Embedded ECU emulation platform for safe adaptive front-light system control algorithm development

Safety-conscious design and implementation of automotive electronics is now being important in safe driving under severe electromagnetic disturbance. In this paper, we introduce our experience and development framework to develop a safe electronic control unit (ECU) automotive controller algorithm using hardware-in-the-loop (HILS) based on Matlab/Simulink models, which are connected to ECU hardware. We propose a design flow of Matlab/Simulink based on model-based algorithm implementation of ECU controller and chip level ECU function emulation methodology using dSPACE's MicroAutoBox™, which is an off the shelf embedded system for ECU software-hardware emulation. As a case study, we shows that fast design and implementation of the specific ECU hardware, which is integrated with custom-designed its controller algorithm for adaptive front-light system (AFLS) is easily evaluated by using the proposed development framework.