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Electronic controllers for powertrain systems are required to meet the demands for increased system performance and functionality at reasonable cost. It is indispensable to examine the solutions from a range of view points synthetically for cost optimization. This paper describes a cost-effective hardware and software architecture of the electronic controllers for powertrain systems. A new method for noise reduction of a switching regulator, and a low standby current wakeup solution are also discussed as further functions needed for high performance powertrain systems.

X-by-Wire systems are expected to enhance vehicle driving performance and safety. This paper describes an electronic platform architecture for X-by-Wire systems that satisfies both cost-effectiveness and dependability. In the first part of this paper (Part 1), we have proposed a new electronic architecture based on a concept of autonomous decentralized systems. In the latter part (Part 2), the proposed architecture implementation to the actual vehicle control systems will be discussed. We clarify that, due to system level redundancy the proposed architecture provides, vehicle control systems can basically consist of low cost fail-silent nodes. Furthermore, for cost optimization, considering a tradeoff between hardware cost and fault detection coverage, we design a suitable hardware architecture for each node according to node function.

X-by-Wire systems are expected to enhance vehicle driving performance and safety. Regarding the dependable and cost-effective electronic platform for X-by-Wire systems, we have so far proposed a network centric architecture based on a concept of autonomous decentralized systems. In this architecture, in case a certain node fails, the remaining normal nodes autonomously execute a backup control to maintain the system function. Following the concept proposal, in this study, we have designed the middleware for cluster node status monitoring because it is essential to identify the failed node accurately to execute the autonomous backup control. The middleware has been implemented on the FlexRay-based prototype brake-by-wire system. This paper describes the features of the middleware indispensable to the network centric X-by-Wire systems.