Implementation and Evaluation of an Electronic Control Unit for an Automotive Testbed

Abstract: Modern vehicles rely on heavily electronically implemented functionalities. Withexpanding electrification in the automotive industry, as well as the advent of autonomous vehicles,the amount of implemented functionalities are increasing. This has resulted in a shift towardscentralized electronic architecture in automotive design.The aim of this project is to build and verify the firmware for a microcontroller, to be used in anautonomous driving testbed, with centralized architecture in mind. The microcontroller has tointerface with sensors and actuators, enable communication with a control unit and operate in a realtime system.The automotive testbed was conceived by the division of Electronics and Embedded Systems and thedivision of Mechatronics at KTH to support research activities targeting software platform andapplication aspects in the automotive domain.Drivers are built to operate peripheral components and facilitate communication. A real timeoperating system is used to ensure that the system can operate in real time.Measurements verify that sensor and actuator drivers deliver accurate readings and communicationtests show that the device is capable of transmitting and receiving information. Observations of thesystem demonstrate the successful timing characteristics necessary in a real time system.The report shows that the microcontroller preformes successfully in all tests and are able to meetthe required time constrains.