Projects

As vehicle systems are becoming more complex, the demands on testing, diagnosis and maintenance are growing. Our diagnostic tasks closely adhere to the ASAM / ODX standard, which ensures greater accuracy and also standardises the communication interfaces between the vehicle's testing and control devices. This means that the same tools can be used for a wide range of control devices. ODX ensures the compatibility of all the data types involved. Testing devices in production and in customer service can now communicate faultlessly with the control devices of different vehicles and different assembly variants. In addition, the uniformity of the ODX data guarantees top process and product quality.

The proportion of electronics in vehicles is increasing continually, and so is the complexity of the electronic systems. This makes it more difficult to quickly and accurately identify and locate problems. Together with the Volkswagen Group, we have made diagnosis an integral part of the vehicle functions – one that is implemented right from the outset of development. As a result, diagnostic data are generated automatically throughout the different development stages. Together with the vehicle's on-board diagnostics, these data can be used to generate cross-functional diagnostics. Troubleshooting is greatly accelerated, and additional costs caused by needless replacement of control devices are eliminated.

As technology has advanced in recent years, voice-controlled systems have become popular components in vehicle control concepts.

KThe heart of a voice control system is the design of the human–machine interaction. Dialogs of varying complexity – from a "command & control" dialog to dynamic, natural speech – and optimal dialog structures are being developed and employed for specific purposes. Successful human-machine interaction depends not only on word choice and flow, but also on the seamless integration of voice control into the vehicle's overall control concept, as well as the intelligent combination of linguistic and haptic-visual operation.

Carmeq supports customers during all the development stages for new voice-operated control systems. We offer a range of development tools for prototyping as well as for modeling dialog structures that are ready for serial production.

The assessment of voice-operated control systems is a unique challenge, as their performance can deviate considerably when faced with unusual conditions involving different speakers. Our testing concepts permit us to conduct statistically sound assessments of recognition stability, as well as assessments of the voice control system's operating quality.

Driver assistance systems are able to warn about and even correct dangerous driving situations. The recreation of such situations for development purposes, however, can take a lot of time and effort. Vehicle-in-the-loop (VIL) is designed to simplify this stage. The VIL software tool facilitates fast and consistent development and testing of driver assistance functions in a safe, reproducible and resource-friendly environment.

VIL incorporates the real-world driving experience with a computer simulation. The driver of an actual vehicle is fitted with a head-mounted display (HMD) that places him inside an 'augmented reality' (AR). Virtual objects such as vehicles, pedestrians, traffic signs or even entire city scenarios can be blended in and out as needed. A computer simulation for outside traffic and vehicle sensors is directly linked to the researched driver assistance function using standard interfaces. The traffic simulation is intelligent, which means you can trigger specific actions and driving conditions. A wide range of real-world scenarios can easily be adapted and reproduced. The sensor system can be tested offline and independently of the function's development.

AUTOSAR (AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture) is an open and standardised architecture for automotive software and is being jointly developed by manufacturers, parts suppliers and software developers. Carmeq has been supporting crucial aspects of AUTOSAR since 2004. We take care of change and configuration management, defining and communicating the associated processes and establishing decision templates and escalation paths. Through our activities, we take responsibility for the controlling of new releases and for the quality of the AUTOSAR standard. We process up to 250 change requests per week.

Technical Management coordinates and steers all the development activities of the standardisation project. The project status is regularly assessed by the Project Control Office and reported to the relevant committees. Based on the project's progress and targets, the necessary actions are identified and specific improvements are proposed. In individual cases, Management Support works directly with the project.

The main specification aspects of the AUTOSAR standard are captured and maintained using models. The Technical Office – centrepiece of the AUTOSAR standardisation project – undertakes all modifications to these core aspects of AUTOSAR and integrates them into the specifications. This ensures the architectural consistency of the 70-odd individual software modules. Through interlocking these support functions very tightly, Carmeq achieves a high level of synergy for the project. Customer assessments regularly confirm the consistently high quality of our contributions.

The lane keeping assistant is a software-based driver assistance function that introduces active steering corrections to help the driver stay in the lane. This prevents unintentional lane departure and any accidents this may entail. The operational software of the lane keeping assistant was developed on a model basis using rapid control prototyping tools. The functions are depicted visually using graphical models and can be readily applied to the vehicle. The software's efficient generation of serial codes facilitates tool-based function optimisation. For the development of the lane keeping assistant, we used MATLAB/Simulink/Stateflow (The MathWorks), TargetLink for serial code generation, and MicroAutobox (both dSPACE).

DThe requirements stipulated for functional safety ensure control over the risks that can arise from integrating electronic functions into the vehicle. Through the implementation of preventative analysis methodologies, possible malfunctions can be located at a very early stage and customers provided with suitable control measures. Proof of adherence to the current functional safety standards shows the development to be up-to-date technologically, and also attests its diligence. Carmeq has gathered an extensive amount of functional safety expertise from projects for OEM and parts suppliers.

The ongoing increases of complexity and dynamics in the development of software-based electrical/electronic systems pose growing challenges to the approaches, methods and tools used in organisational project management (PM).

Many companies find it difficult to establish target-oriented organisational processes in project management and to achieve an adequate level of project management maturity. Many companies are also daunted by the prospect of introducing software products such as R-Plan or SAP to provide efficient support to their existing and future project management processes.

We enable the introduction and optimisation of organisational project management for our customers to ensure transparency and control of the company's project portfolio – through specifically tailored consultancy services. These may include establishing a project management or project control office (PMO/PCO) as well as establishing the required project management processes across the company. All our processes are informed by best-practice experiences and adhere to standards such as SPICE , CMMI and PMBoK . In the conception and introduction of a PM software environment, we act as a bridge between the customer's users and system supplier – meaning that we are a neutral and qualified partner who is solely focused on the customer's requirements. A good example of this is the conception and implementation of user-oriented instructions and trainings for the company-wide use of new PM software environments (e.g., R-Plan or SAP).

The development of electronic vehicle systems is continuously subjected to new requirements. Organisational structures and processes therefore need to be continuously adapted in order to adhere to cost reduction targets, keep up with system complexity, and embed new technologies in products to reinforce competitive advantages. We advise managerial staff and decision makers on how to overcome process-related, organisational and technical challenges.

We analyse complex cooperation relationships and define optimised models to ensure failsafe development collaborations. As a neutral partner, we are in a position to create universally acceptable solutions, particularly for cooperative relationships. By combining Carmeq's technical expertise with our consulting expertise, we provide a unique service.

We specialise in development processes for complex product structures and in the integration of consultancy with in-depth technological know-how. This is evidenced by the organisational structures we have defined for developments, by our support for the technological conception of products, and by the company-wide cooperation processes we have devised.

Process improvement is a complex task with the aim of increasing performance as defined by the company goals. Process improvement needs to be conducted systematically, efficiently and sustainably.

We assess and improve development projects according to standards such as SPICE and AutomotiveSPICE ^® . Following our process improvement measures, we also assist during the piloting stage and can furthermore assume operational responsibility.

Model-based development of "executable requirements specifications" and automatic generation or implementation of series software for comfort control devices of the Golf/Polo platform of the Volkswagen Group.

In the development of function software, Carmeq employs a model-based development paradigm on all levels. The graphical programming language we use is MATLAB/Simulink/Stateflow. Simulations facilitate rapid control prototyping of function models. This permits an interactive approach to function software development, ranging from function clarification right through to the integration of the function software with serially produced control devices.

We have learned in numerous previous projects that integrating fringe competencies for non-functional conditions with the control devices' software development should take place at the earliest possible stage of model-based development. In this process, behavioural models support both the specification and understanding of text-based requirements specifications. Through the use of graphical platforms, the function can already be 'experienced' at this early stage.