Powertrain performance analysis is applied by the automotive industry to verify the dynamic performance of the vehicles, which is an outcome of the combination of the engine, the gear box, the driveline, the carrier ratio and the tire size.
On this analysis, the main non powertrain factors are the total combined vehicle weight and the route topography.
The total combined vehicle weight is a known factor. It is related to the vehicle application and it is restricted to pre-established limits.
In general, the route topography is the unlikely factor, due to the huge coverage of the potential paths.
Traditionally, the route topography determination is carry out supported by global positioning system (GPS) devices. Appling this methodology, the full route must be tracked by a vehicle equipped with GPS. Its complexity, time and cost increase in case of multiple routes must be tracked, in places geographically remote each other, as different regions, provinces, states or countries.
The methodology proposed on this article to the route topography determination makes use of virtual resources, based on free access softwares available in the internet. This way, noticeably reducing the time and cost involved on this activity.