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Trans Tech recently debuted the all-electric eTrans school bus providing a total zero emission school bus. The presentation will demonstrate Smith Electric Vehicles and their history with electric vehicles. The presentation will help ensure that everybody has an idea of what the electric school bus will do and to dispel any rumors about the vehicle. Presenter Brian S. Barrington, Trans Tech. Bus

A variety of methodologies to use embedded multicore controllers efficiently has been discussed in the last years. Several assumptions are usually made in the automotive domain, such as static assignment of tasks to the cores. This paper shows an approach for efficient task allocation depending on different system modes. An engine management system (EMS) is used as application example, and the performance improvement compared to static allocation is assessed. The paper is structured as follows: First the control algorithms for the EMS will be classified according to operating modes. The classified algorithms will be allocated to the cores, depending on the operating mode. We identify mode transition points, allowing a reliable switch without neglecting timing requirements. As a next step, it will be shown that a load distribution by mode-dependent task allocation would be better balanced than a static task allocation.

This paper describes a novel approach for modeling an automotive HVAC unit. The model consists of black-box models trained with experimental data from a self-developed measurement setup. It is capable of predicting the temperature and mass flow of the air entering the vehicle cabin at the various air vents. A combination of temperature and velocity sensors is the basis of the measurement setup. A measurement fault analysis is conducted to validate the accuracy of the measurement system. As the data collection is done under fluctuating ambient conditions, a review of the impact of various ambient conditions on the HVAC unit is performed. Correction models that account for the different ambient conditions incorporate these results. Numerous types of black-box models are compared to identify the best-suited type for this approach. Moreover, the accuracy of the model is validated using test drive data.

Recently, vehicle networks have increased complexity due to the demand for autonomous driving or connected devices. This increasing complexity requires high bandwidth. As a result, vehicle manufacturers have begun using Ethernet-based communication for high-speed links. In order to deal with the heterogeneity of such networks where legacy automotive buses have to coexist with high-speed Ethernet links vehicle manufacturers introduced a vehicle gateway system. The system uses Ethernet as a backbone between domain controllers and CAN buses for communication between internal controllers. As a central point in the vehicle, the gateway is constantly exchanging vehicle data in a heterogeneous communication environment between the existing CAN and Ethernet networks. In an in-vehicle network context where the communications are strictly time-constrained, it is necessary to measure the delay for such routing task.

Highly automated driving (HAD) is under rapid development and will be available for customers within the next years. However the evidence that HAD is at least as safe as human driving has still not been produced. The challenge is to drive hundreds of millions of test kilometers without incidents to show that statistically HAD is significantly safer. One approach is to let a HAD function run in parallel with human drivers in customer cars to utilize a fraction of the billions of kilometers driven every year. To guarantee safety, the function under test (FUT) has access to sensors but its output is not executed, which results in an open loop problem. To overcome this shortcoming, the proposed method consists of four steps to close the loop for the FUT. First, sensor data from real driving scenarios is fused in a world model and enhanced by incorporating future time steps into original measurements.

Today's automotive software integration is a static process. Hardware and software form a fixed package and thus hinder the integration of new electric and electronic features once the specification has been completed. Usually software components assigned to an ECU cannot be easily transferred to other devices after they have been deployed. The main reasons are high system configuration and integration complexity, although shifting functions from one to another ECU is a feature which is generally supported by AUTOSAR. The concept of a Virtual Functional Bus allows a strict separation between applications and infrastructure and avoids source code modifications. But still further tooling is needed to reconfigure the AUTOSAR Basic Software (BSW). Other challenges for AUTOSAR are mixed integrity, versioning and multi-core support. The upcoming BMW E/E-domain oriented architecture will require all these features to be scalable across all vehicle model ranges.

The reduction of vehicle exhaust particle emissions is a success story of European legislation. Various particle number (PN) counters and calibration procedures serve as tools to enforce PN emission limits during vehicle type approval (VTA) or periodical technical inspection (PTI) of in-use vehicles. Although all devices and procedures apply to the same PN-metric, they were developed for different purposes, by different stakeholder groups and for different target costs and technical scopes. Furthermore, their calibration procedures were independently defined by different stakeholder communities. This frequently leads to comparability and interpretation issues. Systematic differences of stationary and mobile PN counters (PN-PEMS) are well-documented. New, low-cost PTI PN counters will aggravate this problem. Today, tools to directly compare different instruments are scarce.

More than ever, microcontroller performance in cars has a direct impact on the driving experience, on compliance with improved safety, ever-stricter emissions regulations, and on fuel economy. The simple microcontrollers formerly used in automobiles are now being replaced by powerful number-crunchers with incredible levels of peripheral integration. As a result, performance can no longer be measured in MIPS (Millions of Instructions Per Second). A microcontroller's effectiveness is based on coherent partitioning between analog and digital, hardware and software, tools and methodology. To make an informed choice among the available devices, the designer needs benchmarks that are specific to automotive applications, and which provide a realistic representation of how the device will perform in the automotive environment.

Wheel slip control system have found a remarkable penetration in all car segments. The information on the wheel behavior has lead to further developments which control the brake performance as well as the driving of the car in general. Latest systems introduced especially on luxury cars use wheel individual brake intervention to ensure vehicle stability under various driving maneuvers within the physical limits. Such systems use vehicle dynamic sensors and special hydraulics which serve as energy source for the automatic brake application. The technical effort of such systems like the Dynamic Stability Control DSC has limited the installation to upper class cars so far. New approaches are required to allow for a more wide spread penetration. Optimized hydraulics together with a rational design of the electronics seems to offer a basis for a more cost effective design.

In the present work we investigated experimentally and computationally the unsteady flow around a BMW car model including wheels*. This simulation yields mean flow and turbulence fields, enabling the study aerodynamic coefficients (drag and lift coefficients, three-dimensional/spatial wall-pressure distribution) as well as some unsteady flow phenomena in the car wake (analysis of the vortex shedding frequency). Comparisons with experimental findings are presented. The computational approach used is based on solving the complete transient Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (TRANS) equations. Special attention is devoted to turbulence modelling and the near-wall treatment of turbulence. The flow calculations were performed using a robust, eddy-viscosity-based ζ - ƒ turbulence model in the framework of the elliptic relaxation concept and in conjunction with the universal wall treatment, combining integration up to the wall and wall functions.

More than ever, microcontroller performance in cars has a direct impact on the driving experience, on compliance with improved safety, ever-stricter emissions regulations, and on fuel economy. The simple microcontrollers formerly used in automobiles are now being replaced by powerful number-crunchers whose performance can no longer be measured in MIPS. Instead, their effectiveness is based on a coherent partitioning between analog and digital, hardware and software, tools and methodology. To make an informed choice among the available devices, what the designer needs are benchmarks that are specific to automotive applications, and which provide a realistic representation of how the device will perform in the automotive environment. This presentation will explore the role of new benchmarks in the development of complex automotive applications.

Innovative electric systems demand a new approach for the distribution of electric energy in passenger cars. This paper describes a very promising solution-the dual voltage power network with an upper voltage level of 42V, and the considerations which led to the selection of this voltage level. Owing to the significant impact on the industry, a common standard is required. Depending on their profile, OEMs will select their own strategies for implementation, either as a base for innovation or to enhance overall system efficiency. This will lead to different approaches and timeframes.

The increasingly stringent requirements in relation to emission reduction and onboard diagnostics are pushing the Chinese automotive industry toward more innovative solutions and a rapid increase in electronic control performance. To manage the system complexity the architecture will require being well structure on hardware and software level. The paper introduces GEMS-K1 (Gasoline Engine Management System - Kit 1). GEMS-K1 is a platform being compliant with Euro IV emission regulation for gasoline engines. The application software is developed using modeling language, the code is automatically generated from the model. The driver software has a well defined structure including microcontroller abstraction layer and ECU abstraction layer. The hardware is following design rules to be robust, 100% testable and easy to manufacture. The electronic components use the latest innovation in terms of architecture and technologies.

Driven by factors like consumption, power output per liter, comfort and more stringent exhaust gas standards the powertain control area, has developed rapidly in the last decades. This trend has also brought with it many innovations in the ignition application. Today we can see a trend to Pencil-coil or Plug-top-coil ignition systems. The next step in system partitioning is to remove the power driver from the ECU and place it directly in/on the coil body. The advantages of the new partitioning - e.g. no high voltage wires, reduced power dissipation on the ECU - are paid with different, mainly tougher requirements for the electronic components. By using specialized technologies for the different functions - IGBT for switching the power, SPT for protection, supply and diagnostics - in chip-on-chip technology all required functions for a decentralized ignition system can be realized in a TO220/ TO263 package.

As the demand for enhanced comfort, safety and differentiation with new features continues to grow and as electronics and software enable most of these, the number of electronic units or components within automobiles will continue to increase. This will increase the overall system complexity, specifically with respect to the number of controller actuators such as e-motors. However, hard constraints on cost and on physical boundaries such as maximum power dissipation per unit and pin-count per unit/connector require new solutions to alternative system partitioning. Vehicle manufacturers, as well as system and semiconductor suppliers are striving for increased scalability and modularity to allow for most cost optimal high volume configurations while featuring platform reuse and feature differentiation. This paper presents new semiconductor based approaches with respect to technologies, technology mapping and assembly technologies.

BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Motorola and Philips present their joint development activity related to the FlexRay communication system that is intended for distributed applications in vehicles. The designated applications for powertrain and chassis control place requirements in terms of availability, reliability and data bandwidth that cannot be met by any product currently available on the market under the testing conditions encountered in an automobile. A short look back on events so far is followed by a description of the protocol and its first implementation as an integrated circuit, as well as its incorporation into a complete tool environment.

In terms of modern technical systems, the automotive sector is characterized by escalating complexity and functionality requirements. The development of embedded control systems has to meet highest demands regarding process-, time- and cost-optimization. Hence, the efficiency of software development becomes a crucial competitive advantage. Systems design engineers need effective tools and methods to achieve exemplary speed and productivity within the development phase. To obtain such tools and methods, semiconductor manufacturers and tool manufacturers must work closely together. Within the joint efforts of ETAS and Infineon, the software tool suite ASCET-SD was enhanced to generate efficient C code for Infineon's TriCore architecture mapped on ETAS's real-time operating system ERCOSEK. The processor interface to application & calibration tools was realized using the ETK probe based on a JTAG/Nexus link at very high bandwidth.

The aim of the project is to reliably identify the set of constructive features responsible for the highest noise levels in the interior of motor vehicles. A simulation environment based on artificial intelligence techniques such as neural networks and genetic algorithms has been implemented. We used a system identification approach in order to approximate the functional relationship between the target noise series and the sets of constructive parameters corresponding to the cars. The noise levels were measured with a microphone positioned on the driver''s chair, and corresponded to a variation of the engine rotation of 600-900 rot/min. The database includes 45 different cars, each described by vectors of 67 constructive features.

The recent improvements in automotive electronics have had a tremendous impact on safety, comfort and emissions. But the continuous increase of the volume of electronic equipment in cars (representing more than 25% of purchasing volume) as well as the increasing system complexity represent a new challenge to quality, post-sales customer support and maintenance. Identifying a fault in a complex network of ECUs, where the different functions are getting more and more intricate, is not an easy task. It can be shown that with the levels of reliability common in 1980, an upper-range automobile of today could never function fault-free. On-Board-Diagnostics (OBD) concepts are emerging to assist the maintenance personnel in localizing the source of a problem with high accuracy, reducing the vehicle repair time, repair costs and costs of warranty claims.

A new simulation tool was established and approved by TRW as part of the continuous improvement of the development process. This tool allows the OEM and the system supplier to keep high quality even with further reduced development times. The introduction of the tool in a side air-bag development program makes it possible to ensure high development confidence with a reduced number of vehicle crash tests and late availability of interior component parts.