Failure Analysis Of An Electronic System Used To Retrofit A Polaris Gem E6 For Autonomy

Abstract

There are always ways to improve speed, efficiency and safety in cars, and autonomy is an extremely compelling option. An autonomous electric vehicle is capable of reducing operating costs, as well as reducing the incident rate by up to 90%. The compact size of these vehicles makes them circulate more easily on any route or terrain, contributing to improve personnel transport. In addition, using this type of vehicle contributes to the reduction of NOx and ROG emissions, which addresses the current problem of pollution on the planet in general. The importance of the research “Retrofitting a Polaris GEM e6 for autonomy” lies in the reduction of the aforementioned costs, as well as the improvement of the way students and teachers move within the UTD campus. It is estimated that once autonomous vehicles are available, students and teachers will reduce their transfer time between buildings, which will allow them to have more time to carry out their academic activities. In the same way, this research seeks to reduce operating costs and pollution levels within campus. Also, the UTD campus will benefit at the same time with the development of high technology for autonomous vehicles. In Summer 2019 I was a participant in the UT Dallas-Mexico Summer Research Program 2019 at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), in the research project “Retrofitting a Polaris a GEM e6 for autonomy”. This had as an objective to adapt a Polaris GEM e6 electric vehicle, to lead to autonomy, with the long-term goal of an autonomous university transport system. I carried out a systematic design and installation of electronic components to be used to fulfill the objective of the investigation. I installed depth sensors, dual cameras, an electrical switch, as well as a central computer and a screen to monitor the behavior of the components. The results obtained when performing field tests, in order to test the functionality of the components when the car was driven, were performed, and a failure occurred. Approximately 7 to 10 minutes after the car had been started (and all the components were running) and it began to drive, the Jetson TX2, which serves as the central computer of the installed electronic system, turned off. Due to this failure, a failure analysis of the electronic system was performed. Two theories were raised about the shutdown; either the circuit was requesting more current than the battery could supply, or on the other hand, there was an overheating on the Jetson TX2, caused by its location. The Jetson TX2 was placed in a compartment without ventilation. Calculations and measurements are reported in this document, as well as results obtained by functionality tests performed. On consequence, it was possible to determine the root cause of the shutting down problem of the central computer. Due to this, the failure found in the initial functionality tests could be solved. It was proposed to perform modifications to the compartment of the Jetson TX2 in order to eradicate this failure.