Category: News

The first snow has already fallen in Northern Finland, and with that come the unsolved challenges of automated driving in harsh weather conditions. Therefore, ROADVIEW project will tackle this challenge by delivering more powerful and reliable in-vehicle perception systems, with improved resilience and accuracy under harsh weather conditions.

The 4-year project started with a kick-off meeting that was held at Halmstad University on 8-9 September 2022. This was the first time when the representatives from all 16 partners got together to present their competencies and discuss any open issues. First ROADVIEW kick-off meeting held – ROADVIEW (roadview-project.eu)

Harsh weather conditions, such as fog, rain and snow, provide a serious challenge for automated vehicles as they are typically trained and tested under good weather with great visibility and road conditions. ROADVIEW aims to tackle these challenges by developing robust and cost-efficient in-vehicle perception and decision-making systems that can perform even under harsh weather conditions and different traffic scenarios.

FrostBit Software lab of Lapland UAS is excited to be leading the development of the environment Digital Twins in the third work package of the project. Together with Synthetic Data Solutions (SDS), the aim is to create digital twins of both controlled and real-world test environments for simulation testing. FrostBit will utilize the knowledge gained in the previous EU funded WinterSim and ongoing EnergyECS projects, where the topic of simulation testing was researched.

At the beginning of November FrostBit developers went on a one-week data collection trip to CARISSMA outdoor test facility in Ingolstadt Germany. The plan was to collect the required reference data used for building the environment digital twin. Main task was to develop a highly accurate 3D point cloud of the area that works as the main reference for the digital twin. In addition, the developers also took lots of reference photo and video material and created datasets for the development of photogrammetry assets of targets used in the test facility.

The FrostBit crew also got the privilege to visit the Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt where they were introduced to the campus and its facilities. During the visit FrostBit was able to get a closer look at the facilities and get a better understanding of the research that is been done. Finally, FrostBit developers got to test an autonomous driving simulation platform that demonstrated the various levels of autonomous driving.

The environment digital twins are planned to be completed early next year 2023. After that FrostBit will assist in integrating the digital twins into the simulation engines used in the project. FrostBit will also keep working on improving the digital twins and helping to support the simulation testing. This has been a great start for the project.

Hello International Students at the Lapland UAS and University, we heard you had interest towards the upcoming Game Jams event occurring throughout the weekend on 14. – 16.10. ❄️ Your interest reached us quite late so we didn’t have time to prepare all materials in English, but we hope you get the necessary information from the event page and you can contact the event responsible people via emails and Discord!

We will take note of you in the event and prepare necessary information (such as PC and app login information, facility safety instructions & regulations etc.) + speech summaries in English. In the future, we will prepare materials in English before the event as well. Thanks for the interest and see you there!

Do you have anything to ask? Contact Tuuli Nivala, firstname.surname@lapinamk.fi or message the Admins in the Jams’ Discord:

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A weekend full of games and pizza! 🍕🎮 In Spring 2022, FrostBit arranged Frosted Game Jams together with students at the LapUAS Campus.

The event began by gathering at the University of Applied Sciences’ ShowRoom, where desk setups and PCs had already been arranged. The theme was unveiled in the form of a fun trailer, and the theme of these jams eventually ended up being: “There’s nothing in the beginning. / The beginning was emptiness.” And traditionally, the theme is always fully interpretable by the participants, so anything can be expected as a result!

Participants were divided into groups of their choice and some decided to want make a game alone. After that, the ideation stage started, and the participants jumped to work immediately. That is how the weekend started rolling: in the form of game development with a lot of snacks and drinks!

If you’re wondering what Game Jams are all about in practice, the concept goes this way: People from different backgrounds (e.g. 3D-modelling, 2D graphics, programming, UX design …) and people interested in making games find themselves together and make the game according to the Jam theme. The games can be, for example, PC games, board games, card games, console games, or whatever games the participants come up with. The end result, however, is not to pressure the participants into creating something completely ready and playable, and this is often an integral part of the Jams: Projects aren’t always completed to the last detail. The main goal is to innovate together, have fun, and share a passion for games! So you don’t have to be a Programmer God to participate, you’re sure to find your own place in one of the groups.

What it looked like at the first Frosted Game Jams:

So what amazing games were produced in the end?

We put together a small trailer compilation of the games created, which some of the participants shared afterwards. Projects have been produced e.g. With Unity, UE5 and of course crafted with real hands!

Where from now on? When will there be more Jams?

Well, tentatively the second Jam is planned for the coming fall of 2022, as long as we find enough time for arrangements! We gathered feedback from those who participated in the Spring Jams, and received a lot of good suggestions for improvements that could take the Jams of the future much further. We are putting more effort into the space arrangements and investing in the Jams as well as an audience event that would be interesting for non-developers as well. So in the upcoming Jams, you can also invite friends to hang out, even play console or board games, or try out the lab’s VR outputs and other interesting things.

One of the hot topics among our lab has also been the previous Jams that pLab once organized: photography and clips of the old games are planned to be shared here in FrostBit’s website. Many people are interested what do Jams actually look like and what kind of games are created – so stay tuned at the FrostBit website in the near future for all of that. We are excited to be involved in producing gaming events in Rovaniemi, where they definetly are needed more!

For non-Finnish-speaking participants: If you would be interested to join future Jams, please contact the admins in the Frosted Game Jam Discord. We will take this into consideration when planning the future Jams, in case there is demand.

Thanks to Lapland University of Applied Sciences for letting us use their facilities for the event!

The Smart and Secure Energy Solutions for Future Mobility (Energy ECS) project started in 2021, and we in the lab have now stepped along in the journey.

This ECSEL-IA project explores the smart energy solutions of the future, paving the way for a new kind of European business and technology ecosystem. The entire project consortium includes 16 SMEs, 8 large companies and 6 training and development organizations from eight different countries: Finland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Iceland, Sweden, Ireland and Italy.

The project will implement six interlocking UCs (Use Cases) to find solutions to the challenges and future needs of ICT infrastructures and electronic devices. The key focuses in the Use Cases are smart drones, intelligent transport containers, microgrids, vehicle charging technologies, self-powered tire systems, and the independent driving of an electric car to a charging station. The main responsibility of the FrostBit laboratory is the last of these, i.e. driving the e-vehicle to the charging station (UC6).

FrostBit’s part in the project includes implementing a digital twin at the Icelandic Strætó bs bus station, which aims to serve as a safe test environment. UNIKIE’s control system reads data from virtual sensors, on the basis of which it directs 3D-modelled buses from the parking screens to the charging point and back.

Currently, the necessary data transmission buses and user interface have been designed and implemented for the simulation. The 3D model of Strætó’s bus is almost complete and the station’s 3D modelling is about to begin.

So, what is expected to be the final result of this Use Case? As a result, the simulation is intended to act as a test environment before buses start moving in the right environment – allowing for controlled and safe testing.

Read more about the project in its official site and in LapUAS current news!

—— 8.3.2022 ——