At first glance RDE seems to be a road testing topic only, mistakenly. While Type approval test must be performed at the Road and Chassis Dyno, development work beforehand delivers solutions fulfilling the demanded legislation limits. Making the right development steps and decisions will lead to a technical solution within economy of scales.
Much of this work done happens on engine testbeds and Real Driving Emissions (RDE) per UN-ECE legislation or the new test cycle for the chassis dyno according WLTP (Worldwide Harmonized Light-Duty Test Procedure) will not change that. The question is, are engine test beds fit for this new challenge or are changes required?
One characteristic element of RDE is the randomness of operating conditions generated by a road drive. There must be found a way, to achieve RDE relevant test conditions in a most reproducible manner. One challenge to solve is to find the RDE relevant test conditions and the other challenge is, to create those conditions on the testbed. Apart of steady state calibration work under different ambient settings also transient testing is needed. A final step on the engine test bed will be the validation of work done by virtual road trips. Development targets can be achieved most efficiently by using a seamless development tool chain, which enables transferring simulation models and results along the development road.
A deeper look is taken to testbed hardware (dynos, conditioning devices) for achieving RDE relevant operating points and software tools to enable a methodical approach for developing efficient RDE compliant powertrains