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Automotive Industry

Safety First

Automotive Industries, April, 1999 by Norman Martin

Electronics suppliers help fine-tune passenger protection, while feeling even moro cycle time pressure.

Piece by piece, the building blocks for safer vehicles are being laid. And those on the forefront of this area gave A/a close look at their current projects, at this year's Society of Automotive Engineers Congress and Exposition in Detroit. Much of it is fine-tuning critical systems, especially in networking, airbags and sensor technology.

"Automakers know that in order to increase functionality and add performance, they need to be smarter about how they implement systems, which means letting the supplier take a more active role in design," says Dan Leih, market development manager in Motorola's Transportation System Group in Austin, Tex.

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One way to do that is open the safety systems up for more flexibility. A new and open in-vehicle network standard, known as the Distributed Systems Interface, could help that process. Developed by Motorola and TRW Inc., it operates on a two-wire serial bus that carries both power and signal. That means an entire safety restraint system doesn't have to be redesigned if an automaker wants to add more airbags, pretensioners or occupant sensors.

"We'll make the key technologies to implement the standard available to third parties without fees or warranties," adds Kevin Anderson, a Motorola systems engineering development manager. He claims it will allow automakers to choose best-in-class technologies. If they're going to build a safety system based on a standard, then they can mix-and-match the best technology out there in the shortest amount of time. The interface will be available by model year 2002.

Other safety systems-related electronics highlights at the show included:

BSRS Restraint Systems' Smart Squib: By using digital bus architecture, the "intelligence" of an airbag system is distributed via "smart" sensors and igniters. That allows for a common ECU with up to 32 firing loops and a number of sensing devices. Other benefits are a smaller ECU, shorter wire harness and fewer connections. It will appear first in Europe in 2002.

Siemens Automotive's Weight-based Occupant Detection: By using four strain gauge-based force sensors positioned at a seat's four corners, Siemens' Weight Classification System slices through a lot of the more exotic detection methods now under consideration. Based on the weight and distribution in the seat, the occupant is classified empty, child, small adult and large adult. With seat position and weight distribution, occupant position is determined.

NEC Automotive SeatSentry Occupant Sensing for Side Airbag: Using electric field sensing, NEC says the system can detect when a child is too close for side airbag deployment. Six flexible antennas mounted in the seat back cushion detect when a body enters the field because the displacement current changes. This determines the sitting height of the person. An additional out-of-position sensor on the bolster determines proximity to the side bag.

Bosch Video Sensors: Two small video cameras stereoscopically mounted on the rearview mirror alert the driver to upcoming conditions. Information, evaluated 25 times per second, is relayed via an IP display or by audio warning. Bosch says its video sensor can decipher traffic lights, as well as detect objects and their distance from the vehicle. It also recognizes lanes. Expect the sensors to be mated to upcoming adaptive cruise control units.

Delphi Automotive INTELLEK Smart Sensors: By increasing the smarts of forward outpost sensors, these new units can both analyze and process data in milliseconds, creating much better data streaming. That information is transmitted to microcontrollers, which tell drivetrain, suspension and interior actuators what to do. It's all part of a push toward networked digital control systems.

TRW Pyrotechnic Fuse Box: Aimed at reducing vehicle fires after a crash, TRW's new fuse box is linked to the crash-sensing module to provide a controlled disconnect of electrical power. In less than one millisecond after being alerted, high-current connections are cut, while emergency power is still available for airbags, cell phone and hazard lights. A 2002 European vehicle will get it first, says TRW.

Many experts outside the automotive industry have looked at consumer electronics, and wondered why automakers aren't moving faster with advanced safety electronics and upgrades.

"We're particularly adept at taking consumer electronic methodology and matching it to the automotive grade," admits Jeffery Owens, general director of engineering at Delphi Automotive Systems in Kokomo, Ind. "However, to get that done in the cycle times that are being pressed upon us is an extraordinary challenge. The ability to model expected behaviors and have that early in the design cycle is a critical element.'

Tom Doyle, vice president of operations at TRW Automotive in Farmington Hills, Mich., adds, "We're working hard to provide the ability of a carmaker to have a building block system for automotive safety. But it's not one specific technology issue -- it's a combination of a lot of good R&D.'

Automotive Industry

Safety First

Automotive Industries, April, 1999 by Norman Martin

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