Chassis Control System Development Using Simulation: Software in the Loop, Rapid Prototyping, and Hardware in the Loop

DaimlerChrysler Activity Vehicle Engineering uses simulation to reduce algorithm development time, prototype iterations, and improve quality in chassis control systems. This paper describes the methodology and process of using simulation in the form of Software in the Loop, Rapid Prototyping, and Hardware in the Loop in the development of chassis control systems. The heart of the Activity Vehicle chassis control simulation is a 14 DOF vehicle dynamics model, which was developed using Matlab/Simulink/Stateflow^®. This vehicle dynamics model represents the virtual vehicle in the Software in the Loop and Hardware in the Loop development stages. Control algorithms are also developed in Matlab/Simulink/Stateflow^® and downloaded directly to a dSPACE^® Rapid Prototyping system or to the production module via autocode generation using Targetlink^®.