actor

Add actor to driving scenario

Syntax

ac = actor(scenario)

ac = actor(scenario,Name,Value)

Description

ac = actor(scenario) adds an Actor object, ac, to the driving scenario, scenario. The actor has default property values.

Actors are cuboids (box shapes) that represent objects in motion, such as cars, pedestrians, and bicycles. Actors can also represent stationary obstacles that can influence the motion of other actors, such as barriers. For more details about how actors are defined, see Actor and Vehicle Positions and Dimensions.

ac = actor(scenario,Name,Value) sets actor properties using one or more name-value pair arguments. For example, you can set the position, velocity, dimensions, and orientation of the actor. You can also set a time for the actor to spawn or despawn in the scenario.

Note

You can configure the actors in a driving scenario to spawn and despawn, and then import the associated drivingScenario object into the Driving Scenario Designer app. The app considers the first actor created in the driving scenario to be the ego actor and does not allow the ego actor to either spawn or despawn in the scenario.

Examples

Create Driving Scenario with Multiple Actors and Roads

Create a driving scenario containing a curved road, two straight roads, and two actors: a car and a bicycle. Both actors move along the road for 60 seconds.

Create the driving scenario object.

scenario = drivingScenario('SampleTime',0.1','StopTime',60);

Create the curved road using road center points following the arc of a circle with an 800-meter radius. The arc starts at 0°, ends at 90°, and is sampled at 5° increments.

angs = [0:5:90]';
R = 800;
roadcenters = R*[cosd(angs) sind(angs) zeros(size(angs))];
roadwidth = 10;
road(scenario,roadcenters,roadwidth);

Add two straight roads with the default width, using road center points at each end.

roadcenters = [700 0 0; 100 0 0];
road(scenario,roadcenters)

ans = 
  Road with properties:

           Name: ""
         RoadID: 2
    RoadCenters: [2x3 double]
      RoadWidth: 6
      BankAngle: [2x1 double]
        Heading: [2x1 double]

roadcenters = [400 400 0; 0 0 0];
road(scenario,roadcenters)

ans = 
  Road with properties:

           Name: ""
         RoadID: 3
    RoadCenters: [2x3 double]
      RoadWidth: 6
      BankAngle: [2x1 double]
        Heading: [2x1 double]

Get the road boundaries.

rbdry = roadBoundaries(scenario);

Add a car and a bicycle to the scenario. Position the car at the beginning of the first straight road.

car = vehicle(scenario,'ClassID',1,'Position',[700 0 0], ...
    'Length',3,'Width',2,'Height',1.6);

Position the bicycle farther down the road.

bicycle = actor(scenario,'ClassID',3,'Position',[706 376 0]', ...
    'Length',2,'Width',0.45,'Height',1.5);

Plot the scenario.

plot(scenario,'Centerline','on','RoadCenters','on');
title('Scenario');

Display the actor poses and profiles.

poses = actorPoses(scenario)

poses=2×1 struct array with fields:
    ActorID
    Position
    Velocity
    Roll
    Pitch
    Yaw
    AngularVelocity

profiles = actorProfiles(scenario)

profiles=2×1 struct array with fields:
    ActorID
    ClassID
    Length
    Width
    Height
    OriginOffset
    MeshVertices
    MeshFaces
    RCSPattern
    RCSAzimuthAngles
    RCSElevationAngles

Spawn and Despawn Actors in Scenario During Simulation

Create a driving scenario. Set the stop time for the scenario to 3 seconds.

scenario = drivingScenario('StopTime',3);

Add a two-lane road to the scenario.

roadCenters = [0 1 0; 53 1 0];
laneSpecification = lanespec([1 1]);
road(scenario,roadCenters,'Lanes',laneSpecification);

Add another road that intersects the first road at a right angle to form a T-shape.

roadCenters = [20.3 38.4 0; 20 3 0];
laneSpecification = lanespec(2);
road(scenario,roadCenters,'Lanes',laneSpecification)

ans = 
  Road with properties:

           Name: ""
         RoadID: 2
    RoadCenters: [2x3 double]
      RoadWidth: 7.3500
      BankAngle: [2x1 double]
        Heading: [2x1 double]

Add the ego vehicle to the scenario and define its waypoints. Set the ego vehicle speed to 20 m/s and generate the trajectories for the ego vehicle.

egoVehicle = vehicle(scenario,'ClassID',1, ...
                    'Position',[1.5 2.5 0]);
waypoints = [2 3 0; 13 3 0;
            21 3 0; 31 3 0;
            43 3 0; 47 3 0];
speed = 20;
trajectory(egoVehicle,waypoints,speed)

Add a non-ego actor to the scenario. Set the non-ego actor to spawn and despawn two times during the simulation by specifying vectors for entry time and exit time. Notice that each entry time value is less than the corresponding exit time value.

nonEgoactor1 = actor(scenario,'ClassID',1, ...
                'Position',[22 30 0],'EntryTime',[0.2 1.4],'ExitTime',[1.0 2.0]);

Define the waypoints for the non-ego actor. Set the non-ego actor speed to 30 m/s and generate its trajectories.

waypoints = [22 35 0; 22 23 0;
            22 13 0; 22 7 0;
            18 -0.3 0; 12 -0.8 0; 3 -0.8 0];
speed = 30;
trajectory(nonEgoactor1,waypoints,speed)

Add another non-ego actor to the scenario. Set the second non-ego actor to spawn once during the simulation by specifying an entry time as a positive scalar. Since you do not specify an exit time, this actor will remain in the scenario until the scenario ends.

nonEgoactor2 = actor(scenario,'ClassID',1, ...
                'Position',[48 -1 0],'EntryTime',2);

Define the waypoints for the second non-ego actor. Set the actor speed to 50 m/s and generate its trajectories.

waypoints = [48 -1 0; 42 -1 0; 28 -1 0;
            16 -1 0; 12 -1 0];
speed = 50;
trajectory(nonEgoactor2,waypoints,speed)

Create a custom figure window to plot the scenario.

fig = figure;
set(fig,'Position',[0 0 600 600])
movegui(fig,'center')
hViewPnl = uipanel(fig,'Position',[0 0 1 1],'Title','Actor Spawn and Despawn');
hPlt = axes(hViewPnl);

Plot the scenario and run the simulation. Observe how the non-ego actors spawn and despawn in the scenario while simulation is running.

plot(scenario,'Waypoints','on','Parent',hPlt)
while advance(scenario)
    pause(0.1)
end

Input Arguments

scenario — Driving scenario

drivingScenario object

Driving scenario, specified as a drivingScenario object.

Name-Value Arguments

Specify optional pairs of arguments as Name1=Value1,...,NameN=ValueN, where Name is the argument name and Value is the corresponding value. Name-value arguments must appear after other arguments, but the order of the pairs does not matter.

Before R2021a, use commas to separate each name and value, and enclose Name in quotes.

Example: 'Height',1.7 sets the height of the actor to 1.7 meters upon creation.

ClassID — Classification identifier

0 (default) | nonnegative integer

Classification identifier of actor, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'ClassID' and a nonnegative integer.

Specify ClassID values to group together actors that have similar dimensions, radar cross-section (RCS) patterns, or other properties. As a best practice, before adding actors to a drivingScenario object, determine the actor classification scheme you want to use. Then, when creating the actors, specify the ClassID name-value pair to set classification identifiers according to the actor classification scheme.

Suppose you want to create a scenario containing these actors:

• Two cars, one of which is the ego vehicle

• A truck

• A bicycle

• A jersey barrier along a road

The code shows a sample classification scheme for this scenario, where 1 refers to cars, 2 refers to trucks, 3 refers to bicycles and 5 refers to jersey barriers. The cars have default vehicle properties. The truck and bicycle have the dimensions of a typical truck and bicycle, respectively.

scenario = drivingScenario;
ego = vehicle(scenario,'ClassID',1);
car = vehicle(scenario,'ClassID',1);
truck = vehicle(scenario,'ClassID',2,'Length',8.2,'Width',2.5,'Height',3.5);
bicycle = actor(scenario,'ClassID',3,'Length',1.7,'Width',0.45,'Height',1.7);
mainRoad = road(scenario,[0 0 0;10 0 0]);
barrier(scenario,mainRoad,'ClassID',5);

The default ClassID of 0 is reserved for an object of an unknown or unassigned class. If you plan to import drivingScenario objects into the Driving Scenario Designer app, do not leave the ClassID property of actors set to 0. The app does not recognize a ClassID of 0 for actors and returns an error. Instead, set ClassID values of actors according to the actor classification scheme used in the app.

ClassID	Class Name
1	Car
2	Truck
3	Bicycle
4	Pedestrian
5	Jersey Barrier
6	Guardrail

Name — Name of actor

"" (default) | character vector | string scalar

Name of the actor, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'Name' and a character vector or string scalar.

Example: 'Name','Actor1'

Example: "Name","Actor1"

Data Types: char | string

EntryTime — Entry time for actor to spawn

0 (default) | positive scalar | vector of positive values

Entry time for an actor to spawn in the driving scenario, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'EntryTime' and a positive scalar or a vector of positive values. Units are in seconds, measured from the start time of the scenario.

Specify this name-value pair argument to add or make an actor appear in the driving scenario at the specified time while the simulation is running.

• To spawn an actor only once, specify entry time as a scalar.

• To spawn an actor multiple times, specify entry time as a vector.

  • Arrange the elements of the vector in ascending order.

  • The length of the vector must match the length of the exit time vector.

• If the actor has an associated exit time, then each entry time value must be less than the corresponding exit time value.

• Each entry time value must be less than the stop time of the scenario. You can set the stop time for the scenario by specifying a value for the 'StopTime' property of the drivingScenario object.

Example: 'EntryTime',2

Example: 'EntryTime',[2 4]

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64

ExitTime — Exit time for actor to despawn

Inf (default) | positive scalar | vector of positive values

Exit time for an actor to despawn from the driving scenario, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'ExitTime' and a positive scalar or a vector of positive values. Units are in seconds, measured from the start time of the scenario.

Specify this name-value pair argument to remove or make an actor disappear from the scenario at a specified time while the simulation is running.

• To despawn an actor only once, specify exit time as a scalar.

• To despawn an actor multiple times, specify exit time as a vector.

  • Arrange the elements of the vector in ascending order.

  • The length of the vector must match the length of the entry time vector.

• If the actor has an associated entry time, then each exit time value must be greater than the corresponding entry time value.

• Each exit time value must be less than the stop time of the scenario. You can set the stop time for the scenario by specifying a value for the 'StopTime' property of the drivingScenario object.

Example: 'ExitTime',3

Example: 'ExitTime',[3 6]

Data Types: single | double | int8 | int16 | int32 | int64 | uint8 | uint16 | uint32 | uint64

PlotColor — Display color of actor

RGB triplet | hexadecimal color code | color name | short color name

Display color of actor, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'PlotColor' and an RGB triplet, hexadecimal color code, color name, or short color name.

The actor appears in the specified color in all programmatic scenario visualizations, including the plot function, chasePlot function, and plotting functions of birdsEyePlot objects. If you import the scenario into the Driving Scenario Designer app, then the actor appears in this color in all app visualizations. If you import the scenario into Simulink^®, then the actor appears in this color in the Bird's-Eye Scope.

If you do not specify a color for the actor, the function assigns one based on the default color order of Axes objects. For more details, see the ColorOrder property for Axes objects.

For a custom color, specify an RGB triplet or a hexadecimal color code.

• An RGB triplet is a three-element row vector whose elements specify the intensities of the red, green, and blue components of the color. The intensities must be in the range [0,1]; for example, [0.4 0.6 0.7].

• A hexadecimal color code is a character vector or a string scalar that starts with a hash symbol (#) followed by three or six hexadecimal digits, which can range from 0 to F. The values are not case sensitive. Thus, the color codes '#FF8800', '#ff8800', '#F80', and '#f80' are equivalent.

Alternatively, you can specify some common colors by name. This table lists the named color options, the equivalent RGB triplets, and hexadecimal color codes.

Color Name	Short Name	RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
'red'	'r'	[1 0 0]	'#FF0000'
'green'	'g'	[0 1 0]	'#00FF00'
'blue'	'b'	[0 0 1]	'#0000FF'
'cyan'	'c'	[0 1 1]	'#00FFFF'
'magenta'	'm'	[1 0 1]	'#FF00FF'
'yellow'	'y'	[1 1 0]	'#FFFF00'
'black'	'k'	[0 0 0]	'#000000'
'white'	'w'	[1 1 1]	'#FFFFFF'

Here are the RGB triplets and hexadecimal color codes for the default colors MATLAB^® uses in many types of plots.

RGB Triplet	Hexadecimal Color Code	Appearance
[0 0.4470 0.7410]	'#0072BD'
[0.8500 0.3250 0.0980]	'#D95319'
[0.9290 0.6940 0.1250]	'#EDB120'
[0.4940 0.1840 0.5560]	'#7E2F8E'
[0.4660 0.6740 0.1880]	'#77AC30'
[0.3010 0.7450 0.9330]	'#4DBEEE'
[0.6350 0.0780 0.1840]	'#A2142F'

Position — Position of actor center

[0 0 0] (default) | [x y z] real-valued vector

Position of the actor center, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'Position' and an [x y z] real-valued vector.

The center of the actor is [L/2 W/2 b], where:

• L/2 is the midpoint of actor length L.

• W/2 is the midpoint of actor width W.

• b is the bottom of the cuboid.

Units are in meters.

Example: [10;50;0]

Velocity — Velocity of actor center

[0 0 0] (default) | [v_x v_y v_z] real-valued vector

Velocity (v) of the actor center in the x-, y- and z-directions, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'Velocity' and a [v_x v_y v_z] real-valued vector. The 'Position' name-value pair specifies the actor center. Units are in meters per second.

Example: [-4;7;10]

Yaw — Yaw angle of actor

0 (default) | real scalar

Yaw angle of the actor, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'Yaw' and a real scalar. Yaw is the angle of rotation of the actor around the z-axis. Yaw is clockwise-positive when looking in the forward direction of the axis, which points up from the ground. Therefore, when viewing actors from the top down, such as on a bird's-eye plot, yaw is counterclockwise-positive. Angle values are wrapped to the range [–180, 180]. Units are in degrees.

Example: -0.4

Pitch — Pitch angle of actor

0 (default) | real scalar

Pitch angle of the actor, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'Pitch' and a real scalar. Pitch is the angle of rotation of the actor around the y-axis and is clockwise-positive when looking in the forward direction of the axis. Angle values are wrapped to the range [–180, 180]. Units are in degrees.

Example: 5.8

Roll — Roll angle of actor

0 (default) | real scalar

Roll angle of the actor, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'Roll' and a real scalar. Roll is the angle of rotation of the actor around the x-axis and is clockwise-positive when looking in the forward direction of the axis. Angle values are wrapped to the range [–180, 180]. Units are in degrees.

Example: -10

AngularVelocity — Angular velocity of actor

[0 0 0] (default) | [ω_x ω_y ω_z] real-valued vector

Angular velocity (ω) of the actor, in world coordinates, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'AngularVelocity' and a [ω_x ω_y ω_z] real-valued vector. Units are in degrees per second.

Example: [20 40 20]

Length — Length of actor

4.7 (default) | positive real scalar

Length of the actor, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'Length' and a positive real scalar. Units are in meters.

Example: 5.5

Width — Width of actor

1.8 (default) | positive real scalar

Width of the actor, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'Width' and a positive real scalar. Units are in meters.

Example: 3.0

Height — Height of actor

1.4 (default) | positive real scalar

Height of the actor, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'Height' and a positive real scalar. Units are meters.

Example: 2.1

Mesh — Extended object mesh

extendedObjectMesh object

Extended object mesh, specified as an extendedObjectMesh object.

RCSPattern — Radar cross-section pattern of actor

[10 10; 10 10] (default) | Q-by-P real-valued matrix

Radar cross-section (RCS) pattern of actor, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'RCSPattern' and a Q-by-P real-valued matrix. RCS is a function of the azimuth and elevation angles, where:

• Q is the number of elevation angles specified by the 'RCSElevationAngles' name-value pair.

• P is the number of azimuth angles specified by the 'RCSAzimuthAngles' name-value pair.

Units are in decibels per square meter (dBsm).

Example: 5.8

RCSAzimuthAngles — Azimuth angles of actor's RCS pattern

[-180 180] (default) | P-element real-valued vector

Azimuth angles of the actor's RCS pattern, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'RCSAzimuthAngles' and a P-element real-valued vector. P is the number of azimuth angles. Values are in the range [–180°, 180°].

Each element of RCSAzimuthAngles defines the azimuth angle of the corresponding column of the 'RCSPattern' name-value pair. Units are in degrees.

Example: [-90:90]

RCSElevationAngles — Elevation angles of actor's RCS pattern

[-90 90] (default) | Q-element real-valued vector

Elevation angles of the actor's RCS pattern, specified as the comma-separated pair consisting of 'RCSElevationAngles' and a Q-element real-valued vector. Q is the number of elevation angles. Values are in the range [–90°, 90°].

Each element of RCSElevationAngles defines the elevation angle of the corresponding row of the RCSPattern property. Units are in degrees.

Example: [0:90]

Output Arguments

ac — Driving scenario actor

Actor object

Driving scenario actor, returned as an Actor object belonging to the driving scenario specified by scenario.

You can modify the Actor object by changing its property values. The property names correspond to the name-value pair arguments used to create the object. The only property that you cannot modify is ActorID, which is a positive integer indicating the unique, scenario-defined ID of the actor.

To specify or visualize actor motion, use these functions:

trajectory	Create actor or vehicle trajectory in driving scenario
smoothTrajectory	Create smooth, jerk-limited actor or vehicle trajectory in driving scenario
chasePlot	Ego-centric projective perspective plot

To get information about actor characteristics, use these functions:

actorPoses	Positions, velocities, and orientations of actors in driving scenario
actorProfiles	Physical and radar characteristics of actors in driving scenario
targetOutlines	Outlines of targets viewed by actor
targetPoses	Target positions and orientations relative to ego vehicle
driving.scenario.targetsToEgo	Convert actor poses to ego vehicle coordinates
driving.scenario.targetsToScenario	Convert target actor poses from ego vehicle coordinates to world coordinates of scenario

To get information about the roads and lanes that the actor is on, use these functions:

roadBoundaries	Get road boundaries
driving.scenario.roadBoundariesToEgo	Convert road boundaries to ego vehicle coordinates
currentLane	Get current lane of actor
laneBoundaries	Get lane boundaries of actor lane
laneMarkingVertices	Lane marking vertices and faces in driving scenario
roadMesh	Mesh representation of an actor's nearest roads in driving scenario.

More About

Actor and Vehicle Positions and Dimensions

In driving scenarios, an actor is a cuboid (box-shaped) object with a specific length, width, and height. Actors also have a radar cross-section (RCS) pattern, specified in dBsm, which you can refine by setting angular azimuth and elevation coordinates. The position of an actor is defined as the center of its bottom face. This center point is used as the actor's rotational center, its point of contact with the ground, and its origin in its local coordinate system. In this coordinate system:

• The X-axis points forward from the actor.

• The Y-axis points left from the actor.

• The Z-axis points up from the ground.

Roll, pitch, and yaw are clockwise-positive when looking in the forward direction of the X-, Y-, and Z-axes, respectively.

A vehicle is an actor that moves on wheels. Vehicles have three extra properties that govern the placement of their front and rear axle.

• Wheelbase — Distance between the front and rear axles

• Front overhang — Distance between the front of the vehicle and the front axle

• Rear overhang — Distance between the rear axle and the rear of the vehicle

Unlike other types of actors, the position of a vehicle is defined by the point on the ground that is below the center of its rear axle. This point corresponds to the natural center of rotation of the vehicle. As with nonvehicle actors, this point is the origin in the local coordinate system of the vehicle, where:

• The X-axis points forward from the vehicle.

• The Y-axis points left from the vehicle.

• The Z-axis points up from the ground.

Roll, pitch, and yaw are clockwise-positive when looking in the forward direction of the X-, Y-, and Z-axes, respectively.

This table shows a list of common actors and their dimensions. To specify these values in Actor and Vehicle objects, set the corresponding properties shown.

Actor Classification	Actor Object	Actor Properties
		Length	Width	Height	FrontOverhang	RearOverhang	Wheelbase	RCSPattern
Pedestrian	Actor	0.24 m	0.45 m	1.7 m	N/A	N/A	N/A	–8 dBsm
Car	Vehicle	4.7 m	1.8 m	1.4 m	0.9 m	1.0 m	2.8 m	10 dBsm
Motorcycle	Vehicle	2.2 m	0.6 m	1.5 m	0.37 m	0.32 m	1.51 m	0 dBsm

Version History

Introduced in R2017a