Email
szhang12@wpi.edu
Office
Suite 303, 85 Prescott St, Worcester, MA
Phone
+1 (508) 8315000 x4896
Lab Links
Dr. Hunter Zhang is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at WPI, where he also works as the Lab Manager at the Autonomous Vehicle Mobility Institute (AVMI). His research centers on the modeling, simulation, and virtualization of autonomous off-road vehicles in unstructured environments, as well as the dynamics of mechanical and mechatronic systems in autonomous ground vehicles. This work includes examining distributed and virtual electric driveline systems in fully electric vehicles and developing vehicle performance control systems.
Before joining WPI, he coordinated and lead several academic-industry collaborative research projects with budgets around $1 million and presented his findings at international conferences. In addition to his research, Dr. Zhang teaches undergraduate and graduate courses such as vehicle dynamics, vehicle drivetrain systems, hybrid electric vehicles, and control engineering.
As a member of the ASME Vehicle Design Committee, Dr. Zhang also contributes to the professional community by serving as a reviewer and organizer for various journals and international conferences, including the Journal of Terramechanics, Journal of Autonomous Vehicle and Systems, ASME IDETC/CIE, SAE WCX, and ISTVS.
Email
szhang12@wpi.edu
Dr. Hunter Zhang is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at WPI, where he also works as the Lab Manager at the Autonomous Vehicle Mobility Institute (AVMI). His research centers on the modeling, simulation, and virtualization of autonomous off-road vehicles in unstructured environments, as well as the dynamics of mechanical and mechatronic systems in autonomous ground vehicles. This work includes examining distributed and virtual electric driveline systems in fully electric vehicles and developing vehicle performance control systems.
Before joining WPI, he coordinated and lead several academic-industry collaborative research projects with budgets around $1 million and presented his findings at international conferences. In addition to his research, Dr. Zhang teaches undergraduate and graduate courses such as vehicle dynamics, vehicle drivetrain systems, hybrid electric vehicles, and control engineering.
As a member of the ASME Vehicle Design Committee, Dr. Zhang also contributes to the professional community by serving as a reviewer and organizer for various journals and international conferences, including the Journal of Terramechanics, Journal of Autonomous Vehicle and Systems, ASME IDETC/CIE, SAE WCX, and ISTVS.
Office
Suite 303, 85 Prescott St, Worcester, MA
Phone
+1 (508) 8315000 x4896
Lab Links
Research Interests
Vehicle Dynamics
Terramechanics
Vehicle Performance Control
Artificial intelligence in Autonomous Vehicle
Immersive Simulation for Autonomous Off-Road Vehicles
Scholarly Work
Technical Reports
- Vladimir Vantsevich and Siyuan Zhang, Autonomous Driving System: Real-Time Control of Maneuver and Energy Efficiency, and Dynamic Path Planning Strategy Based on Visual Sensoring (220 pages), 2021 Collaborative Research Project Report with Sountern Compnay Services, Inc.
- Misko S, Zhang S, Ghasemi M et al. Assessment and Virtualization of Tire-Soft Soil Interactions for Real-time Evaluation and Control of Autonomous Vehicle Mobility. Federal Award No. W56HZV-19-2-0001, ARC Annual Report. 2021 September.
- Vladimir Vantsevich and Siyuan Zhang, Fully Electric Unmanned Ground Vehicle: Virtual Driveline Concept and Control Design to Advance UGV’s Operational Properties (171 pages), 2021 Collaborative Research Project Report with Sountern Compnay Services, Inc.
- Vladimir Vantsevich and Siyuan Zhang, A Rotation Kinematics Sensor for A fully Electric Vehicle: Multi-Domain Modeling, Hardware Prototyping and Experimental Research (96 pages), 2020 Collaborative Research Project Report with Sountern Compnay Services, Inc.
- Vladimir Vantsevich and Siyuan Zhang, A Fully Electric Virtual Vehicle Demonstrator with Distributed Driveline and Suspension System (133 pages), 2019 Collaborative Research Project Report with Sountern Compnay Services, Inc.
- Vladimir Vantsevich and Siyuan Zhang, Electrically-Driven Wheel Locomotion Module Virtual Demonstrator with Agile Sensoring (178 pages), 2022 Collaboartive Research Project Report with Sountern Compnay Services, Inc. 2018 Collaboartive Research Project Report with Sountern Compnay Services, Inc.
Publications and Technical Presentations
- Fan, Huashuai, Siyuan Zhang, Parth Patel, Lee Moradi, and Vladimir Vantsevich. "A Star Based Path Planning Strategy for Off-Road Vehicle Applications With Considering Wheel Mobility Performance." In International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, vol. 88339, p. V001T01A003. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2024.
- Patel, Parth Y., Roy Koomullil, Siyuan Zhang, Lee Moradi, and Vladimir Vantsevich. "Advancing Ground Vehicle Dynamics: Dynamic Morphing Technology Integration and Analysis for the Autonomous Utility Truck in High-Crosswind Conditions." In International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, vol. 88339, p. V001T01A001. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2024.
- L. Zhao, P. Qin, S. Gao, S. Zhang, V. V. Vantsevich and Z. Liu, "A Linear Variable Parameter Observer-Based Road Profile Height Estimation for Suspension Nonlinear Dynamics Improvements," in IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, doi: 10.1109/TVT.2023.3247790.
- Zhang, S., Vantsevich, V., Gorsich, D., and Letherwood, M., "Virtual Driveline Concept-Based Maneuverability Control of a Skid-Steering UGV with Individually Driven Wheels," SAE Technical Paper 2022-01-0366, 2022, https://doi.org/10.4271/2022-01-0366.
- Misko S, Zhang S et al. Real-time, Closed-Loop and Physics-based Modeling and Simulation System for Unmanned Ground Vehicles in Unstructured Terrain Environments. 2022 NDIA Michigan Chapter Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium. 2022 August.
- Zhang, S., Salama, M. and Vantsevich, V., “Response Time Analysis of Driveline System of Open-Link Locomotion Module for Improving Agile Tire Off-Road Dynamics”, 15th European-African Regional Conference of the International Society for Terrain-Vehicle Systems, September 9 – 11, Prague, 2019.
- Zhang, S., Vantsevich, V.V., “A Mechanical Analogy for Modeling Virtual Electric Drivelines”, Powertrain Student Panel at SAE Commercial Vehicle conference, September 9 – 11, Indianapolis, 2019
- Zhang, S. and Vantsevich, V., “Turnability of a Small UGV with Individual Wheel Skid-Steering on Soft Terrain”, ASME 2018 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE), August 26-29, Quebec City, 2018 (Best Paper Award at the conference)
- Zhang, S., Salama, M. and Vantsevich, V., “Wheeled skid-steer UGV Modeling: New steering inputs for mobility improvement”, 10th Asia-Pacific conference of the International Society for Terrain-Vehicle Systems, July 11-13, Kyoto, 2018
- Zhang, S. and Vantsevich, V., “Modelling of An Unmanned Ground Vehicle with New Skid-Steering Inputs”, 19th International & 14th European-African Regional Conference of the International Society for Terrain-Vehicle Systems, September 25-27, Budapest, 2017
- Wang, B., Zhang, S., Zhao, L and Vantsevich, V., “An Analysis of Open Architecture System Approach to The Individual Propulsion System of Electric Vehicles”, The 17h Annual Early Career Technical Conference, Birmingham, November 4-5, 2017
- Zhang, S. and Vantsevich, V., “Tractor Power Hop: Wheel normal Reaction analysis”, The 16th Annual Early Career Technical Conference, Birmingham, November 5-6, 2016
- Zhang, S., Vantsevich, V. and Way, T., “Power Hop: Tractor-Driveline Torsional Coupled Dynamics”, Presentation at 8th Americas Regional Conference of the International Society for Terrain-Vehicle Systems, September 12-14, Detroit, MI, 2016