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Software plays a very significant role in automotive technology. The number and importance of mechatronic systems has increased greatly. The system functions and the vehicle's characteristics are being carried out more and more by the software. This trend is further encouraged by high-performance processor systems, which are becoming more affordable and offer ever more functions and increased storage space. However, more effort must be invested in software specification, implementation, testing and the validation of the entire mechatronic system. The various methods of generating software have not kept pace with the demands made on software systems, nor with the complexities created or caused daily by large development teams. The present project takes an alternative route in developing the software for an electrical central release bearing. The required control software is generated automatically by using TDC (Total Development Chain) by AFT.

This paper proposes a new approach towards achieving a totally simulation-based software development process for electronic control units (ECU) in automotive applications. It introduces a tool-based methodology to support the system software designer right from inception through the chain by bridging the main steps of software development, i.e. “Simulation/Automatic Code Generation”, “Compilation” and “Measurement & Calibration”. The coherent linkage of these steps to each other by means of flexible open interfaces (conform with ASAM-MCD [1] and OSEK [2]) is addressed in this paper.

An effective development strategy is needed to implement short development times for mechatronic systems, which themselves are becoming increasingly more complex. Besides the ever-increasing use of advanced computer-based development tools, special attention must be paid to the validation of the functional behavior of the prototype during all phases of the development process. Using the example of systems for powertrain automation, this paper depicts the resulting advantages arising from the long-time observation of time-based values of open- and closed-loop controlled systems. The method of long-time observation introduced here is based on the acquisition and analysis of information in all phases of the development process. Where numerous vehicles are already in the hands of selected customers during fleet tests, these late phases in particular are covered thoroughly. It should be noted that newly developed systems are normally unobserved or only subjectively evaluated by the driver.

Rotational analysis plays an important role in many automotive engineering areas, such as design and evaluation of drivelines, timing and auxiliary drives. Previous developments have tended to focus on the analysis of the mechanical rotation system, with particular attention being paid to the dynamic behaviour of one or more rotating shafts and its elements. The control of these mechanisms by electronic control systems has become increasingly more apparent in today's industry. This is especially the case for the camshaft of the combustion engine, as this is ‘phased’ for performance and emission purposes. The approach introduced here enhances the classical methods of driveline rotational analysis, by integrating the control unit strategy as an additional point of interest. This expands the analysis of the complete mechatronic system.