator system used an accelerometer to navigate using inertial navigation, as the GPS system was not yet generally available. However, it appears from Honda's concessions in their own account of the Electro Gyrocator project that Etak actually trumped Honda's analog effort with a truly practical digital system, albeit one whose effective range of operation was limited by the availability of appropriately digitized street map data.
 progress in digital technology would not stop simply because Honda had turned its attention to analog. In 1985, for example, the U.S. company ETAK introduced its own digital map navigation system. Although the system's effective range-the area of geographical coverage-was limited, the announcement was a dour one for Nakamura and his staff. Therefore, ultimately the development of a practical analog system was shelved. The staff experienced indescribable feelings of disappointment. The development of [Honda's] digital map navigation system resumed in 1987, following a three-year hiatus.
Both Mitsubishi Electric and Pioneer claim to be the first with a GPS-based auto navigation system, in 1990. Also in 1990, a draft patent application was filed within Digital Equipment Co. Ltd. for a multi-function device called PageLink that had real-time maps for use in a car listed as one of its functions.
Magellan, a GPS navigation system manufacturer, claims to have created the first GPS-based vehicle navigation system in the U.S. in 1995.
In 1995, Oldsmobile introduced the first GPS navigation system available in a production car, called GuideStar. There also was an Oldsmobile navigation system available as an option as early as 1994 called the Oldsmobile Navigation/Information System. It was an option on the Oldsmobile Eighty Eight.
However it was not until 2000 that the United States made a more accurate GPS signal available for civilian use.
TECHNOLOGY


Visualization

Navigation systems may (or may not) use a combination of any of the following:
top view for the map
top view for the map with the map rotating with the automobile (so that "up" on the map always corresponds to "forward" in the vehicle)
bird's-eye view for the map or the next curve
linear gauge for distance, which is redundant if a rotating map is used
numbers for distance
schematic pictograms
voice prompts

Contents

The road database is a vector map of some area of interest. Street names or numbers and house numbers are encoded as geographic coordinates so that the user can find some desired destination by street address (see map database management).

Points of interest (waypoints) will also be stored with their geographic coordinates. Point of interest specialties include speed cameras, fuel stations, public parking, and "parked here" (or "you parked here").

Contents can be produced by the user base as their cars drive along existing streets (Wi-Fi) and communicating via the internet, yielding a free and up-to-date map.

mercedes benz e class

This is a short story of how we sometimes arrive at the truth. Letting go of deep-seated childhood emotional responses is hard. Growing up in the fifties in Austria, Mercedes was my true God. My father had a friend with a 300 SL Gullwing, and I spent hours walking around it, absorbing each detail. There was an old Tatra streamliner in the neighborhood. Aerodynamics, efficiency, and speed are my triggers. In 1985, I bought one of the first W124 300E sedans in LA, in part because its Cd. of .28 was the best in the world then, as well as its 140 mph top speed.  Just yesterday, in Part 3 of the History of Automotive Aerodynamics, I concluded the survey of current production car aerodynamics record-holders with the 2010 Mercedes E-Class coupe, honoring its widely disseminated Cd of .24, lower than even the 2010 Prius. Looking at the picture of that E Class coupe this morning triggered a totally unexpected upsurge of that old lust, something that I thought was long extinguished, and I actually went to the Mercedes web site for strictly personal reasons. I expected that Mercedes would be trumpeting the coupe’s .24 Cd proudly. Not so, and for a good reason.

In fact, there was no reference to it anywhere. I remember how proudly Mercedes was of the W124′s sleekness in its ads and brochures. What gives? I had to download a pdf with technical specs, and there it was, buried in small print: Cd of .28. It’s 1984 all over again.

I found the answer buried deep on Mercedes’ German web site: the .24 Cd only applies to the E 220 CDI Blue Efficiency model, that isn’t even going to be available  until later this spring, and in then in Europe only. It must be lowered and have lots of aerodynamic tweaks. Google “Mercedes E-Class Coupe coefficient of drag”, and you’ll see that every magazine, web site, newspaper and of course wikipedia has repeated Mercedes’ Cd of .24 virus endlessly.

I’m still surprised with that unexpected surge of Mercedes lust; but it came for a reason: I’m totally over Mercedes now, and I’m here to proclaim to whoever listens: the 2010 Mercedes E-Class coupe has a Cd of .28, the same as a 2001 Camry, a 1995 Mitsubishi Diamante, a 2003 Saab 9-3, and a 1998 Chrysler Concorde.

The 2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class

2010 Mercedes Benz E-Class

W212 Merc

2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class

2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class

Mercedes Benz E-class 2010

E-Class sedan at the

Mercedes-Benz E-Class MercedesSport variety of exclusive products including front apron and spoiler, and side edges, and optional rear roof spoiler, a diffuser-look rear apron insert grille and fog lamps, 18-inch light alloy wheels in painted version in high-bicolor black luster is protected by a clear lacquer coating and the bear logo MercedesSport, with a stiff sporty suspension damping and stabilizer transversely and shorter springs to lower the suspension up to 15 millimeters, sport braking system with perforated brake discs and brake calipers gray Mercedes-logo Benz, and others.

In the interior, features more than MercedesSport E-Class is a sport grippy four-spoke steering wheel with perforated leather and contrast the silver lining is available with optional paddle shift and a heater, a stainless steel pedal cluster, stainless steel entrance panels illuminated by white and bearing the logo MercedesSport , and black velours floor mats with silver borders and contrast stitching, logo also MercedesSport.

EFI ENGIENS

EFI Fuel Systems

Proper fuel system design is very important to ensure trouble free performance when installing an EFI engine into an aircraft. Many people fail to consider certain aspects when designing or modifying their system for use with EFI. Fuel system malfunction and fuel starvation are among the leading causes of homebuilt aircraft crashes.

System Basics
It is important to familiarize yourself with the basic EFI mechanical components and function to be able to understand why certain things need to be a certain way. All EFI systems use a high pressure pump to supply fuel to the injectors. This is almost always electrically driven. Most systems run between 35 and 45 psi. Fuel is supplied to fuel rails or a fuel block which is connected to the injectors. The other end of the fuel rail or block is connected to a fuel pressure regulator. Its function is to hold the fuel pressure at a constant differential above the intake manifold pressure. It does this by returning unused fuel back to the fuel tank. The pump always puts out a constant volume of fuel and more than the engine requires at full throttle so most of the fuel is returned back to the tank under idle and low power conditions. Below is a proven fuel system used in racing cars which undergo high G forces. The system for aircraft is a variation of this and has also been flight proven in our RV6A and others.

                  


General Concerns in Aircraft
An EFI fuel system must be designed to supply fuel to the injectors under all anticipated flight conditions. EFI engines do not tolerate getting air into their fuel systems. Unlike a carb which has a float bowl to dissipate air bubbles, if air is present on the high pressure side of the pump, air will be injected along with the fuel. This will lead to a lean condition until the air is purged. It should also be noted that most EFI pumps do not process air very well due to their design nor do they reprime well if there is much head involved. In short, a constant, air free fuel supply must be available at the inlet of the high pressure pump.

Fuel injection:-

                             is a system for mixing fuel with air in an internal combustion engine. It has become the primary fuel delivery system used in automotive petrol engines, having almost completely replaced carburetors in the late 1980s.

A fuel injection system is designed and calibrated specifically for the type(s) of fuel it will handle. Most fuel injection systems are for gasoline or diesel applications. With the advent of electronic fuel injection (EFI), the diesel and gasoline hardware has become similar. EFI's programmable firmware has permitted common hardware to be used with different fuels.

Carburetors were the predominant method used to meter fuel on gasoline engines before the widespread use of fuel injection. A variety of injection systems have existed since the earliest usage of the internal combustion engine.

The primary difference between carburetors and fuel injection is that fuel injectionatomizes the fuel by forcibly pumping it through a small nozzle under high pressure, while a carburetor relies on low pressure created by intake air rushing through it to add the fuel to the airstream.

ELECTRIC FULE INJACTION

 HOW TO EFI WORK