Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (Japan) conducted integrated testing of the electronic systems of the i-MiEV, its new electric car, on a dSPACE Simulator. dSPACE Simulator has proven itself in engine control systems tests for Mitsubishi’s Lancer and other models. The i-MiEV is a next-generation electric car that integrates Mitsubishi Motors’ electric car technologies. Its market launch was announced on June 5 this year.
The i-MiEV’s electronic platform is characterized by a distributed control format that uses five dedicated electric vehicle electronic control units (ECUs). Using hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation to test the entire networked system allowed highly efficient, highly accurate tests to be run quickly.
Mitsubishi Motors employs the HIL simulator as an integrated test environment. The HIL simulator provides a comprehensive test framework for integrating the networked electronic controls.
Use of the comprehensive dSPACE tools enabled test scenario design, automated failure insertion, and automatic testing.
Dr. Hayafune, Vice Corporate General Manager of MiEV Development and Development Engineering Office at Mitsubishi Motors, described the results of using dSPACE’s HIL simulator in ECU testing as follows: “Because it was possible to automatically and thoroughly run test patterns, we detected software bugs that could not be detected with conventional testing. Thus, the simulator played an essential role in the development of our electric vehicle.”
Hitoshi Arima, President of dSPACE Japan, commented: “In electric vehicles, a test environment capable of integrating high-end electronic technologies is essential. In the future, we will continue to provide test environments for improving environmental performance and expand our engineering services.”
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