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"Spotlight on Design" features video interviews and case study segments, focusing on the latest technology breakthroughs. Viewers are virtually taken to labs and research centers to learn how design engineers are enhancing product performance/reliability, reducing cost, improving quality, safety or environmental impact, and achieving regulatory compliance. In the episode "Automated Vehicles: Sensors and Future Technologies" (24:31), highly automated driving is looked at in detail as the culmination of years of research in automotive technology, sensors, infrastructure, software, and systems integration. Real-life case studies show how organizations are actually developing solutions to the challenge of making cars safer with less driver intervention. IAV Automotive Engineering demonstrates how a highly automated vehicle capable of lane changing was created.

The three major challenges in the power electronics in hybrid and electric vehicles are: System cost, power density and reliability. High temperature power device and packaging technologies increases the power density and reliability while reducing system cost. Advanced Silicon devices with synthesized high-temperature packaging technologies can achieve junction temperature as high as 200C (compared to the present limitation of 150C) eliminating the need for a low-temperature radiator and therefore these devices reduces the system cost. The silicon area needed for a power inverter with high junction temperature capability can be reduced by more than 50 - 75% thereby significantly reducing the packaging space and power device and package cost. Smaller packaging space is highly desired since multiple vehicle platforms can share the same design and therefore reducing the cost further due to economies of scale.

This session focuses on particle emissions from combustion engines, including measurement methods and fuel effects. Presenter Leonidas D. Ntziachristos, Aristotle University Thessaloniki

Given the fast changing market demands, the growing complexity of features, the shorter time to market, and the design/development constraints, the need for efficient and effective verification and validation methods are becoming critical for vehicle manufacturers and suppliers. One such example is fault-tree analysis. While fault-tree analysis is an important hazard analysis/verification activity, the current process of translating design details (e.g., system level and software level) is manual. Current experience indicates that fault tree analysis involves both creative deductive thinking and more mechanical steps, which typically involve instantiating gates and events in fault trees following fixed patterns. Specifically for software fault tree analysis, a number of the development steps typically involve instantiating fixed patterns of gates and events based upon the structure of the code. In this work, we investigate a methodology to translate software programs to fault trees.

Some the OBD-II regulations have been around for a long time or seem to be intuitively obvious. It is easy to assume to assume that everyone knows how to implement them correctly, that is, until someone actually reads the words and tries to do it. Most often, these issues come up when modifying existing OBD features, not when creating completely new ones. This presentation contains a few examples of features that should have been easy to implement, but turned out not to be easy or simple. Presenter Paul Algis Baltusis, Ford Motor Co.

Need for worldwide harmonization of regulations. Presenter James Vondale, Ford Motor Co.

Update on light-duty regulations. Presenter Michael J. McCarthy, California Air Resources Board

With nearly 220,000 vehicles, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has the largest non-military vehicle fleet in the world. This fleet requires over a billion dollars of fuel annually, and this figure does not include contracted vehicles. As a part of the business strategy, the USPS has embraced and invested in alternative fueled vehicles since 1899, when the first recorded use of an electric vehicle for USPS service was performed as a technology evaluation in Cleveland, OH. As part of a technology evaluation of advanced vehicle systems, the USPS has partnered with the DOE?s Vehicle Technology Program (VTP) to benchmark and quantify the capabilities of five vehicles in meeting specific Urban Route Delivery requirements, both with dynamometer and in-service testing. The all electric vehicle conversions have been developed by established electric vehicle systems manufacturers representing various perspectives on meeting the vehicle specific operation objectives.

With the introduction of the Chevrolet Volt, the Electrification of the Automobile begins in earnest, by offering a car that runs off of grid energy that has mass market appeal. The Volt offers a vehicle which is driven primarily by electricity under ?real world? driving conditions, while not presenting the driver with inconvenient choices about range and recharge time, or the disconcerting experience of a real possibility of becoming stranded. The Voltec powertrain arrangement enables the Volt to be an Extended Range Electric Vehicle, or E-REV and gives full performance utilizing only electrical energy from the grid for most driving, and a seamless transition to gasoline energy for longer and less frequent trips to maintain full vehicle utility. General Motors and its suppliers has had to the lead developments of fundamental component technologies that were not addressed by earlier, more simple hybridization work.

By introducing the concept of a separation between graphics and logic, interpreted run time architecture, and defined communication protocol, the ARINC 661 standard has addressed many of the concerns that aircraft manufacturers face when creating cockpit avionics displays. However, before kicking off a project based on the standard, it is important to understand all aspects of the standard, as well as the benefits and occasional drawbacks of developing with ARINC 661 in mind. This white paper will first provide an overview of ARINC 661 to clarify its concepts and how these relate to the development process. The paper will also describe the benefits of using a distributed development approach, and will outline practical, real world considerations for implementing an ARINC 661-based solution. Finally, readers will learn how commercial tools can be used to simplify the creation of displays following the standard to speed development and reduce costs.

Toyota is researching and developing several advanced vehicle powertrain technologies that increase fuel efficiency and decrease the environmental impact of consumer transportation. This presentation will describe the Toyota Plug-In Hybrid (PHV) architecture, its major components, the Toyota PHV Demonstration program, and the benefits of the Toyota approach to Plug-In hybrids. The current Toyota PHV features all electric driving for approximately 13 miles, while maintaining the fuel economy of Prius even when the vehicle is in hybrid mode. The vehicle that will be available in 2012 will also be affordable, allowing many customers to enjoy the benefits of electric drive. Presenter Avernethy Francisco, Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing

Powertrain Systems development is facing unprecedented challenges driven by the convergence of many factors: increasing government regulations for tailpipe emissions, diagnostics and fuel economy, increased competition, shorter development cycles, and tighter program budgets. Using telematics and information technology to automate the evaluation of a system�s robustness enables engineers to focus their time on problem areas during their normal development process and launch with quality. This presentation will use real world examples to detail how this methodology was jointly applied by Control-Tec and Ford Motor Company to identify and improve the system performance of Ford�s Air-Fuel Imbalance Monitor before production. Presenter Bill Leisenring, Control-Tec LLC

Plug-In Hybrid and Extended Range Electric Vehicle's have quickly become the focus of many OEM's and suppliers. Existing regulations and test procedures did not anticipate this rapid adoption of this new technology, resulting in many product development challenges. The lack of clear requirements is further complicated by CARBs consideration of CO2 inclusion in their next light duty OBD regulation. This presentation provides an overview of the regulatory requirements for OBD systems on hybrid vehicles that intend to certify in California. Near term challenges for EREV?s and PHEV?s are discussed, including concerns with the existing denominator and warm-up cycle calculations. Some proposals are made to address these concerns. Presenter Andrew Zettel, General Motors Company

Sensing exhaust gas temperature is a key component in diesel after treatment systems for both control and diagnostics. Accuracy varies significantly depending upon the sensing technology and implementation in the system. Prior published work has demonstrated that resistance based temperature sensors are not able to achieve the system accuracy required for advanced diagnostics over the life of the emission system. This presentation will show that it is feasible to achieve better than �10�C end of life system accuracy by means of active thermocouple technology. Results from tests at Michigan Technological University will be used to illustrate diagnostic uncertainty related to the application of temperature sensors and a specific DOC/DPF example will be used to show the benefits of accurate temperature based diagnostics. Presenter D. P. Culbertson, Watlow Gordon

OBD requirements for aftertreatment system components require monitoring of the individual system components. One such component can be an NH3-SCR catalyst for NOx reduction. An OBD method that has been suggested is to generate positive or negative spikes in the inlet NH3 concentration, and monitor the outlet NOx transient response. A slow response indicates that the catalyst is maintaining its NH3 storage capacity, and therefore it is probably not degraded. A fast response indicates the catalyst has lost NH3 storage capacity, and may be degraded. The purpose of the work performed at Southwest Research Institute was to assess this approach for feasibility, effectiveness and practicality. The presentation will describe the work performed, results obtained, and implications for applying this method in test laboratory and real-world situations. Presenter Gordon J. Bartley, Southwest Research Institute

A combination of laboratory reactor measurements and vehicle FTP testing has been combined to demonstrate a method for diagnosing the formation of NO2 from a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC). Using small cores from a production DOC and simulated diesel exhaust, the laboratory reactor experiments are used to support a model for DOC chemical reaction kinetics. The model we propose shows that the ability to produce NO2 is chemically linked to the ability of the catalyst to oxidize hydrocarbon (HC). For thermally damaged DOCs, loss of the HC oxidation function is simultaneous with loss of the NO2 production function. Since HC oxidation is the source of heat generated in the DOC under regeneration conditions, we conclude that a diagnostic of the DOC exotherm is able to detect the failure of the DOC to produce NO2. Vehicle emissions data from a 6.6 L Duramax HD pick-up with DOC of various levels of thermal degradation is provided to support the diagnostic concept.

Revisions to the California OBD-II diesel regulations required many updates to various SAE and ISO on-board diagnostic standards; these include major revisions to SAE J1979, J1699-3, J2012 and J1930. This presentation is intended to review the background for these changes as well as the revisions made in these documents. Presenter Robert Gruszczynski, Volkswagen of America

The OBD approval process can be a frustrating time for both manufacturer and ARB staff. For manufacturers, a long approval process can sometimes mean accepting deficiencies prematurely in exchange for an approval. For ARB staff, they are inundated with highly technical information which they must review, garner understanding of and then apply their experience to evaluate it for compliance. OBD approval anxiety can be minimized, if not avoided, when manufacturers understand ARB�s expectations. This presentation will take you through some unwritten rules and common pitfalls which can impede the approval process, thus providing a guideline to a less painful and more efficient certification document review and approval. Presenter Mark Frank, Winterpark Engineering Llc

In recent years, all major microprocessor manufacturers are transitioning towards the deploymenet of multiple processing cores on every chip. These multi-core architectures represent the industry consensus regarding the most effective utilization of available silicon resources to satisfy growing demands for processing and memory capacities. Porting off-the-shelf software capabilities to multi-core architectures often requires significant changes to data structures and algorithms. When developing new software capabilities specifically for deployment on SMP architectures, software engineers are required to address specific multi-core programming issues, and in the ideal, must do so in ways that are generic to many different multi-core target platforms. This talk provides an overview of the special considerations that must be addressed by software engineers targeting multi-core platforms and describes how the Java language facilitates solutions to these special challenges.

The presentation describes technology developments and the integration of these technologies into new emission control systems. As in other years, the reader will find a wide range of topics from various parts of the world. This is reflective of the worldwide scope and effort to reduce diesel exhaust emissions. Topics include the integration of various diesel particulate matter (PM) and Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) technologies as well as sensors and other emissions related developments. Presenter Atsuo Kondo, NGK Insulators, Ltd.