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Due to the rapidly increasing number of electronic control units (ECUs) in modern vehicles, software and ECU testing plays a major role within the development of automotive electronics. To ensure effective as well as efficient testing within the whole development process, a seamless transition in terms of the reusability of tests and test data as well as powerful and efficient means for developing and describing tests are required. This paper therefore presents a new integration approach for modern test development and test management. Besides a very easy-to-use way of describing tests graphically, the main focus of the new approach is on the management of a large number of tests, test data, and test results, allowing close integration into the automotive development processes.

Automotive technology is rapidly changing with electrification of vehicles, driver assistance systems, advanced safety systems etc. This advancement in technology is making the task of validation and verification of embedded software complex and challenging. In addition to the component testing, integration testing imposes even tougher requirements for software testing. To meet these challenges dSPACE is continuously evolving the Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) technology to provide a systematic way to manage this task. The paper presents developments in the HIL hardware technology with latest quad-core processors, FPGA based I/O technology and communication bus systems such as Flexray. Also presented are developments of the software components such as advanced user interfaces, GPS information integration, real-time testing and simulation models. This paper provides a real-world example of implication of integration testing on HIL environment for Chassis Controls.

The development of perception functions for tomorrow’s automated vehicles is driven by enormous amounts of data: often exceeding a gigabyte per second and reaching into the terabytes per hour. Data is typically gathered by a fleet of dozens of mule vehicles which multiply the data generated into the hundreds of petabytes per year. Traditional methods for fueling data-driven development would record every bit of every second of a data logging drive on solid-state drives located on a PC in the vehicle. Recorded data must then be exported from these drives using an upload station which pushes to the data lake after arriving back at the garage. This paper considers different techniques for curating logged data.

This paper discusses our experiences on the implementation and benefits of using the Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) systems for Powertrain control system software verification and validation. The Visteon HIL system integrated with several off-the-shelf diagnostics and calibration tools is briefly explained. Further, discussions on test automation sequence control and failure insertion are outlined The capabilities and advantages of using HIL for unit level software testing, open loop and closed-loop system testing, fault insertion and test automation are described. HIL also facilitates Software and Hardware Interface validation testing with low-level driver and platform software. This paper attempts to show the experiences with and capabilities of these HIL systems.

Model-based software development and automatic code generation have become increasingly established in recent years. The automotive industry has widely adopted and successfully deployed these methods in many different series production programs worldwide. This brought various benefits, such as a reduction in development times, improved quality due to more precise specifications, and early verification and validation by means of simulation. At the same time, more and more safety-related and safety-critical systems have been - and will be -introduced into modern vehicles. Common examples are active front steering, adaptive cruise-control, and integrated chassis control. This leads to the question, if and how model-based design and automatic production code generation can be applied to the development of safety-critical systems.

This paper describes a new production code generator that meets both the requirements of code developers for efficient and reliable production code, as well as the desire of system engineers to establish a control design process based on simulation models that double as executable specifications for the ECU software. The production code generator supports automatic scaling, generates optimized fixed-point C code for microcontrollers like the Motorola 683xx, Siemens C16x, and Hitachi SH-2, and produces ASAP2 [1] calibration information. Benchmark results show that the autogenerated code can match or even exceed the efficiency of typical handwritten production code. Code quality is assured by design and by systematic, automatic, and extremely comprehensive test procedures.

This paper will first introduce and classify the basic principles of architecture-driven software development and will briefly sketch the presumed development process. This background information is then used to explain extensions which enable current behavior modeling and code generation tools to operate as software component generators. The generation of AUTOSAR software components using dSPACE's production code generator TargetLink is described as an example.

The Aerospace and Defense industry is currently challenged in multiple ways - cost cutting and sequestration on the defense side, and spurt of growth on the commercial aviation side of business. While these are opposing trends, both will impose severe challenges to the management of product development process for both the Air framers and the suppliers. The challenge becomes severe as the innovation expectations become rapid with increases in embedded software content in avionics and the advent of a new category of autonomous ground, marine, and air systems. Clearly, the industry need is to have a product development process that allows for reducing costs, while increasing embedded software quality and thereby product quality even in an iterative development process.

Function models have a well-established position in automotive software development. Formal system models, on the other hand, are rare. This article describes the various aspects of function and system models, focusing mainly on AUTOSAR-compatible models. It also depicts the challenges for future overall models that combine the function models and the system model, and the resulting benefits, such as early system verification via PC-based simulations.

The application of a communication infrastructure for hybrid test systems is currently a topic in the aerospace industry, as also in other industries. One main reason is flexibility. Future laboratory tests means (LTMs) need to be easier to exchange and reuse than they are today. They may originate from different suppliers and parts of them may need to fulfill special requirements and thus be based on dedicated technologies. The desired exchangeability needs to be achieved although suppliers employ different technologies with regard to specific needs. To achieve interoperability, a standardized transport mechanism between test systems is required. Designing such a mechanism poses a challenge as there are several different types of data that have to be exchanged. Simulation data is a prominent example. It has to be handled differently than control data, for example. No one technique or technology fits perfectly for all types of data.

Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing is indispensable in the software development process for control units and has been an integral part of the software development process for years. Large HIL systems for integration tests are used to test the correct behavior of distributed functions and the communication between the control units. The vast development programs that are involved require building duplicates of such test systems or parts of them, due to the fact that the tasks are distributed between different companies or different departments within a company. However, there is an alternative to duplicating a test system. Instead of using a cloned system, coupling HIL systems over large distances is an alternate approach. This paper presents what requirements this coupling must fulfill and and describes a path-breaking method to fulfill them. In addition, results of an implementation are shown.

The importance of electronics, especially software, has greatly increased over the last few years. Efforts to maintain a high level of software quality have made testing an important part of the development process. With the advent of model-based development, testing methods can be used not only on code level, but also on model level. Next to test execution itself, test development is seen as the most time- and cost-intensive part of the testing process. This paper outlines and classifies current approaches to model-based test development, with the aim of providing guidelines for test developers for choosing the method best suited to the type of system under test and the test objective.

The Model-Based Development (MBD) process has been the key enabler of technical advancement. MBD helps manage complexity, while making product development faster by bringing clarity and transparency to the entire product development process, specifically software components. Developing software using MBD has required extensive, sophisticated toolchains, like the ones provided by dSPACE, that allow for efficient rapid controls prototyping, automatic code generation, and advanced validation and verification techniques with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) test systems. MBD is an efficient iterative process that allows engineers to improve quality and deliver on demanding needs of product variants in the current competitive environment. However, the MBD process described commonly using the ‘V-Cycle’ diagram leads to the generation of large volumes of data artifacts and work products. The iterative process, variants and versions of these artifacts lead to even larger amounts of data.

The Controls and Software Engineering Team at BorgWarner Drivetrain Systems has successfully employed model-based software development for the past several years. Their drivetrain system control software, developed using MATLAB/Simulink/Stateflow, and autocoded using TargetLink, is on the road in many passenger vehicle applications. Using these tools, BorgWarner has realized the widely recognized benefits of model-based design; such as increased speed to market, improved quality, and reduced complexity. Validating algorithms early through simulation and rapid prototyping, then translating them to production software through automatic code generation has proven very successful for BorgWarner. When starting with model-based design, the BorgWarner team focused on developing the core application control algorithms in the modeling environment. Lower-level software such as I/O drivers, the task scheduler, and communication logic was still hand-coded.

In future cars, mechanical and hydraulic components will be replaced by new electronic systems (x-by-wire). A failure of such a system constitutes a safety hazard for the passengers as well as for the environment of the car. Thus electronics and in particular software are taking over more responsibility and safety-critical tasks. To minimize the risk of failure in such systems safety standards are applied for their development. The safety standard IEC 61508 has been established for automotive electronic systems. At the same time, automatic code generation is increasingly being used for automotive software development. This is to cope with today's increasing requirements concerning cost reduction and time needed for ECU development combined with growing complexity. However, automatic code generation is hardly ever used today for the development of safety-critical systems.

Embedded software in the car is becoming increasingly complex due to the growing number of software-based controller functions and the increasing complexity of the software itself. Model-based development with Simulink combined with TargetLink for automatic code generation helps significantly to improve the quality of the embedded software. The development of large-scale Simulink models in distributed teams is a challenging task, especially when developing safety-critical software that must fulfill requirements stated in the ISO 26262 [1] safety standard. In practice, many questions on how to avoid the pitfalls of distributed model-based development remain open, such as how to define an appropriate model architecture, handle model complexity, and achieve compliance with ISO 26262. The intent of this paper is threefold. Firstly, we summarize those requirements of ISO 26262 that are relevant for developing complex software in a distributed environment.

The enactment of FMVSS 126 requires specific safety performance in vehicles 4,536 Kg (10,000 pounds) or less using an Electronic Stability Control (ESC) system as standard equipment by 2011. Further, in 2012, the regulation requires vehicles that have undergone aftermarket modification to remain in compliance with the performance standard. This paper describes: • a brief overview of the standard and its implications • the collaborative approach used in the first successful approach in meeting that requirement by a lift kit manufacturer o a Hardware In the Loop (HIL) test alternative for establishing a reasonable expectation for a vehicle to demonstrate compliance after modification. • Collaborative challenges overcome: o aftermarket manufacturers seeking information sharing with OEMs and Tier One suppliers: o respecting the intellectual property of OEMs and Tier One suppliers o maintaining the integrity between tool competitors and their customers in cross-collaborative efforts

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.

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).

Real-time simulation of truck and trailer combinations can be applied to hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) systems for developing and testing electronic control units (ECUs). The large number of configuration variations in vehicle and axle types requires the simulation model to be adjustable in a wide range. This paper presents a modular multibody approach for the vehicle dynamics simulation of single track configurations and truck-and-trailer combinations. The equations of motion are expressed by a new formula which is a combination of Jourdain's principle and the articulated body algorithm. With the proposed algorithm, a robust model is achieved that is numerically stable even at handling limits. Moreover, the presented approach is suitable for modular modeling and has been successfully implemented as a basis for various system definitions. As a result, only one simulation model is needed for a large variety of track and trailer types.