During the design lifecycle of a vehicle, at some stage it is necessary to put together a system that uses real parts – such as switches, actuators, electronic control units and the intended wiring harness – to allow functional debugging and testing to be performed. This important stage exists to try to resolve system integration and software issues prior to building prototype vehicles. Prototype vehicles are a very costly investment, meaning test boards offer a lower-cost test platform.
add2’s Dynamic Test Board Vehicle Powertrain Simulator, ‘DTB-01-565’, is one of a new kind of test board simulators. It is designed specifically to deliver improved levels of functional testing at the breadboard, lab-car, yellowboard or plywood buck design phases.
Available with a mature platform of hardware and supporting software out of the box – along with cables and interfaces, the DTB is up and running in no time. A pre-built GUI is provided to configure the vehicle specific information, to monitor the system and to control the tests in open or closed-loop driving modes.
Integrated robustness test hardware
DTB simulators have built-in hardware to perform robustness testing such as cranking, transient bursts, ramping or captured waveforms.
Powerful control GUI
DTB simulators are monitored and controlled via a windows-based GUI. This GUI is used to choose the vehicle from easily configured data.
Crankshaft and camshaft sensor simulation
All DTB simulators can be configured to simulate the engine by generating the sensor signals for crank and CAM.
Low power modes testing
Each DTB comes with two channels of ultra wide, high dynamic range current measurement, allowing measurements from around 1mA to 1000 Amps without any switching.
Dynamic Test Board simulators can dramatically improve on traditional breadboard testing by including aspects that can normally only be performed on prototype vehicles. This allows testing to be performed earlier in the design lifecycle and can reduce the number of real prototype vehicles required.
Attractive cost of ownership compared to full HIL simulators is another of the many benefits of using DTB simulators, due to the reduced quantity of simulated I/O required.
In addition to offering many testing advantages, the DTB simulator is portable enough to be deployed across multiple breadboard set-ups, as the all-in-one unit contains a CPU, I/O conditioning and measurement system, with standard connectivity.
DTBs can extend test coverage, including:
• Infotainment systems
• Cruise control systems
• Instrument cluster testing and calibration
• Wiring harness integrity
• Autolocking, seatbelt and restraints warnings
• Basic ABS controller functions
• Auto-transmission locking functions
• Fuel level warning and fueling protection
• Systems level low voltage standards testing
• Electrical robustness testing
• Engine running scenarios
• Driving scenarios
• User interface and driver controls testing
• Real I/O stimulation for missing parts
• Electrical robustness testing, such as cranking
• Quiescent current investigations
• Test automation
