Novel Distributed Control Architecture for Formula SAE-Type Electric Vehicles

This paper proposes a new distributed/zonal control architecture composed of generic control modules. The new architecture increases the number of available input and outputs and improves reliability through redundancy, helping electric vehicles (EVs) meet the demand for advanced vehicle features and reliability. Each control module is equipped with analog and digital input pins, digital output pins, 2 CAN bus connections, power supplies from the 12V EV battery, a state-of-the-art DSP, and a wireless telemetry module for remote datalogging. A software architecture is developed to enable local signal processing from sensors, communication between modules in the distributed control architecture, and actuation of control objectives. Two CAN transceivers on two separate CAN busses are included for redundancy. Digi XBee Pro 900 HP module is used for long-distance wireless datalogging. TMS320F283874s microcontroller is used for its significant processing power and high number of peripherals. The controller units/boards were designed, fabricated and tested. Successful experimental validation was performed using the control module and emulator boards for the battery management system (BMS) and inverter. Multiple modules are connected and their ability to receive information from sensors, communicate with other boards, and control external hardware is tested. The prototype developed is intended for use in a Formula SAE EV.