Inter-functional Design and Simulation of Vehicular Electronic Control Units

Abstract

In this paper, the simulation platform for the inter-functional testing of vehicular Electronic Control Units (ECUs) is built by taking into consideration the characteristics of the diversification of the ECU functions, the complexity of the inter-functional behaviours, the concealment of the design flaws and the severity of the consequence of a failure. Firstly, by adopting the model-based design approach, the vehicular sub-systems are modelled in detail to fully support the design, development, testing and evaluation of the ECUs. Secondly, the simulation program interfaces are designed to achieve high compatibility with the mainstream vehicle simulation programs. Thirdly, the CAN communication architecture is established, whereby the ECUs on each sub-network are developed and integrated. Finally, the simulation experiments are conducted for a certain vehicle, where the multi-system coordination manoeuvres under complex functionalities and the correct responding manoeuvres to abnormal interrupts are set up to validate the rationality of its inter-functional logic. Furthermore, the early testing platform as well as the test cases is ready for preparing the new complex functions for the subsequent upgrade of the vehicle product.