STISIM Drive - Other Tab Box

There are numerous settings that do not fit nicely into any of the other headers that we have created, therefore we have lumped them into their own category and christened it "Other". Clicking on the "Other" tab will make the program display the following group of options:

One of the things that makes STISIM Drive so appealing for doing research is that the primary task is driving a vehicle through the scenario that you have created. Driving is a universal task and it is safe to say that an overwhelming majority of the drivers that will use it will have some driving experience. Unfortunately, not all countries use the same dimensions and drive on the same side of the road, go figure. Because of this slight constraint, STISIM Drive was designed so that it will accept parameters specified in both English and Metric units and you may specify the side of the road that the driver is suppose to be driving on. The two frames on the top left and middle of the tab box allow you to set the units that the program will use and the side of the road that the driver's vehicle should be driving on. As you can see you have a choice between English and Metric units for all of the simulator's parameters. This means that all of the simulator's parameters both in the configuration tab boxes and within the SDL events will have to be specified in the units selected. For convenience, the help files list all units in English, but if you are using metric units, simply use the metric equivalent to the English units referenced. Therefore, if you are using metric units for your parameters, if the documentation uses feet, you should use meters, miles should be kilometers, etc. The configuration window will automatically change the unit labels for its parameters so that you will know which units to use. In addition, if you choose to change units, the program will automatically convert any configuration parameters that change units. Because of round off errors and such, converting units back and forth may cause slight changes in the value displayed. To choose the desired units simply click on the radio button for the desired units.

Because the program requires 2 different files (configuration and project) in order to create a simulation run, you must be careful not to mix different units. Trying to use a metric project file with an English configuration file will produce some interesting results. This is generally noticeable right away because the roadway will be the wrong dimensions, however to help prevent this from happening we recommend that in the first line of your project file you include a units descriptor. By simply placing the word "Metric" or "English" as the first line of your project file, STISIM Drive will check this with the units you have specified in your configuration and will warn you if the two don't match. If no units descriptor is in the file, STISIM Drive will assume the project file is in English units.

The frame next to the "Parameter Units" frame allows you to choose the side of the road that the vehicle should be driving on. This simply tells the program which side of the road to display the road signs, signal lights, etc. and allows you to change these settings without having to go back and change each of the individual events. The program assumes that if the simulation is designed for driving on the left side of the roadway, the driver will sit on the right side of the vehicle and if it is designed for driving on the right side of the road, they are sitting in the left side of the vehicle. Your only choices are either left or right and the option will toggle back and forth based on your current choice. It is important to note that changing the side of the road only effects road signs and stop lights and does not effect traffic, pedestrians, barrels, etc. All of the former mentioned objects have a lateral position associated with them and therefore you need to set them yourself.

The frame on the top right allows you to set the Windows priority when conducting a simulation run. In general you would think that setting it to real-time would be the logical choice and should always be used. In general that is the case but since we have included an option you can tell that this is not always the case. Basically by setting the priority to real-time you can improve the simulation timing and the simulation frame rate, however, with some slower computers and with very large scenarios, using the real-time option can essentially disable all mouse and keyboard operation. This generally does not adversely effect the simulation run, but it does make it difficult to abort a run which can be a nuisance during development.

Under the "Parameter Units" frame are several options that can be turned on or off depending on your experimental design. The first option listed is for the divided attention symbols. If this option is selected and a check appears in the box, then STISIM Drive's divided attention symbols will be displayed during the simulation run. These can be used in conjunction with the DA event in order to measure a driver's reaction time and to assess whether or not they are paying attention to the whole screen. If this option is enabled, then 2 square boxes with diamond symbols will be displayed within the roadway display scene. The placement of these boxes is determined by you and you set these positions by clicking on the "Dived Attention Options" button in the lower left portion of the tab box. This will be discussed in more detail at the end of this section

The collect time to collision data option instructs STISIM Drive to either collect the data and save it to the STISIM Drive data file, or to ignore this option when computing the data for the simulation run. Basically the time to collision parameter gives you an indication of how close the driver came to having an accident. It takes into account both the driver's position relative to the other vehicle and the relative speed between the vehicles. The lower the value for time to collision, the closer the driver was to having an accident.

In the run menu, there is an option called Driver Information. This allows you to enter the driver's name, a run number and any comments that you would like to enter. This option must be chosen before you chose the Run Simulation option otherwise the information will not be recorded. Because we all get in a rush and become forgetful, the "Prompt for driver information before each run" option has been included. When this option is checked and you choose the Run Simulation option, the program will automatically prompt you for the driver's information. This way you can forget and hopefully the program will catch it. If the box is not checked, then when you choose Run Simulation the simulation run will begin as normal.

The 2 fields at the bottom of the Other tab box allow you to specify the default folders where STISIM Drive will store the output data file and the driver information database. The first text field ("Data file directory name") specifies where all of the STISIM Drive data files will be stored. The data file directory name should include both a drive designation and a path. If this is left blank, then STISIM Drive will place the data file in the STISIM Drive temporary directory (usually C:\STISIM\Temp). Basically this option lets you save your data files to the destination of your choice. This is handy if you are performing multiple studies because a different configuration file can be setup for each one and the data that is collected can be saved to an entirely different location for each study. The second text field ("Driver information file directory name") allows you to do the same thing except in this case it deals with the driver information database. Before each simulation run you can specify driver information. Some of this information is stored in a file named "Drivers.Data" and can be used from one run to the next. If you are conducting multiple studies you may wish to keep a separate database for each one and keeping various copies of the Driver.Dat file in different directories does this. Use the "Driver information file directory name" to specify where the desired Drivers.Dat file is located.

As was mentioned previously, if you choose to use the divided attention symbols, you will activate the "Divided Attention Options" button that then allows you to set the positions of the divided attention task symbols. Clicking on this button will display a dialog window similar to the following:

STISIM Drive uses the turn signal indicator and the horn/button for accepting divided attention input signals, however, in some cases, you may not want the driver to respond by using the turn indicators and horn/button. For this reason the alternate divided attention control inputs option has been added. This option can only be used on systems using the optical encoder interface. In order to use this option, you will need to create your own input device and integrate it into the current system. See the optical encoder interface wiring diagram for the pin connections and current wiring specifications. For the new inputs the expected horn/button input will be on pin 5, the left turn signal will be on pin 4, and the right turn signal will be on pin 3.

The next 2 check boxes allow you to specify some display characteristics for the divided attention symbols. First, you have the option of displaying a background box that the symbols will be displayed in. If the box is checked the bounding boxes will be displayed, otherwise you will only get the display symbols. The second option allows you to specify if the default divided attention symbols (diamonds) will be displayed or not. If the box is checked then the default symbols will always be shown unless the DA event is used to change them. At the completion of the current DA event, the symbols that are displayed will change back to the default symbols. If the default symbols option is not chosen, then the desired DA symbols will appear on screen and then disappear with nothing replacing them.

The remaining 2 dialog frames allow you to set the screen position for the left and right divided attention symbol bounding boxes respectively. The inputs for both the left and right divided attention symbols are identical, they simply act on the different symbols. The first decision you must make is which screen the symbols will be displayed on. If you have a single roadway display system, the choice has already been made for you and the symbols will appear on the center display screen. However, if you are using a wide field of view system then you may alternately choose to display the divided attention symbols on the side system screens. This is done by simply clicking on the radio button for the screen where the symbols will be displayed. Once the display screen has been chosen, you will now need to specify where on the screen the bounding boxes will be displayed. You only have control of the position of the upper left corner of the bounding box and have no control over their size. The values for the bounding box positions range between 0 and 1. Refer to the Screen Sizing section for details on positioning and sizing objects in the roadway display scene.

Finally, clicking on the Ok button will accept your changes and include them in the next run (assuming you also exit the configuration tab by clicking the Apply button). If you would like any changes that you made to be ignored, simply click on the Cancel button and all changes will be forgotten.