The OpenECUTM platform is ideal for research and prototyping all aspects of vehicle control, and then re-using the same proven hardware for low to intermediate volume production. The MATLAB®/Simulink® compatible software development toolchain makes it particularly easy to implement gateway functions for integrating components originally designed for disparate applications. A wide range of general-purpose input and output configurations are available in all of Dana’s controller products that facilitate adaption to the most novel of systems. When proof of concept has been achieved, OpenECU can be used directly in production as-is, or with minor modifications. Equally Dana’s open reusable technology enables the rapid development of ECUs optimize for higher volumes based on a standard base software platform, and proven circuit designs.
Many of Dana’s OpenECU platforms are ideally suited for electrification applications.
Vehicle Control Unit
The Vehicle Control Unit (VCU), being the supervisory controller in an EV needs to deliver high performance and be functionally robust. Dana’s ASIL D certified M560/M580 can fulfill these requirements and can be deployed as VCUs for electric vehicles or as HCUs (Hybrid Control Units) for hybrid vehicles.
Additionally, accelerate your VCU software development with our EV supervisor software strategy designed with Matlab/Simulink.
Battery Management System
The BMS is a crucial component of every electric vehicle, used to effectively monitor, control and predict all aspects of battery system performance. We can design customized Battery Management System controllers and software for High Voltage battery packs that deliver optimum performance. Dana’s M450 controller has been designed to support high ASIL functional safety in battery packs up to 1000V.
Dana also offers software products that can be used in conjunction with the OpenECU controller hardware and toolchain to help accelerate vehicle control system development.
EV Control Strategies
Based upon many years of project experience, the Dana team has developed a template model for electric vehicle control that can be used as a baseline for further development.
Many of the core EV control features are included in the Simulink model, which can be licensed as source code, or delivered as part of a full system development.
Charging Control System
For EV charging applications, Dana offers a software application template “Pi-CCS” to perform AC and DC charging conforming to the DIN 70121, SAE J1772, and ISO 15118 standards. Developed with Matlab/Simulink, this can also be integrated with the software for Vehicle Control Unit. This application software can be licensed to be included as part of an overall EV control application running on the M560 or M580 controller hardware.
Consulting and Engineering Services
Dana supports its customers with a wide range of engineering, consultancy and testing services. We offer several cutting-edge engineering/ consultancy/training activities around control design for EVs. The Dana team has successfully designed, developed, validated, and launched control systems in production at all levels of safety integrity following ISO 26262 and other automotive process methodologies. Following is a partial list of services –
- Requirements elicitation & analysis
- Controls & Application software development
- Functional Safety analysis
- Testing & Validation
Accessibility