Determining the Optimal Distributed Electronic Module Solution of an Automotive System while Incorporating Harness Routing Alternatives in an Electrical/Electronic Architecture Tool Environment

Vehicle packaging and build requirements often impact the size and routing of electrical harnesses utilized in vehicles. More specifically, OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturer) often have strict vehicle manufacturing requirements on electronic module locations and harness parameters such as mass, bundle diameter, and routing requirements. The module location and the wiring parameters have a direct impact on the overall vehicle Electrical / Electronic (E/E) Architecture. For example, mass may impact whether or not machine assistance is required for installation or if additional inline connections are required. Bundle diameter may impact front of dash pass through design or it may force partitioning of electronic content. Harness routing may impact the possible distribution of electrical and electronic content in a vehicle. In other words, the vehicle's overall E/E architecture efficiency, as measured by an OEM, is impacted by not only where the electronics are located in a vehicle but also by the electrical structure of the vehicle. This paper will show that through the use of an E/E Architecture analysis tool environment, vehicle manufacturing alternatives, with respect to harness routing options and electronic module placement, can be incorporated to identify an optimal E/E solution. A baseline architecture will be examined with an analysis tool. Different alternatives of electronic distribution will then be compared against the baseline to demonstrate the limits of architecture optimization when the analysis is limited with fixed harness and fixed module location constraints. As these different levels of optimization are discussed, the author will point out features that E/E architecture analysis tools should incorporate. Finally, various harness routing options combined with new electronic content distribution will be examined to show how an optimal solution is achievable utilizing an E/E Architecture analysis too.