Application Story

Challenge: Calibrating ECUs has become a very demanding process in recent years, requiring test systems to improve their communication performance. D2T has been charged with establishing an efficient process for ECU communication around MORPHEE (the D2T Automation System) for the BMW Test Centre in Munich. 

Solution: The challenge of defining the interface between MORPHEE and INCA (the ETAS application tool) was solved by D2T by using the new ASAM MCD-3 MC Standard
 

Key Benefits: The result was a more powerful, more secure and more manageable process when a large volume of data has to be transferred.

BMW decided to design a complete new High Tech Testing Centre in Munich, dedicated to the Calibration of new ECUs and engines. 61 new test beds have been installed.

Following the demand for higher engine performance with less fuel consumption and decreasing emissions, the Calibration of a new engine and its ECU becomes a high-precision task. It requires more dynamic engine test beds, capable of reproducing real driving conditions accurately and to measuring them. Theoretically, this would mean conducting longer tests, increasing costs immensely. The new test beds’ productivity therefore has to be increased dramatically. This involves being able to exchange more data with less failure in a fully automated process.

Munich had charged D2T with the implementation of the automation system. But our task was not only to install our new MORPHEE 2 solution but also to run the project with other companies, such as ETAS and their application tool INCA. The link between MORPHEE and INCA is one of the crucial points to manage the ECUs and the Calibration process at the test beds efficiently. While MORPHEE runs the test in itself, controls all the devices of the test beds (dynamometers, measuring equipment, utilities, etc.) and finally the application tool itself which provides access to the engine via the ECU. The communication Standard between MORPHEE and INCA is ASAM MCD-3 MC.

As the automation system, the challenge to MORPHEE was to conduct the full Calibration process involving the Calibration tool, application tool, ECU, etc. Not only did it have to support ASAM MCD-3 MC but also the new EtherCAT communication protocol. When something was moving on one side, MORPHEE was immediately impacted. The role of D2T was to manage the problem and to find a “global” solution. Thanks to the versatility of MORPHEE, this task has been successfully accomplished and the goal to design one of the best and most automated test centres in the world has been achieved.

The use of the new MCD-3 MC communication Standard contributed to a more secure, a more powerful and a more easily manageable testing process for Calibration purposes.