Educational Framework for Automotive ECU Design:A Case Study

The development of automotive sub systems involves integration of multiple sub modules. Each sub system involves more than one sub component, with possible dependencies between components. The electronic sub systems, usually known as electronic control units(ECUs) are the integrated parts of modern automotives. The development of suchmodules requires the knowledge belonging to diverse engineering domains and also an ability to work in multi disciplinary environment. This paper discusses about an activity attempted for the course on automotive electronics for the third year engineering students of circuit branches. The activity involves providing an experience of development of ECUs which in turn provides an opportunity of getting exposed to industrial environment. An automotive electronics, a core course taught for the students of circuit branches is mainly application oriented involving system level concepts. The course was introduced to cater to the needs of automotive industries. The concepts of entire course can be divided into five main domains; power train, safety systems, body, driver assistance and infotainment systems. Accordingly to complement the learning it was decided to introduce an extended activity in the form of course projects wherein the theme was to develop electronic control units (ECUs) for every domain. An ECU of an automotive has multiple functionalities, each representing a sub-module of a bigger system. The integration of sub-modules to realize a specific ECU was major objective of the activity. The sub-module development involves modelling, hardware/software development and communication protocol implantation. To impart the industry like working culture amongst students, every sub-module belonging to specific ECU was assigned to the students of different department. Sub modules were developed independently by specialized dedicated team of a particular department and were integrated to demonstrate a final ECU by different department teams. The Prototype models with an option of testing on a test vehicle were the results of this activity. The student learning was measured in terms of their ability to work in a team, project management skills and their technical competencies to develop sub-modules and integration of sub modules. The outcomes are also discussed with respect to students placements in automotive industries and attainment of ABET outcomes.