RAPID PROTOTYPING
Powerful ETAS Tools
Prove Efficiency
RAPID PROTOTYPING
Main ECU
ECU
ECU
ECU
System setup
for multiple ECU
bypass
ETK
ETK
ETK
ES1000
INCA
Rapid prototyping speeds up the development of advanced engine control strategies
CAN
The increased mandate on fuel economy is driving automotive companies to innovate a variety of solutions
INTECRIO
Simulink®
against stringent deadlines. This pushes up development costs and leads to greater complexity. Accordingly,
many technology evaluations and proofs of concept demand quick setup and efficiency, while keeping cost
and complexity in mind.
Signal
conditioning
AUTHORS
Ayman Ismail
Chrysler Group LLC chose ETAS
is Software/Controls
rapid prototyping technology as their
Engineer at Chrysler
solution. The proposed methodology
Group LLC in Auburn
led to the fast and successful devel-
Hills, MI, U.S.
opment and verification of control
algorithms in a real-time environ-
Eugene
ment without the presence of the
Gorbonosov
final ECU hardware. It also helped
is Senior Instrumen-
with evaluating engine technologies
tation Integration
very early in the development cycle.
Engineer at ETAS in
For Chrysler, the ETAS tool chain
Ann Arbor, MI, U.S.
provides an adequate platform for a
development environment that will
be adopted in similar future projects.
The advanced powertrain development group at Chrysler was asked to
integrate several new technologies
simultaneously. The primary goal
was to evaluate the controls aspects
and proof of concept rather than to
develop a new engine control unit
(ECU). The high-level architecture
requires high-speed communication
between the main engine controller
and two other ECUs (see Figure).
RAPID PROTOTYPING
Improving combustion controls relies
then used to close the feedback
Software system
on a fundamental understanding of
control loop and for monitoring. The
The software system was divided
the combustion process supported
ES1000 provided drivers for additio-
into three main components. One
with data gathering from running
nal actuators and solenoids to facili-
task was to develop new control
engines and using it in the design of
tate the task. A new external custom-
strategies using a modelling tool
the control system. Capturing such
built conditioning circuit with power
such as Simulink®. Since the controls
data during cylinder events made it
electronics was designed to acquire
engineers’ main focus was the
necessary to add a number of pas-
and drive I/O signals. The ES1000
strategy, it was sufficient to create
sive and smart sensors onto the ex-
system also includes a controller
the models in floating point, while
isting powertrain system. Moreover,
card with a so-called ‘simulation
taking into consideration fixed-point
new actuators and solenoids were
controller’ on board, which can run
structure for future portability. The
necessary to provide more degrees
models in real time and facilitate
second task was to implement an
of freedom to the control system. To
interaction with external peripherals.
infrastructure in the main ECU to
allow bypass communication with
accommodate such an architecture,
several algorithms were needed in
Communication
the ES1000 system. The software
addition to control systems from ex-
The main driver for selecting the
infrastructure included ETK bypass
isting engine platforms. ETAS rapid
ES1000 system solution was the
drivers to allow data exchange
prototyping technology was chosen
need for a high-speed communi-
between bypass hooks of the ECU
to integrate newly created control
cation interface that allows data
software and a model running on a
solutions with the existing ECU. The
exchange among multiple ECUs at a
simulation controller of the ES1000
ETAS solution included the software
rate faster than cylinder events. In
system. The same procedure was re-
(ETAS INTECRIO, ETAS INCA), hard-
this case, the best solution was the
peated for each ECU with ETK inter-
ware (ETAS ES1000 system), and
ES1000 system with multiple ETK
face to be able to utilize the ETK
communication aspects of the sys-
cards. Here, each card could act as a
bypass method. The third task was
tem (ETAS ETK, CAN).
communication channel with the
to integrate the hardware, software,
main controller card playing the role
and communications together. This
Hardware system
of the gateway. Each ECU on the
was done using INTECRIO software.
To interface with a large number of
network was equipped with an ETK
INTECRIO allows a direct connection
I/Os, the ES1000 system was a suit-
that allows it to communicate with
of multiple I/Os on the ES1000
able match. Configured to the speci-
the ETK card on the ES1000 system
system hardware to the I/Os of the
fic application on hand, the ES1000
over a 100 MB/s Ethernet wire. The
software models. The output from
provided access to several digital
ES1000 system also had a CAN card
INTECRIO is then ported to a mea-
and analog input channels.
with four channels that could be
surement and calibration tool such
These channels were used to acquire
used to potentially add four more
as INCA to be used for testing.
sensor measurements at high sam-
ECUs to the network at lower
pling rates. The measurements were
speeds.
ETAS provides two methods of interaction with the ES1000 system to
run tests, the INTECRIO or INCA experiment environments. In this case,
ETAS Solution
INCA was chosen because it is currently used by Chrysler as a calibra-
Deployment of a powerful rapid prototyping environ-
tion tool. The main advantage of
ment consisting of INTECRIO and INCA in conjunction
INCA was the ability to capture data
with an ES1000 system creates many possibilities for
from all ECUs, sensors, actuators,
rapid prototyping development, testing, and validation
and solenoids simultaneously and
across various project platforms.
synchronized in time.
Such possibilities were extended from bench, to engine
dyno, to vehicle setups with minimal effort.