AUTOSAR for Engine Management Systems

Magneti Marelli Holding S.p.A. introduces AUTOSAR-compliant development for its engine management systems.

• Magneti Marelli starts innovative AUTOSAR Cross-Project X-PRO
  
• dSPACE's SystemDesk is used for designing the architecture
  
• Good performance results due to efficient code

Paderborn, June 10, 2008: Magneti Marelli Holding S.p.A. has introduced AUTOSAR-compliant development for its engine management systems. The Italian automotive supplier is using SystemDesk, dSPACE's system architecture software, for this purpose. SystemDesk is specially designed for planning, implementing and integrating complex system architectures and distributed software systems as described in the AUTOSAR standard.
This ambitious project underlines Magneti Marelli's long-term commitment to AUTOSAR. Engineering Control Group manager Alessandro Palma describes Magneti Marelli S.p.A. goals: "We aim to verify the feasibility of an AUTOSAR-compliant software architecture development for a complex engine control systems by setting up a demonstrator."
This activity is part of a specific Magneti Marelli S.p.A. project: "Magneti Marelli Autosar Cross-Project X-PRO" that involves all Magneti Marelli divisions (Automotive Lighting, Powertrain, Electronic System, SDC Synaptic Damping Control).
The main goals of this project are:

• Provide Magneti Marelli electronic platforms with an AUTOSAR open software architecture able to integrate customers' software solutions
  
• Develop first Magneti Marelli AUTOSAR application product
  
• Increase software reusability among different Magneti Marelli ECUs

The starting-point for this project is an existing Magneti Marelli engine control unit (ECU) whose software is being completely migrated to AUTOSAR and reimplemented on the same ECU. SystemDesk was used to design the entire software architecture and to implement the scheduling of all tasks. The volume of data to be handled for this was impressive: several thousand variables including their exact data types, scaling factors and min/max values. More than a hundred AUTOSAR software components were specified and the runnables they contain were configured according to the task schedule defined by Magneti Marelli. When the architecture specification was complete, the supplier generated the run-time environment (RTE), the software layer that is essential for AUTOSAR systems. This was done directly from within SystemDesk.

Senior software engineer Luigi Romagnoli carried out performance measurements and comparisons with RTE code from other sources. He describes the results as follows: "Despite the large number of variables that engine control units typically have, the RTE code produced is efficient enough. We still have to complete the entire architecture design by adding others modules and we are convinced that good results can be reached. High-performance AUTOSAR applications can be implemented on current types of engine control units."
Magneti Marelli is using a prerelease of Version 1.1 of SystemDesk for its developments. This version also successfully handled a special challenge: automatically importing the existing, extensive ECU data set into SystemDesk. This is supported by SystemDesk Automation, a set of features that allow variables, interface definitions, etc., that are described in a database (for example, Excel) to be imported directly into a new system architecture. This avoids introducing errors during manual architecture design. These features made it possible to perform the task of migrating an entire existing ECU to AUTOSAR at reasonable economic cost.

Following the successful implementation of the system architecture and generation of an efficient RTE, Magneti Marelli's next step will be to implement the application software in compliance with AUTOSAR. TargetLink, dSPACE's production code generator, will play a major role in this phase.


Company Profile – Magneti Marelli
Magneti Marelli is an international company committed to the design and production of hi-tech systems and components for the automotive sector.
With a turnover of € 5.0 billion in 2007, 27,962 employees, 46 production sites, 9 R&D Centres and 27 Application Centres, the Group has a presence in 16 countries (Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Poland, Czech Republic, Russia, Turkey, the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, China, Japan, Malaysia and South Africa). Magneti Marelli supplies all the leading car makers in Europe, North and South America, and Asia. As part of its mission to supply parts to the automotive industry worldwide, Magneti Marelli is providing its know-how and wide-ranging expertise in electronics, through a process of ongoing innovation, in order to develop intelligent systems for active and passive vehicle safety, onboard comfort and powertrain technologies.


Company Profile – dSPACE
dSPACE is the world’s leading producer of engineering tools for developing electronic control units (ECUs) and mechatronic controls. The company was one of those that opened up this market segment some 20 years ago, and has remained one of its driving forces to this day. Using dSPACE systems, manufacturers of controllers and electronic control units (ECUs) dramatically reduce their development times and costs, and noticeably increase their productivity. The reason is our optimum mix of standard solutions for rapid control prototyping, automatic production code generation, hardware-in-the-loop simulation, and ECU calibration. We also provide comprehensive services – from on-site training through to custom engineering.
dSPACE’s customers value it as a high-tech market leader that invests in continuous further development. They also appreciate our close partnership with them, shown by years of cooperation with numerous customers, pursuing our common objective of maintaining, indeed extending, their technological lead.
There are now more than 800 dSPACE employees worldwide, most of whom are engineers.
dSPACE systems are distributed by our headquarters in Paderborn and subsidiaries in the USA, France, the UK, and Japan. Numerous distributors support customers all over the world. Our customer base includes almost all major electronics suppliers and manufacturers in the automotive industry, along with prominent companies in other fields.
Our customer base includes all major vehicle manufacturers and suppliers, plus aerospace and drives companies. Airbus, Audi, BMW, Boeing, Daimler, Honda, Nissan, Toyota and VW are just a few examples.


Contact Magneti Marelli
Magneti Marelli Holding S.p.A
Walter Nesci
Bas Departement & XPRO Project Manager
Via del Timavo 38
40100 Bologna, Italien
Tel: +390516157416
E-Mail: walter.nesci@magnetimarelli.com


Contact dSPACE
dSPACE GmbH
Bernd Schäfers-Maiwald
Director Marketing-Communication
Technologiepark 25
33100 Paderborn
Tel: +49 5251 1638-714
Fax: +49 5251 16198-714
E-Mail: press@dspace.de