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After the implementation of passive safety systems (e.g. airbags, seat belt pretensioners) and their parallel continuous improvement, active safety systems were launched in a great number of cars. Some of these active safety systems are based on environment recognition to detect critical situations or imminent crashes. These systems give warnings to the driver and can provide assistance (e.g. by setting the proper brake power). One key requirement for such systems is robust and reliable knowledge of the car environment. Today, the underlying environment recognition very often uses the data of single sensors. Due to increasing requirements in robustness, operating range (field of view, foresight, level of intervention) and number of different applications running in parallel, the fusion of data from different sensors may be necessary. This paper describes a fusion architecture which provides a base for safety and non-safety applications.

Motorized closures support the comfort in vehicles to an increasing degree. In the past the use of indirect sensors was an effective low-cost solution for anti pinch [1,2]. The demand for a reduction of the forces affecting the user and for minimized closing times leads to direct sensor solutions. A new aspect is the protection of moving vehicle parts, which we call collision avoidance. This paper deals with system aspects securing the movement area of motorized closures. An analysis is made for sliding doors, trunk lids and tailgates, pointing out the danger zones and the use cases. The result of a QFD (Qualitiy Function Deployment) with respect to the demands of the customer is shown. This leads to a rough description of the requirements for the technical solutions. A technology benchmark is conducted separately for anti-pinch and for collision avoidance. The two applications have distinct requirements; therefore different technological solutions are identified.

This contribution deals with the development of a new scanning time-of-flight Lidar device for automotive use. Originally designed for safety applications, it provides a horizontal field of view of up to 170°. The Lidar-inherent good lateral resolution allows for easy identification of position, width and outline of objects and obstacles in a traffic environment. A detection range of up to 170 m enables tasks such as Full Speed Range ACC (FSRA), thanks to its technology based on a production proven IDIS® 1.0 circuit with Multibeam Lidar. A brushless DC Motor and a small momentum of inertia ensure the precision and sturdiness required for automotive applications. Therefore the new device represents a versatile, robust, and compact sensor concept at reasonable costs.

The SAE J2716 SENT (Single Edge Nibble Transmission) Protocol has entered production with a number of announced products. The SENT protocol is a point-to-point scheme for transmitting signal values from a sensor to a controller. It is intended to allow for high resolution data transmission with a lower system cost than available serial data solution. The SAE SENT Task Force has developed a number of enhancements and clarifications to the original specification which are summarized in this paper.

In a study using a single-cylinder engine a significant potential in fuel efficiency and emission reduction was found for stratified operation of a high pressure natural gas direct injection (DI) spark ignition (SI) engine. The control of the mixture formation process appeared to be critical to ensure stable inflammation of the mixture. Therefore, optical investigations of the mixture formation were performed on a geometric equivalent, optically accessible single-cylinder engine to investigate the correlation of mixture formation and inflammability. The two optical measurement techniques infrared (IR) absorption and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) were employed. Mid-wavelength IR absorption appeared to be qualified for a global visualization of natural gas injection; LIF allows to quantify the equivalence ratio inside a detection level. While LIF measurements require complex equipment, the IR setup consists merely of a black body heater and a mid-wavelength sensitive IR camera.

Hydrogen engines represent an economic alternative to fuel cells for future energy scenarios based on Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHC). This scenario incorporates LOHCs to store hydrogen from fluctuating renewable energy sources and deliver it to decentralised power generation units. Hydrogen engines were deeply investigated in the past decade and the results show efficiencies similar to CI engines. Due to the low energy density and tendency towards pre-ignition of hydrogen, the key element to reach high efficiency and a safe operation is a direct injection of the hydrogen. Because high injection pressure is not available in practical applications or would reduce the possible driving range, a low injection pressure is favourable. The low density leads to large flow cross sections inside the injector, similar to CNG direct injectors. So far, some research CNG and hydrogen low pressure direct injectors were investigated, but no commercial injector is available.