FAILURE MODE TESTING TOOL SET FOR AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONIC CONTROLLERS

The increasing complexity of automotive controllers requires the devel opment and application of advanced tools to meet the challenges of sof tware and systems integration testing. In this paper, a real-time hard ware-in-the-loop simulation facility will be presented for software ve rification. A dynamic laboratory environment, similar to the actual ve hicle, facilitates the investigation and documentation of controller p erformance for prescribed operating scenarios. To support the verifica tion of diagnostic software, a modular failure mode interface has been developed. A set of six failure modes is defined to automate the intr oduction of degradations into the controller's environment. The comput er-controlled scheduler utility enables test sequences to be scheduled in a precise manner, while the data acquisition strategy logs time-sy nchronized data to verify the controller's operation. Three simulation test methods will be presented for software verification. To demonstr ate the capabilities and potential applications of this tool set, a se ries of manifold absolute pressure sensor failures is discussed.