The contribution of closed loop tracking control of motion platform on laterally induced postural instability of the drivers at SAAM dynamic simulator

Abstract

This paper explains the effect of a motion platform closed loop control comparing to the static condition for driving simulators on postural instability. The postural instabilities of the participants (N=18, 15 male and 3 female subjects) were measured as lateral displacements of subject body centre of pressure (YCP ) just before and after each driving session via a balance platform. After having completed the experiments, the two-tailed Mann-Whitney U test was applied to analyze the objective data for merely the post-exposure cases. The objective data analysis revealed that the YCP for the dynamic case indicated a significant lower value than the static situation (U(18), p < 0,0001). It can be concluded that the closed loop tracking control of the hexapod platform of the driving simulator (dynamic platform condition) decreased significantly the lateral postural stability compared to the static operation condition. However the two-tailed Mann-Whitney U test showed that no significant difference was obtained between the two conditions in terms of psychophysical perception.