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The conventional measurements to describe the photometric quality of headlamps usually only comprise the luminous flux and the illuminance (resp. the luminous intensity) in several measuring points given by Type Approval Legislation. Practically, these photometric measurements do not describe the visual impression of a headlamp light distribution sufficiently, neither in lab nor in real street geometry. With the clear outer lens headlamps introduced recently, filament images are projected directly onto the screens or streets, thus giving new impulses to research. Starting from the established photometric practice, other types of measurements and physiological fundamentals will be discussed. The basic tools to make physical measurement and physiological impression comparable, e.g. in terms of homogeneity, are shown.

Pedestrian protection is an upcoming field for research and development. Active pedestrian protection is described from a system perspective. In this view, the development of an active pedestrian protection system is shown. First an overview on statistics and legal requirements is given and the system requirements are discussed. Sensor concepts and realizations are shown, also different test methods and results are explained. FE-simulations to complete and later replace additional tests are developed, after cross check with the experimental results. In combination with the shown actuator concept this leads to a full functioning active pedestrian protection system.

Time Triggered CAN (TTCAN) is an extension of the well-known CAN protocol, introducing to CAN networks time triggered communication and a system wide global network time with high precision. Time Triggered CAN has been accepted as international standard ISOCD11898-4. The time triggered communication is built upon the unchanged standard CAN protocol. This allows a software implementation of the time triggered function of TTCAN, based on existing CAN ICs. The high precision global time however requires a hardware implementation. A hardware implementation also offers additional functions like time mark interrupts, a stopwatch, and a synchronization to external events, all independent of software latency times. The TTCAN testchip (TTCAN_TC) is a standalone TTCAN controller and has been produced as a solution to the hen/egg problem of hardware availability versus tool support and research.

Many software functions currently available in the engine control units have been developed for several years (decades in some cases), reengineered or adapted due to new requirements, what may add to their inherent complexity an unnecessary complication. This paper deals with the study and implementation of a software reengineering strategy for the embedded domain, which is in transfer from research department to product development, here applied to improve maintainability of flex fuel functions. The strategy uses the SCODE “Essential Analysis”, an approach for the embedded system domain. The method allows to reduce the system complexity to the unavoidable inherent problem complexity, by decomposing the system into smaller sub problems based on its essential physics. A case study was carried out to redesign a function of fuel adaptation. The analysis was performed with the support of a tool, which covers all the phases of the method.

The official Indian accident statistics show that the number of road accidents and fatalities are one of the highest worldwide. These official statistics provide important facts about the current accident situation. It is suspected that for various reasons not all accidents are reported to the official statistic. This study estimates the degree of underreporting of traffic accidents with casualties in India. In order to get a national overview of the traffic accident situation it is necessary to improve the knowledge about underreported accidents. Therefore, the in-depth accident database of “Road Accident Sampling System India” (RASSI) was analyzed [1]. This project is organized by a consortium that has collected traffic accidents scientifically in four different regions since 2011 on the spot which have been reported either by police or by local hospitals and own patrol by RASSI engineers.

On the way to automated driving, the installation rate of surround sensing systems will rapidly increase in the upcoming years. The respective technical progress in the areas of driver assistance and active safety leads to a numerous and valuable information and signals to be used prior to, during and even after an accident. Car makers and suppliers can make use of this new situation and develop integrated safety functions to further reduce the number of injured and even deaths in car accidents. Nevertheless, the base occupant safety remains the core of this integrated safety system in order to ensure at least a state-of-the-art protection even in vehicles including partial, high or full automation. Current networked safety systems comprehend a point-to-point connection between single components of active and safety systems. The optimal integration requires a much deeper and holistic approach.

This paper presents a system concept for detecting combustion misfire. The relevant research grew out of the more stringent requirements for On-Board Diagnostic systems (OBDII) mandated by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), effective as of model year 1997 onward. The system concept is based on evaluation of variations in crankshaft speed. Processes using engine roughness are applied in non-critical operating areas and/or on engines with a small number of cylinders. The modulation process is used in more critical areas. Research was done using a 12-cylinder engine and indicated the potential to comply with the California Air Resources Board's regulations for the model year (MY) 1997 and later.

Actual research results in the automotive field show that there is a big potential in increasing active and passive safety by implementing intelligent driver assisting systems. Realizing such safety related system functions requires an electronic system without mechanical or hydraulic backup to de-couple the human interface from the vehicle functions, e.g., steering and braking. Safety critical functions without mechanical backup enforce new requirements in system design. Any faulty behavior of a component within the system must not lead to a malfunction of the overall system. Consequently in the system design fault-tolerance mechanisms in real time must be introduced. Active replication of a functional node is a proper solution to guarantee this real time fault-tolerance. Redundancy management of the functional nodes can be implemented by fail-silent replicas, i.e. a node behaves correctly or does not produce any output at all.

Particulate emissions from Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) engines have been an important topic of recent research interest due to their known environmental effects. This review paper will characterise the influence of different gasoline direct injection fuel systems on particle number (PN) emissions. The findings will be reviewed for engine and vehicle measurements with appropriate driving cycles (especially real driving cycles) to evaluate effects of the fuel injection systems on PN emissions. Recent technological developments alongside the trends of the influence of system pressure and nozzle design on injector tip wetting and deposits will be considered. Besides the engine and fuel system it is known that fuel composition will have an important effect on GDI engine PN emissions. The evaporation qualities of fuels have a substantial influence on mixture preparation, as does the composition of the fuel itself.

Large Eddy Simulations (LES) and tracer-based Laser-Induced Fluorescence (LIF) measurements were performed to study the dynamics of fuel wall-films on the piston top of an optically accessible, four-valve pent-roof GDI research engine for a total of eight operating conditions. Starting from a reference point, the systematic variations include changes in engine speed (600; 1,200 and 2,000 RPM) and load (1000 and 500 mbar intake pressure); concerning the fuel path the Start Of Injection (SOI=360°, 390° and 420° CA after gas exchange TDC) as well as the injection pressure (10, 20 and 35 MPa) were varied. For each condition, 40 experimental images were acquired phase-locked at 10° CA intervals after SOI, showing the wall-film dynamics in terms of spatial extent, thickness and temperature.

In the context of the energy transition, CO2-neutral solutions are of enormous importance for all sectors, but especially for the mobility sector. Hydrogen as an energy carrier has therefore been the focus of research and development for some time. However, the development of hydrogen combustion engines is in many respects still in the conception phase. Automotive system providers and engineering companies in the field of software development and simulation are showing great interest in the topic. In a joint project with the industrial partners Robert Bosch GmbH and AVL Germany, combustion in a H2-DI-engine for use in light-duty vehicles was methodically investigated using the CFD tool AVL FIRE®. The collaboration between Robert Bosch GmbH and the Institute for Mobile Systems (IMS) at Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg has produced a model study in which model approaches for the combustion of hydrogen can be analyzed.