15th European-African Regional Conference of the ISTVS

Our international conferences form an amazing legacy since our first meeting in 1962 in Turin, Italy — International Society for Terrain-Vehicle Systems (ISTVS) today is a connected group of collaborative professionals from industry, universities, and research institutions who have been meeting over five decades to share research findings.

» Call for Papers » Conference brochure (pdf)

The 15th ISTVS Europe-Africa Regional Conference will provide you a place where you can exchange ideas and receive technical information on current and future research and technology developments in terramechanics and terrain/road-vehicle system dynamics, control, design, vetronics, autonomous vehicle systems and Industry 4.0. Commercial and personal transportation vehicle applications include:

• Trucks and cars

• Military vehicles

• Construction, forestry, and mining equipment

• Farm tractors and machinery

• Unmanned ground vehicles for military, space exploration

• Development of vetronics systems for on ground vehicles

• Autonomous driving systems

Hotel International Prague » Full location and reservation information

For any questions, please contact the conference secretariat: Markova Ekaterina, markovae@tf.czu.cz

Program highlights

Pre-Conference Event // Saturday, September 7, 2019 // Professional course Conference Day 0 // Sunday, September 8, 2019 // The conference begins Sunday evening, September 8, 2019, with our ever-popular Ice Breaker Party — you’ll have the opportunity to interact informally with colleagues from all over the world.

Conference Days 1-3. Enjoy presentations and plenary sessions, including our awards programs and meals:

Day 1 // Monday, September 9, 2019 // Opening Ceremony, Keynote Speech, Oral Session, Banquet Day 2 // Tuesday, September 10, 2019 // Our popular and valuable technical tour Day 3 // Wednesday, September 11, 2019 // Oral Session/Poster Session, Closing Ceremony

Conference in detail

The aim of the conference is to further advance knowledge in terrain-vehicle and road-vehicle system dynamics and design and, thus, to discuss and suggest new frontiers and research directions, facilitate engineering practice, and benefit the society at large in the area of the energy conservation, environmental sustainability, safety, cyber/physical security, application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques in Terramechanics and development of vetronics systems for civil and on ground moving military vehicles.

Objectives of the Conference

1. Present recent research and engineering accomplishments and achievements to engineering colleagues and peers

2. Discuss research findings, exchange information and share new knowledge with engineering colleagues and peers

3. Discuss and suggest new frontiers and research directions in the ISTVS area

4. Attract automotive industry and robotics engineering companies to the Conference and ISTVS activities

5. Expand participation of government research agencies and academia (faculty, research staff and students) in the Conference and ISTVS activities

6. Present accomplishments of the Journal of Terramechanics and discuss its future plans

7. Discuss and suggest new university-level education courses and programs in the ISTVS area

8. Discuss new events for future ISTVS conferences, including workshops, seminars, etc.

9. Network and establish new research and engineering contacts for national and international collaboration and partnership between industry, academia and government research agencies in research, engineering and university-level education

10. Introduce and present a new progressive topics in Terramechanics science

11. Have an engineering tour and learn more about new places and cultures

The objectives will be achieved through:

1. Discussions at the Board of Directors’ meeting

2. Presentations and discussion of research papers at eight symposia

3. Conducting a panel discussion with the participation of ISTVS leading researchers and automotive industry

4. Arranging poster sessions

5. Presentations at the dinner and lunch time

6. Discussions of the four groups that were previously established: Planetary Rovers and Mobile Robotics; ISTVS Standards; Terramechanics; Off-Road Vehicle Dynamics

7. A technical tour in the Prague area and eminent Czech industrial companies

Topics to be covered

The conference will take place over 3 days. There will be a poster session during the conference. Technical presentations and group discussions are planned during the dinner and lunch time.

The following technical symposia are planned:

1. Terramechanics, locomotion, and soil/terrain modeling 1.1. Recent accomplishments in terramechanics research and education 1.2. Locomotion systems 1.3. Soil and terrain modeling and characterization These three symposia concentrate on new research directions in terramechanics science and its applications to vehicle engineering and academic education, including areas of modeling, computer simulation and design of tire/wheel, track and other locomotion/vehicle systems, various types of soil and snow modeling and characterization, uncertainties and stochastic characteristics of vehicle-environment interaction.

2. Advances in mobility, energy efficiency, and ground vehicle dynamics Topics include analytical and experimental methods of energy efficiency improvement, terrain vehicle mobility off-line and real-time estimation, operational and tactical vehicle mobility, agile dynamics and performance in severe environmental and traffic conditions, coupled and interactive dynamics of vehicle multi-physics systems, conflicting multi-input-output system dynamics.

3. Agricultural, construction, forestry, and mining equipment This symposium invites papers on specifics of mobility, vehicle dynamics and design of farm tractors and machinery, construction and forestry equipment, earth moving, and mining machines. Topics include energy efficiency and engineering productivity, power hop, mobility, etc.

4. Mobile robotics for ground applications, planet exploration, and other environments Papers on planet vehicle exploration, mobile ground robots, underwater and surface robotic vehicles are invited to present advances in mission/task fulfilment, mobility and energy efficiency, dynamics and innovative system designs.

5. Military ground vehicle robotics This symposium covers surface and topographical terrain mobility, operational and tactical mobility, battlefield mobility of unmanned and remotely controlled vehicles and vehicle convoys. Topics include, but not limited to, agile performance and adaptive perception of vehicle dynamics, optimization of the required motion and mission accomplishment with minimal energy consumption.

6. Innovative system designs for terrain and road vehicle applications This symposium focuses on innovative system designs and controls, sensing and actuation with mechatronic implementation in conventional and driverless vehicle applications. Topics include, but not limited to, cyber-physical systems in vehicle dynamics, mobility and agility control, sensor/data fusion, vehicle system communication and connected vehicles, active and passive safety and vehicle protection.

7. Terramechanics-based AI techniques and controls for autonomous mobility This session invites papers on applications of terramechanics principles integrated with artificial intelligence (AI) techniques and various controls to advance autonomous mobility of unmanned ground vehicles, mobile robots, and mobility of conventional off-road vehicles with autonomous sub-systems.

8. Vetronics, Autonomous vehicle systems and Industry 4.0 This new section welcomes all papers on advanced technologies topic in fields of development, design and implementation of vetronics, autonomous vehicle systems and traffic control, including Industry 4.0 program employment in civil and military vehicle engineering branch.