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The complexity of automobile powertrains grows continuously. At the same time, development time and budget are limited. Shifting development tasks to earlier phases (frontloading) increases the efficiency by utilizing test benches instead of prototype vehicles (road-to-rig approach). Early system verification of powertrain components requires a closed-loop coupling to real-time simulation models, comparable to hardware-in-the-loop testing (HiL). The international research project Advanced Co-Simulation Open System Architecture (ACOSAR) has the goal to develop a non-proprietary communication architecture between real-time and non-real-time systems in order to speed up the commissioning process and to decrease the monetary effort for testing and validation. One major outcome will be a generic interface for coupling different simulation tools and real-time systems (e.g. HiL simulators or test benches).

Electric drives are growing in importance in automotive applications, especially in hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and in the vehicle dynamics area (steering systems, etc.). The challenges of real-time hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation and testing of electric drives are addressed in this paper. In general, three different interface levels between the electric drive and the hardware-inthe-loop system can be distinguished: the signal level (1), the electrical level (2) and the mechanical level (3). These interface levels, as well as modeling and I/O-related aspects of electric drives and power electronics devices, are discussed in detail in the paper. Finally, different solutions based on dSPACE simulator technology are presented, for both hybrid vehicle and steering applications.

Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation in the development and test process of vehicle dynamics controllers requires a real-time tractor-trailer simulation model. The hitch coupling must be numerically stable to ensure real-time simulation for various driving maneuvers, particularly at the vehicle's handling limits. This paper presents a robust implementation of tractor-trailer coupling. The equation of motion is formed using a novel formulation which is a combination of Jourdain's Principle and the Articulated Body Algorithm. The paper shows that a robust model for a real-time tractor-trailer simulation can be achieved with the proposed method. Moreover, the approach presented is suitable for modular modeling, is successfully implemented and can also be used as a basis for flexible system definition with an adjustable number of trailer axles.

This presentation focuses on several examples of partnerships between tool suppliers and embedded software developers in which state-of-the-art tools are used to optimize a variety of electric and hybrid vehicle architectures. Projects with Automotive OEMs, Tier One Suppliers as well as with academic institutions will be described. Due to the growing complexity in multiple electronic control units (“ECUs”) inter-communicating over numerous network bus systems, combined with the challenge of controlling and maintaining charges for electric motors, vehicle development would be impossible without use of increasingly sophisticated tools. Hybrid drive trains are much more complex than conventional ones, they have at least one degree of freedom more.

Due to the continuously increasing number of electronic control units (ECUs) in modern cars, and their growing complexity, automated tests not only of single ECUs but also of interconnected ECUs have become an important step in the development of automotive electronics. These tasks require new test systems. This paper describes the problems engineers face when developing and testing today's car electronics, as well as a high-end hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) tool set (hardware, software, models) applied to the testing of four networked ECUs for engine management, vehicle dynamics control, automatic transmission, and an active suspension system. The tool set comprises general features needed for HIL tests, like automated code generation for real-time models using MATLAB/Simulink and a comprehensive set of dedicated hardware (processor and I/O hardware).

Hybrid test systems are gaining more and more significance in the aerospace industry. At the heart of these systems is a standardized communication infrastructure. There are many challenges when designing the communication infrastructure. For example, it requires very specific knowledge to boot a hybrid system, manage its configuration process, and start and stop the execution of applications, such as simulations, panels or recorders. Likewise, when testers use a heterogeneous test environment, they cannot commit themselves too much to every single test means and its special characteristics. Nevertheless, testers must always be able to monitor and control every test system. This means, they must be able to determine the current overall system status and the current status of its components and parts. Examples for this are hardware components, such as real-time processors and I/O boards, as well as software applications, such as real-time simulations models on the test system.

Gasoline Controlled Auto Ignition offers a high CO2 emission reduction potential, which is comparable to state-of-the-art, lean stratified operated gasoline engines. Contrary to the latter, GCAI low temperature combustion avoids NOX emissions, thereby trying to avoid extensive exhaust aftertreatment. The challenges remain in a restricted operation range due to combustion instabilities and a high sensitivity towards changing boundary conditions like ambient temperature, intake pressure or fuel properties. Once combustion shows instability, cyclic fluctuations are observed. These appear to have near-chaotic behavior but are characterized by a superposition of clearly deterministic and stochastic effects. Previous works show that the fluctuations can be predicted precisely when taking cycle-tocycle correlations into account. This work extends current approaches by focusing on additional dependencies within one single combustion cycle.

This paper describes challenges and possible solution of hybrid electrical vehicles test systems with a special focus on hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test bench. The degree of novelty of this work can be seen in the fact that development and test of ECU for hybrid electrical powertrains can move more and more from mechanical test benches with real automotive components to HIL test systems. The challenging task in terms of electrical interface between an electric motor ECU and an HIL system and necessary real-time capable simulation models for electric machines have been investigated and partly solved. Even cell balancing strategies performed by battery management systems (BMU) can be developed and tested using HIL technology with battery simulation models and a precise cell voltage simulation on electrical level.

Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation is a real-time testing process that has been proven indispensable for the modern vehicle dynamics, powertrain, chassis and body systems electronic controls development. The high quality standards and robustness of the control algorithms can only be met by means of detailed vehicle plant simulation models. In the last few years, several efforts have been made to develop detailed plant models. Several tools for the vehicle modeling are available in the market and each tool has different and distinct advantages. This paper addresses ways that dSPACE Automotive Simulation Models (ASM) can support the model-based development processes. Additional modern software tools that were used in connection with the ASM are LMS AMESim and Mathworks SimDriveline (of Simscape). ASM is an open Matlab/Simulink model environment used for offline PC based simulation and online real-time platform HIL testing.