Using Virtualization for Possible Trade-offs Between EU7 Start Budget Criteria and Drivability

Upcoming EU7 legislation, shortage of time, of budgets, and of availability of test vehicles at a wider variant portfolio will lead to an increase of complexity with significant impact on development of Engine Control Unit (ECU) functionalities. Virtualization is a key success factor to face these new challenges. Within a Bosch project, a virtual vehicle to calibrate emission use cases is established in a Software-in-the-Loop environment. The modular approach is flexible to be tailored for various topologies of vehicles. Arbitrary cycle scenarios with flexible boundary conditions can be simulated. It offers multiple new opportunities, including timesaving, cost-efficient and location-independent benefits. It is usable for multiple software and calibration tasks on different levels of complexity. Based on a use case the benefits and opportunities for future tasks are shown. Critical cold start emissions are simulated. For this condition different calibration measures, such as torque limitation and drive-off delay are analyzed. Their impact on the trade-off between emissions and drivability is considered and put into context with EU7 start budget criteria, a distance-based emission limit. The use of virtualization enables a systematic identification of emission reduction potential and leads to the development of new calibration strategies. New methodologies and automation processes have been elaborated. Virtualization is a chance of mastering future complexity in ECU development.