On the road and off the highway
Laboratory testing of automotive systems is followed by in-vehicle tests. Road testing shifts from initial trials on dedicated proving grounds to public roadways. Standard drive cycles, e.g., stop-and-go in city traffic, are conducted as well as high-speed runs or tests under various road conditions. In many cases, to verify performance under extreme conditions of temperature and altitude, vehicles are subjected to driving tests in Arctic regions, desert areas or high mountain ranges.
Calibration engineers adjust and optimize electronic systems onboard the vehicle with regard to driving characteristics. In addition, thresholds of diagnostic functions are verified against environmental parameters.
Vehicle testing – reliable and efficient
Vehicle testing has to be very efficient, since development cycles become shorter and the number of test vehicles is becoming more and more limited. Data has to be acquired throughout the entire vehicle trial to maximize test coverage.
Drive recorders are an important part of test engineers’ tool sets. For validation tasks performed within the development phase, ETAS offers drive recorders that provide for unattended operation of INCA functions. They replace the INCA PC, utilize ETAS measurement hardware, ECU and bus interfaces, and INCA experiment configurations. Vast measurement files can be recorded and analyzed by use of the MDA Measure Data Analyzer.