automotive electronics simulation software

[sonti]

hey....can anyone tell me which is the most popular automotive electronics simulation package.
i ve came across this software called AT electronics 4.1.Is it useful?

[sonti]

hey....can anyone tell me which is the most popular automotive electronics simulation package.
i ve came across this software called AT electronics 4.1.Is it useful?

[screwdriver]

Never heard of it. A quick research reveals that AT is meant as an educational aid, rather than a sophisticated simulator.

Question is what you want to do with it, exactly.
E.g. if you want to set up the ecu without having the engine on a dyno, that software will not do. Neither can it help you with the power balance for your vehicle.

Can you tell me a little bit more about what you plan to achieve?

[sonti]

hey...thanks for replying.
Yes i am looking for a an educational kit...where i can download a library of sensors,set the variables in them,select a modelled ecu ,set the hierarcy in the ecu and observe outputs varying a few engine parameters.

Anything remotely close to what i described will do.

Basically i am a 2nd year EE student part of a team building our 1st car...i have very little idea about how electronics teams in FSAE function.Do u have any tips on what i should give priority to?
Thanks,
siddharth

[Pete M]

Focus on getting the engine running and running reliably, everything else is secondary.

[Kirby]

Like Pete said,

Identify MISSION CRITICAL systems. Make sure they are 100%. Then worry about the stuff that won't drop you out of competition.

As a 1st year team, work on having it simple, simple, simple!

I've never heard of any software that emulates a ECU like what you ask.

What ECU are you using?

[screwdriver]

The two before me gave you a rough idea.

Look into buying an after-market ECU or using the stock one for starters. DON'T even think about building your own ECU from scratch without gathering some experience first.
When it comes to after-market ECUs, there's a lot to choose from. Just look around in these forums. You can gather a few names and look them up. There's thinks like tuning ECUs like the MBE (what we've used in our first year) on one end of the financial scale, and fully fledged racing ECUs like the MOTEC and Bosch on the other end.
There's also Megasquirt, which is an educational ECU, you kind of do it yourself (well assemble it and set up the software).
Try putting together a list of stuff you can find that way, look them up for further information and discuss which one to use with your team-mates from the engine team.
When it comes down to funding, try ringing up the manufacturer. If that doesn't work out, look for a local tuning company that can supply it and ask them politely.

As for how our electrics/electronics team works, we're part of the engine/drivetrain/ee team. As such we decide which projects to do together with the rest of the team. We spawn ideas at the start of the season, set up a project plan and set of creating the stuff.

If you want do-it-yourself electronics, I think a good place to start is to build a dash-board (i.e. designing your own PCB, which drives the instruments, or some LEDs an a LCD like in our case). It's nothing really spectacular, but you'll learn a lot, especially how to fight the typical automotive electronics problems, but it's worth it. As such having problems is actually good, because you gain a lot of experience in the process of solving them.
If that gets too boring, after say two or three seasons, you can look for other stuff to do. I.e start studying control-system design and look for a simple application on the car or do your own telemetry system, if you want to peek into radio-communications. Only if these projects get boring, too can you start building your own engine-management.

By the way: when it comes to software development, recruit yourself some computer-science students. They want to have some fun, too. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

Cheers and good luck!

[Kurt Bilinski]

An electrical system simulator. That's where, with one wrong move, there's a loud pop and flash, your computer screen goes blank, and you smell something burning, lol