Hardware integration of sensors and processors for automotive application

The recent tightening of regulations on vehicle emissions is causing automakers to look for solutions that improve efficiency and produce fewer pollutants. This, together with the need to remain competitive, has led to various solutions: one of them is hybrid electric vehicles. In this context, the present work has been developed to contribute to the progress of a project called Auto-Eco, which aims to hybridize an Iveco Daily light vehicle with an electric engine and a 48V battery. It is born from the collaboration of different companies and is financed by the Piedmont Region through "Pi.Te.F", Piattaforma Tecnologica di Filiera, public notice. The project strives to take advantage of the opportunity offered by the integration of hybrid propulsion and autonomous driving systems, such as sensors, to propose an improved solution. The contribution of this work to the project is related to the hardware integration of all sensors and processing units that were not present in the vehicle. The starting point is the definition of the signal required by the Simulink model embedded in the main processing unit. Based on this information, the best communication methods are then determined and selected, analyzing the characteristics and requirements of each component. Finally, for each component, the pinout is defined to determine the electrical configuration and draw the schematic required to develop the wiring to be mounted in the vehicle. For this purpose, different configurations for powering up the component are analyzed. A part is related to the simulation of the battery consumption and the influence of the battery capacity on the results. As a result, it is expected that the developed system can be integrated into a first prototype vehicle to test the system’s functionalities.