Power Electronics meets AUTOSAR – How two mid-sized companies realize new communication in vehicles together.
As a response to the constantly increasing demands on the communication within vehicles, the AUTOSAR software architecture is establishing itself not only in the automotive industry, but also in the areas of mobile machinery and commercial vehicles. The demand for a standardized method for other vehicle components that are addressed is increasing as well. The cooperation research project of the companies Deutronic Elektronik GmbH and b-plus automotive GmbH shows how a standardized communication could look like based on the example of high-voltage DC/DC converters.
Since 2001, the collaboration of the EDWANZ group and the b-plus group creates significant added value for the customers of both company groups. The companies Deutronic Elektronik GmbH – member of the EDWANZ group – and b-plus automotive GmbH – member of the b-plus group – complement each other perfectly in R&D know-how and production possibilities. A cooperation offers ideal conditions for the realization of complex projects, in which the respective core competences and production capacities of both companies can be used optimally in combination.
The company Deutronic is established worldwide as an expert in application-specific devices and customer-specific solutions for power electronics. In addition to a highly innovative product portfolio, Deutronic’s orientation as a solution provider increasingly sets it apart from potential competitors. Focal point of their expertise are the four business units “Charging Technology”, “Transportation”, “Logistics” and “Test & Automation”, completed by the company-specific area of excellence “More”.
The Deutronic high-voltage DC/DC converters communicated via Standard CAN and J1939 until now.
With the separate unit “Transportation”, Deutronic is especially focusing on the high requirements in the areas of mobile machinery and commercial vehicles. The focus is especially set on the development of DC/DC converters, amongst other things also for hybrid and electro vehicles.
The b-plus automotive GmbH develops software for control units (ECU) and assistance systems (ADAS) for automated, autonomous and connected driving from sensor to cloud. Based on platform-independent standard components, the company offers integrated engineering performance from development, integration, test and hedging (HIL/SIL) to cloud services as a competent partner for OEMs and Tier1 customers.
With more than 10 years of successful development with AUTOSAR technologies in the b-plus Group and its active participation in the development of AUTOSAR Adaptive, the company defines tomorrow’s automotive communication standards.
With the project “Power Electronics meets AUTOSAR” the integration of electronic components in a general in-vehicle communications protocol is enabled and implemented by means of a high-voltage DC/DC converter.
The DVCH-series of Deutronic DC/DC converters meets the high requirements in a vehicle and furthermore impress with their extremely flat design through the used planar technology and their modular design, which enable customer-specific adjustments and the development of new communication channels. The standard protocols CAN and J1939 are extended by AUTOSAR through the new development of the communication module in the project.
With b-plus automotive’s CONiX AUTOSAR solution and Deutronic’s DVCH DC/DC converter series both companies combine their core competences to master the challenges of this collaboration project.
The CONiX AUTOSAR solution is the customer-oriented solution of b-plus automotive, that creates a complete system for algorithm development for control units by combining AUTOSAR with measurement technology, functional safety monitors and bootloader-interfacing. Through the frame software and the modular design, this solution offers the ideal base for the successful and fast implementation of AUTOSAR on different control units.
Since AUTOSAR enables both time and cost savings thanks to its standardized development environment and modular structure, newer ECUs are more often AUTOSAR-enabled. If other components like DC/DC converter, that are essential in e-vehicles, can now also communicate via AUTOSAR, control units that are used as gateways between different communication protocols become obsolete. Thus, using the DC/DC converter as an example, signals can be sent directly to the converter, e.g. to change the charging voltage for the buffer battery in response to increased or decreased power consumption on the part of the on-board electronics. The converter can directly transmit for instance error messages due to over-temperature to the control system without a control unit as a gateway.
With the project “Power Electronics meets AUTOSAR” both companies manage another important step in the direction of intelligent networking within future vehicles together and actively take part in defining the standards of tomorrow.
Already existing and future customers of both companies highly profit from the cooperation of the Deutronic Elektronik GmbH and the b-plus automotive GmbH. In association, both companies aim for optimal solutions for their customers and with that also guarantee the feasibility of innovative concepts and developments. Driven by technological evolutions, respective revolutions, two companies and the related concept eventually create a project of the future.