R.K. Tripathi

How To Make Virtual Prototyping Better Than Designing With Hardware

Sometimes tool integrations are still required , but complexity is reduced to the exchange of information via control APIs and configuration files rather than cables, networks, and manual setup of test panels. Product-related projects require a prototype for development into a commercial product to be manufactured and/or sold by the customer. When designing high performance automotive applications nowadays, it is essential to provide solutions able to combine high stiffness with less weight. Lightweighting is the leading trend in the automotive industry and it relates to the automotive stive for more sustainable cars.

  • The firmware caused unanticipated retry loops which cascaded to COP timeout and reset of the system.
  • The authors hope that this discussion on the long-term benefits of virtual prototypes will encourage acceptance and help justify the business case for future model developments.
  • In any case, this is not verification activities at the design stage (math, analysis, etc.), rather it is verification using the prototype.
  • I see a lot of questions here where people have seen a certain circuit mentioned somewhere, and their first step is to run it through a simulator.
  • There are currently too many delays in the design, development and engineering of a product as there is no integrated vision.
  • He has 20 years experience in microcontroller development, microcontroller simulation, embedded software and independent test/verification.
  • This message alerts the software engineer of the specification violation.

Simulation test gear doesn’t load the circuit like real scopes and DMMs do, so with care, you can get better results. Enter the email address you signed up with and we’ll email you a reset link. Check your email for your verification email, or enter your email address in the form below to resend the email.

Thermal Modeling And Simulation Of Electron Beam Melting For Rapid Prototyping On Ti6al4v Alloys

Simply put, in this case, the development with physical prototypes is impractical and a multiple vehicle grid simulation of virtual prototypes is capable of validating the design. Everett Lumpkin is Senior Function Design Methodology and Automation Engineer with Delphi Corp. He has 20 years experience in microcontroller development, microcontroller simulation, embedded software and independent test/verification.

(although I’m pretty sure I saw an RF engineer sacrifice a chicken as part of divining whether their simulation would be sufficient or not. About 50% of the circuits I design work first time with no component modification. Of the other 50%, about half require component value tweaks and the remaining quarter of all circuits I design require another iteration. Of that quarter requiring another iteration, 90% of the modifications required could have retrospectively been found with more extensive simulation.

Developers were required to supplement those tests for each new or changed ECU function with a self-test that exercised the functionality. The initial tool design was completed and reviewed using the Simufact.forming simulation. Upon initial review, everything seemed to be acceptable, with the exception of the volume of material in the flange of the part. The second station trap extrusion die radius was then reduced in order to accommodate the material volume requirements. To find the right material is just one aspect of these type of projects. Having a credible partner in https://globalcloudteam.com/ partner is as much relevant.

An environment that includes the debuggers, logic analysis, scripting and GUI environment that matches or at least mimics the development bench helps to address the its different concerns of the users. The MCU did not really contain any type of interlock and thus the behavior for such an improper access was officially undefined. The silicon expects the software developer to avoid potential meta-stability issue in the silicon design, but does not really define what occurs in actual silicon if the caution statement is violated. Testing using a VP can avoid problems with undefined silicon behavior.

Simulation and Prototyping

The number of warnings provided in a peripheral or ASIC simulation varies with the complexity of the model. Typically 2 to 20 warning messages are included in each microcontroller peripheral or external ASIC model. VPs bring this usefulness to embedded design, both in the early design phases and also late in the development stage where hardware and software have to be put through various potential failure modes. Virtual prototypes are much more conducive to design automation because the environmental stimulus is just another component of the simulation. Careful control of the stimuli results in deterministic behavior of the product simulation. This technological solution is allied with an extremely comprehensive materials database and allows for a wide range of calculations when integrated with injection process modelling.

Capstone Design Program

Flash memory is simply loaded with a program image rather than re-flashed with complicated tools on the real hardware. Finally, the virtual prototype is truly time share-able as each user can have their custom configuration without fear of breaking anothers test setup. Nowadays, a single-phase induction motor can be found in almost all electronic devices, especially for applications that use low power. A certain application requires this motor to have a speed variable generally uses mechanical techniques such as gears or sometimes electrical grouping windings. However, true variable speed will not be obtained, consuming more energy.

Simulation and Prototyping

DOMO is constantly investing in innovative solutions to support automotive manufacturers and their suppliers, being able to help them to create value at each production phase from design through to industrialisation. The TECHNYL® HUB offers a complete portfolio of ‘A la Carte’ services – from material selection, prototyping, predictive simulation, and part testing. Discover how to prepare a SolidWorks assembly for simulation with the NI SoftMotion for SolidWorks tools. Learn how to properly mate your assembly, create a motion study, define different types of motors, and add inertia and friction parameters to your model. Additionally, learn the necessary steps to connect LabVIEW software with your SolidWorks model and initiate a simulation.

Verification Testing And Data Analysis Subsection

In a somewhat subtle situation, the MCU manual cautioned the user to disable a timer when switching the compare mode from interval count to capture mode. The virtual prototype of the same system, however, translated the spinning gear into a representation of window travel, matching the ratios of the actual system. The software engineers were surprised to realize that the window travel was incomplete and the window stopped at 74% open.

This training series provides all the skills needed to build virtual prototypes, also known as digital prototypes. Learn how to prepare your 3D CAD model for simulation and how to use the high-level function block API of NI SoftMotion for SolidWorks to drive the simulation within the 3D CAD environment. In addition, experience how to use the information provided by the simulation tools to optimize your design.

The most precise way to control the speed of this motor is to use an inverter where the output voltage and frequency are variable. As it is known that a single-phase of the induction motor is a motor consisting of two windings. Alternating current flowing into each winding must have a phase difference of 900. This paper discusses the research of a two-phase inverter with a simulation in MATLAB and prototyping. Two legs were used as alternating voltage outputs, with a phase difference of 900.

The failure mode due to invalid data read often exhibits in an obscure way which makes debugging of the issue very difficult and time consuming. The second aspect of testability is the use of extensive warnings which monitor the execution of the firmware running across the MCU and ASIC simulation models. For example, an internal EEPROM/Flash peripheral model knows when it is in the write state and thus an intervening read of the same EEPROM/Flash block returns invalid data. For some products, such as airbag deployment, testing normal operations in full context may require destruction of the end product.

ASIC self-checks and have been known to detect split SPI device transfer, a discrete pin left in an improper state to for device communication, or conflicts between two active drivers on the same schematic signal. They recently designed a new part that was exhibiting a unique material flow. UL does not make any representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness or completeness of the content. UL does not warrant the performance, effectiveness or applicability of sites listed or linked to in any content.

Simulation And Prototyping Of A Two

The VP warnings and errors help remove this type of risk from the project. However, when these warning messages are available and carefully reviewed, it provides a level of checking that is not possible on the bench or with static checkers. Consider an output driver ASIC that provides for a load current measurement, but while the ASIC is in that measurement state, a die temperature rise is expected. In the virtual world, this type of in context development can be achieved much cheaper and safer. Once the design is refined and tested, it can simply be validated in the multiple vehicle context, and avoid expensive and costly design iterations.

Production Vs Prototyping Subsection

Since 2002 he has been the technical team lead providing virtual prototypes for automotive safety systems, powertrain, power electronics, and body computers. Everett holds a BS in Computer and Electrical Engineering from Purdue University. Users of VP prototypes are able to automate the testing process via software scripts eliminating the need for custom equipment and cables.

Simulation Versus Prototyping

My latest circuit (a rather complex and powerful hysteretic Cuk-like converter) worked first time with zero component changes or value changes. Manufacturing design optimization coordinated with the product design. Improved production that involves reduction of prototypes, increase in quality and compliance with technical requirements.

And for digital engineering tool projects the prototype is “physical” but in the form of software not hardware. In any case, this is not verification activities at the design stage (math, analysis, etc.), rather it is verification using the prototype. That is, you are writing about testing with the prototype, and driven by that, the refinements made and then further evaluated with further testing.

Perform Multiphysics Cfd Simulations That Are Within 2% Of Physical Experimental Results

The simulation allows to improve the quality of the pieces produced. It also increases the quality of the tools and allows the optimization of the manufacturing process. Regarding the customer, it reduces delivery times and improves the service and personalization. A final acceptability argument is that the models are not commonly available. In the author details representative modeling abstractions and creation time for a System on a Chip platform. Development benches are more accurate, by definition, than the virtual prototype.

Learn how to combine multiple motion functions in serial or parallel to implement complex timing and sequencing. Finally, use trace path plot and collision detection features to validate your motion control logic. Browse other questions tagged simulation prototyping development development-tools or ask your own question. prototype of a website In addition, my simulation results then stand as a proper evidence that I have designed the circuit with due diligence and this is important for quality systems. End-user mindset often aggravates the situation because schedules are built around hardware deliveries without software group involvement and risk assessment.

This example shows how virtual prototypes offer an alternative development environment that complements the bench, instead of competing with the bench. It is usually not acceptable to tweak the firmware to work on both the model and the real hardware. In the long term, the authors feel that executable specification methodologies applied to hardware design will improve model inaccuracies, but are beyond the scope of this paper. Many of these warnings monitor subtle requirements and caution statements in the specification.

VPs frequently catch unique firmware programming errors that escape code reviews, static analysis tools or even bench debugging. This makes a virtual prototype a good complement to existing verification techniques. The multi-vehicle adaptive cruise control system simulation allows validation in a multiple vehicle context, and avoids expensive and costly design iterations. Due to the size, cost, and complexity of the entire system most of the physical hardware firmware development takes place in isolation from the rest of the systems using a pre-generated set of test vectors.

While the error was simply an incorrect constant in the firmware, the system engineers were happy to discover the error prior to shipment to the OEM and installation of the bad body controller in a vehicle. In one example, the addition of a new interrupt to the system resulted in a second undefined interrupt problem. Investigation revealed that the undefined interrupt occurred when 4 interrupts became pending and the software developer had incorrectly added the new interrupt to the lowest priority. The repeatability and accuracy of the VP exposed the problem that would have been very difficult to set-up and produce on the bench. Increasing product complexity demands continuous unit and regression testing.

Even basic software created by the MCU suppliers, compliant to Automotive Open System Architecture , has been found to improperly use the MCU hardware when exercised on the virtual prototype. Much more system insight can be gained by an engineer who is able to develop the target product in the context that it will be used. Take for example the graphic shown in Figure 9 below that shows the virtual world for an adaptive cruise control system. Access to the physical controller hardware doesn’t make the development process easier. In these cases, VPs can be particularly valuable to engineers even if real hardware is available. Using models to test destructive or dangerous conditions is not new to engineering.

I am not saying that all OPAMP simulations are not accurate, it was just an example. You may find extremely good models that accounts for temperature and even some parameter tolerancing that will results of excellent results. I use a simulator for every single circuit I design and do so because of the clear and obvious cost and time benefits.

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