To soundly manage growth in the number of complex transmission calibration projects and their data at ZF Friedrichshafen AG, the company needed to introduce a new calibration data management system. Deciding factors for introducing the calibration data management system eASEE.cdm from Vector were the tool`s high functionality, flexibility and potential. Another crucial factor was the companies’ development partnership over many years with the goal of jointly meeting ZF targets for quality assurance and improved efficiency.
Network Development across LIN Bus Systems
Assuring the Quality of LIN ECUs
Hardware for ECU Testing
Wireless Analysis in a Multi-Protocol CAN Environment
Efficient Access to the FlexRay Bus
From Pilot Studies to Production Development
ECU Software for Dry Dual Clutch has Stringent Requirements
AUTOSAR on its Way to Production
The transition from the current LIN Version 2.0 to LIN 2.1, consistent LIN network design and efficient test strategies were key topics at the 3rd LIN Symposium hosted by Vector Informatik GmbH in February 2008 in Stuttgart. Over 150 participants from Germany and across the globe learned about the latest developments and trends related to the LIN bus, and shared their
experiences on efficient use of simulation, design and test tools.
PC interfaces for various standards are indispensable tools in all development phases of automotive electronics, wherever access is needed to what is happening on the bus. OEMs and suppliers are being confronted with especially complex challenges with the current introduction of the FlexRay bus in first production vehicles. Much more than on the CAN bus, high performance hardware
is a prerequisite for experiencing reliable operation in all situations and fully exploiting the potential of software tools for simulation and analysis.
To master the growing complexity of software in modern vehicles, automotive OEMs are increasingly developing their electronic
systems based on AUTOSAR. The standards created by this development partnership simplify development processes
and make ECU software reusable. Since its introduction in 2004, this innovative and pioneering technology has been tested
in many evaluation projects and is now entering an implementation phase in production ECUs. AUTOSAR standard software covers the current state of technology and is undergoing continual advanced development in new releases.
Dual-clutch transmission technology not only offers significant improvement in driver convenience and ride comfort at moderate added cost. At the same time, it also delivers excellent fuel economy. The design of a production version of the world’s first ‘dry system’ dual-clutch transmission represented a special challenge for the ECU`s electronics. Frequent flashing of the ECU is necessary in the development process, and this requires the use of rational flash methods and high-performance tools that are up to the task.
Content: Efficient testing in automotive electronics, reliable engineering testing on a wiper motor test bench, prototyping and testing CANopen systems, FlexRay becomes daily routine, serial bus systems in the automobile
The Universal Gateway ECU
Flexible Flash Solution for every Job
Tool-supported Data and Process Management at MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG
In developing electronics for modern construction equipment, a large share can even be tested and simulated meaningfully on test benches. In later development stages, on the other hand, it is preferable to perform tests and trial runs under real conditions at construction sites or outdoor test sites. To avoid distracting the operator in the driver’s cabin with test equipment, a wireless interface has now been realized for the first time with the CANoe and CANalyzer development and analysis tools from Vector. Electronics developers at BOMAG GmbH now use this interface to log the communication on various vehicle buses at a distance and analyze it.
The growing complexity of today`s system architectures is associated with an increase in the effort that must be invested in test specification, test creation and test execution during the development of such systems and system components. Test specifications should be available in early phases of the development process, e.g. after the system architecture has been created or during component design. This makes it possible to detect errors early and correct them cost-effectively. Device descriptions can be prepared for CANopen systems as early as after definition of the component architecture. Together with the system definition, the device descriptions form the basis for creating test specifications. They can be used to derive executable test sequences, which in turn can be executed in a suitable runtime environment.
Contents: AUTOSAR on its way to production, The Universal Gateway ECU, Early Migration creates Opportunities for Innovations, Successful Integration of Existing ECU Software in the AUTOSAR Architecture, Tool-Supported Integration of Microcontroller-Specific Modules
High quality and reliability are essential preconditions for the successful application of bus systems to modern automobiles. Due to the significant increase in the number of LIN (Local Interconnect Network) components used in automotive developments, efficient test strategies for this cost-efficient bus system are gaining in importance. Vector describes the current possibilities for testing LIN nodes according to the latest LIN conformance test specification. For Master nodes a new and efficient black
box test strategy is presented based on the well-known development and simulation tool CANoe.LIN.
High flexibility of gateway ECUs is achieved by the post-build principle, since it permits a later configuration at any time – even in late development phases during ECU integration or even in the field. This results in universally deployable ECUs. Based on the AUTOSAR standard, a method is presented here that describes how the gateway functionality in the finished ECU can be adapted to new requirements.
Reprogramming of modern flash chips has become a commonplace process in development and production. In practice, the jobs are exceptionally diverse – depending on the ECU, department, manufacturer and supplier – so preparation, management and the flash process itself all involve considerable effort. Therefore, this article first surveys the purely technical terrain in which flash solutions occur. Afterwards, the perspective is expanded to cover process-oriented jobs and rational approaches to solutions.
Time-synchronous recording and evaluation of bus messages
and physical parameters during endurance testing: Synchronizing the bus communication with measured physical parameters is one of the most difficult requirements for reliable tests of ECUs. The data from four data acquisition boards was evaluated in real-time and synchronized with the bus communication of a control module in real-time. The specialists of Vector Informatik developed an individual solution based on the development and test tool CANoe for the requirements of Valeo Wiper Systems.
At MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG an integrated approach was applied
to managing all engineering data generated in the E/E
development process and its subprocesses. The goal is to
further improve the efficiency and quality of development,
despite the growing complexity of electronic systems. MAN
Nutzfahrzeuge AG developed and introduced an integrated
development database for this purpose, which is based on
the eASEE Tool Suite from the Vector company: The MAN
Common Engineering Data Backbone.
Testing certainly plays an important role in the automotive
electronics development process today, but there is
unexploited potential for more efficient and automated
testing execution in the future by utilizing the right
strategies, ideas and tools. This article analyzes the
current state of the technology, clarifies problematic
interactions occurring in practice, and demonstrates that
tools are already available today for solving concrete
project tasks related to testing in an elegant and
efficient way.
MOST for transmission of multimedia data: A premium class car is growing to resemble a mobile office. In response to customer demand, increasing numbers of entertainment and information media that are making their way into automobiles. The most significant challenges in this area are, first, to keep wiring expense as low as possible, and second, to fully satisfy the heightened functional requirements of an infotainment system in the car. As a result, the MOST (Media Oriented System Transport) bus system is now used to transmit audio and video signals in approx. 50 model series.
During functional tests a modern and flexible test system must control the I/O interfaces of the ECU. Test cases make different demands on the connection and the operation of sensors and actuators, as well as the signalling or errors and measurement of signals. Beside the different challenges to the test system this article describes also a new, compact test hardware of the Vector Informatik GmbH.
Turbochargers help engines, especially those with comparatively small displacements, to develop considerable torque and a high level of driving dynamics. Today’s engine charging systems must flexibly adapt to engine speed and momentary power requirements; therefore, turbocharger control requires careful optimization. For the automotive supplier BorgWarner Turbo Systems, use of the CANape software tool has produced enormous streamlining potential in developing demo vehicles and hardware equipment for road durability tests.
More and more engineers are nowadays confronted with new challenges and tools required by the introduction of FlexRay as a bus system for automotive applications. This article shows how engineers successfully meet the challenges of analyzing, simulating, and testing FlexRay ECUs and networks using CANoe.FlexRay.
The FlexRay bus will increasingly come into use in new vehicle generations. This opens up the possibility of efficiently execute necessary software updates of the ECUs via FlexRay. To achieve shorter programming times, and finally to save costs, system designers and developers have to pay attention to the configuration of both the software and the FlexRay schedule.
With the introduction of the FlexRay bus, automotive electronics is on the verge of a great transformation. The move away from event-driven control and towards time-triggered control will place stricter requirements on the timing behavior of the application. This creates new challenges for development and testing.
FlexRay is going into production for the first time. It will appear on the BMW X5, which was presented to the public at the Paris Auto Salon in August 2006, and it can be purchased in Germany beginning in March of this year. Within its active chassis system, FlexRay provides for secure and reliable data transmission between the central control module and the four satellite ECUs, one located at each shock absorber. This article traces FlexRay’s path into the automobile and explains the key principles of
FlexRay bus technology.
In just a very short time the LIN bus has established itself as the technology of choice for simple and cost-effective data exchange in the automobile. Today, many automotive OEMs are relying on LIN to transmit non-critical signals in the body/convenience area. The following article points out the reasons for the victory of LIN (Local Interconnect Network) in the automobile and explains the underlying technology.
Simple and error-free startup of the communication
cluster as well as high system stability over long service
life are required to keep the complexity of FlexRay
networks in vehicles under control. The Network Management
from Vector Informatik GmbH proved its production-
ready maturity in rigorous testing at the engineering
subsidiary of a German automotive OEM.
Mix of Individual Software and AUTOSAR Components in Vehicle Electronics: ECU development in the motor vehicle is evolving rapidly. This article sheds light on one important aspect: The introduction of standardized basic software defined by the AUTOSAR development partnership. If AUTOSAR software components are added to the overall architecture in a stepwise and differentiated manner, this assures quality enhancements.
The development and introduction of new diagnostic concepts
and diagnostic solutions offer significant potential to automotive OEMs and suppliers for realizing efficiency gains and quality improvement. Growing complexity in automotive electronics can only be mastered – technically and economically – by use of nonproprietary standards such as ODX, close cooperation and powerful tools. This article offers an overview of topics relevant to the past, present and future of automotive diagnostics as presented and discussed in October 2006 before an audience of
350 participants at the Vector Congress in Stuttgart.
The vision of cross-platform use of ECUs, universal communication capability, interchangeability and reusability of software modules beyond vehicle and OEM boundaries is fast approaching reality.
Until production maturity is reached, however, automotive OEMs and suppliers still need to overcome a number of challenges. Two presentations, one by Volkswagen and the other by Bosch, given
at the Vector Congress in October 2006 serve to explain this.
Standardized software components will help in mastering the growing complexity of the interplay of all software components in an ECU. The ways in which today’s ECU software should be developed for FlexRay were presented at the Vector FlexRay Symposium in March of this year.
In March 2007, over 200 developers met in Stuttgart for the
FlexRay Symposium sponsored by Vector Informatik. Automotive OEMs and suppliers outlined their successes to
date, experiences in system integration and concepts for
future implementations.
More and more electronic functions for safety and convenience are finding their way into the modern automobile. Since the number of ECUs is being held in check, however, this means that the complexity of individual devices must grow to compensate. Making an important contribution toward rationalization of the development process for these distributed systems is the XCP communication protocol, whose main tasks include measurement and calibration of ECU-internal variables at runtime. A tremendous advantage of this successor protocol to CCP is its independence of the physical transport layer.
CANopen has become an accepted standard for cost-effective networking of components for many types of applications. Systems networked by CANopen offer ample flexibility at well-defined costs. Nevertheless, as with any other new technology the initial implementation of such a system is always associated with high technical risks for the system producer. What potential challenges must a developer of CANopen systems overcome? A majority of the development tasks within the framework of the V-Model can be ascribed to the areas of verification and validation. Comprehensive testing conducted as early as possible allows the developer to nearly exclude errors that might otherwise be discovered too late.
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