Powerful tests for a powerful car

The 1001HP Bugatti EB 16.4 is both the fastest and most expensive production car available, and its electronic control units were tested thoroughly in the laboratory using Dspace Simulator.

The 1001HP Bugatti EB 16.4 is both the fastest and most expensive production car available.

The electronic control units (ECUs) installed in it were tested thoroughly in the laboratory using Dspace Simulator.

Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing provided the reliable environment needed for this, allowing the ECU functions to be tested in any conceivable scenario and driving manoeuvre - with no danger to the driver or the vehicle.

HIL simulation finds the majority of errors in ECUs.

This dramatically enhances the quality of the ECU code and drastically cuts overall development costs.

The final task was to test the complete network of ECUs.

This was a major step towards function verification for the entire vehicle electronics.

HIL-based laboratory testing with Dspace Simulator was a great success at Bugatti - an experience reflected in many other companies.

Bugatti used Dspace Simulator Full-Size to test two engine ECUs, one ECU for the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, and one ECU each for the all-wheel and ESP component and an instrument cluster.

These powertrain ECUs were physically present, embedded in a virtual world that provided the components to be controlled - the 16-cylinder engine and the seven-gear dual clutch transmission - as mathematical models.

These two models were developed by Bugatti's parent company Volkswagen.

They and the models for the all-wheel transmission and the ESP components were integrated into the Simulator environment with a minimum of adaptation.

The main focus of the tests was to investigate the ECUs' behaviour in response to failures that were systematically fed to them.

The functions for controlling the powertrain were distributed across several ECUs, so network testing of these was vital.

This was the only way to ensure that all the ECUs in the network would work together smoothly.

Dspace Simulator allows parallel and continuous monitoring of all CAN channels, arbitrary switching in and out of individual ECUs and their simulation with CAN restbus simulation, and CAN signal manipulation for all messages and signals from and two the participating ECUs.

Dspace delivered the system in 2003.

It has been testing ECUs with great efficiency ever since.

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