Automotive electronic control unit development process improvement experiment

Project Information

ECUPIE

Grant agreement ID: FP4_24197

Project closed

Start date 1 March 1997

End date 31 August 1998

Funded under

• Software Best Practice initiative within the framework of the specific research and technological development programme in the field of Information Technologies, 1994-1998

Total cost € 278 850,00

EU contribution € 278 850,00

Coordinated by

Bayerische Motoren Werke Ag
Germany

Objective

BMW is a company which produces high performance automobiles and motorcycles. The number and complexity of electronic equipment available in modern automobiles is rapidly increasing. Hence, the general objective of our experiment is the improvement of the software development process of electronic control units (ECUs) by means of time and quality. We expect a reduction of time by 20 -30%. A better quality is expected because of reuse and a rigorous formal approach. Electronic control systems also play an important part in other industries, like telecommunication or aviation. The experiences achieved can therefore be transferred to a wide community.

THE EXPERIMENT
In the PIE we want to apply a new development method, namely the ASCET method (object oriented), that promises to shorten the development time and to simultaneously increase the reliability of the software. To evaluate this method we have chosen a representative control system out of the chassis control area that consists of discrete and continuous software parts (hybrid system). The main activities in the project are modelling, simulation, rapid prototyping and targeting. Based on the baseline project and the current method used, we compare both methods by defined measurement activities. The results enable us to value the new method.

EXPECTED IMPACT AND EXPERIENCE
Based on technical benefits, like automatic code generation and reuse, the development time of ECUs can be reduced. New car functionalities are available at an earlier point of time. That means, time to market can also be reduced. This fact, together with the improved reliability and quality of the system, enhances the competitiveness of BMW. If the results confirm our expectations the new method will be applied in future projects at BMW and will also be added to our TQM activities.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.

• engineering and technology › electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering › electronic engineering › control systems
• natural sciences › computer and information sciences › software › software development

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Programme(s)

• FP4-ESSI 2 - Software Best Practice initiative within the framework of the specific research and technological development programme in the field of Information Technologies, 1994-1998

Topic(s)

• 1.28 - Process Improvement Experiments

Call for proposal

Data not available

Funding Scheme

ACM - Preparatory, accompanying and support measures

Coordinator

Bayerische Motoren Werke Ag

• EU contribution: No data
• Address: Knorrstrasse 147 ; 80788 Muenchen ; Germany
• Total cost: No data