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Wixom, Michigan, Oct. 28, 2009: To improve the safety of commercial vehicles in road traffic, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) has introduced a new regulation (UN/ECE 13-H) that requires electronic stability systems (ESP systems) to be installed in commercial vehicles from 2011 onward. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) already enacted a similar regulation in 2007, according to which all passenger cars with gross vehicle weight of 4.5 tons must be equipped with ESP from model year 2012.
For the first time, these regulations permit the use of simulation models to verify that the ESP systems function correctly. dSPACE’s new simulation model ASM Truck already provides all the features required for testing and validating ESP functions for directional stabilization and rollover protection.
With virtual vehicle dynamics tests, testing activities can be moved from the road to the simulation system. This significantly reduces the workload and costs involved in testing the enormous number of different vehicle variants available in the commercial vehicle industry.
ASM Truck is an open MATLAB®/Simulink® model that is used together with ASM Trailer to simulate a vehicle with a trailer. The models contain up to 35 degrees of freedom (DOFs) in the multibody dynamics and up to 25 DOFs in the powertrain. The entire vehicle model has up to 8 steerable axles, which can have twin tires as an option. It is easy to modify the configuration even during run time without manipulating the model. For example, during the simulation axles can be activated and deactivated, and trailers can be hitched and unhitched. Because of its open implementation in Simulink, the model can be extended in any way desired and adapted to special test tasks. Configuration, parameterization and variant management are performed in the graphical user interface ModelDesk, which is also used to define roads and maneuvers.
ASM Truck even provides a solution that anticipates the next stage in the UN/ECE and NHTSA regulations, which will cover lane keeping assistance and emergency braking. Developers can test these functionalities by simulation with a combination of ASM Truck and ASM Traffic, a simulation model for the traffic surrounding the test vehicle.
All three models are components in the Automotive Simulation Models (ASM) from dSPACE. They are suitable for early function testing by offline simulation with Simulink and can be executed on a dSPACE Simulator in real time to test electronic control units by hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation.
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About dSPACE
dSPACE develops and distributes tools for the development of electronic control units (ECUs) and mechatronic systems worldwide. Using dSPACE systems, manufacturers of controllers and ECUs are able to dramatically reduce their development times and costs, and systematically increase their productivity.
Whether the objective is an electronically controlled diesel injection or fuel cell vehicles, virtually all car manufacturers and many of their suppliers rely on dSPACE hardware and software in their current development projects. dSPACE tools are also used in aerospace, drives technology, medical technology, industrial automation, and other fields.
The company also provides comprehensive services from on-site user training to customer-specific system engineering such as turn-key HIL test systems.
dSPACE has more than 800 employees worldwide at its headquarters in Paderborn, in the Project Centers at Munich and Stuttgart, and also in the subsidiaries in France, the UK, Japan, the USA and the Representative Office in China. In addition, numerous distributors provide customer support in other countries.
