May 14, 2014. dSPACE is donating its hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing systems to North American universities taking part in EcoCAR 3, a four-year competition challenging automotive engineering students to redesign and build an advanced vehicle that incorporates green, performance and consumer-attractive features.
The EcoCAR 3 advanced vehicle technology competition (AVTC) was officially launched in Washington DC on April 24, 2014, with a public announcement by U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. At that time, General Motors vice president John Calabrese also unveiled the Chevrolet Camaro, which will be given to each competing school to redesign.
In support of this leading-edge competition and its objective of industry-grade model-based-design, dSPACE, a Leadership level sponsor, is donating HIL simulation systems to competing teams so they can develop and validate complex supervisory control and diagnostic systems for their vehicle to meet the competition goals in terms of vehicle efficiency, performance, and safety.
The dSPACE HIL systems will provide teams with engineering tools to simulate the behavior of the vehicle and its subsystems. HILs assist the student engineers to create, test, and optimize control systems in the same manner as professionals in the automotive industry. This fully supports the overriding objective of the competition: to educate the next generation of automotive engineers.
Additionally, dSPACE will provide training, mentoring, and management support to enable teams to effectively use dSPACE HIL tools throughout the competition, for early development, software validation, vehicle integration, and finally, vehicle refinement.
“We are very pleased to again be able to work alongside DOE, ANL, GM and the other sponsors of this EcoCAR 3 competition,” said Kevin Kott, president of dSPACE Inc. “It is refreshing and exciting to experience the energy levels of these very motivated students who take part in redesigning and rebuilding amazing vehicles.”
Students with mechanical, electrical, computer and software engineering backgrounds will redesign the Camaro, provided by General Motors, to reduce the vehicle’s energy consumption, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce tailpipe emissions, optimize cost considerations, explore new innovations, and maintain the car’s performance, utility, and safety.
The teams receiving dSPACE tools and competing in the EcoCAR 3 challenge include
- Arizona State University
- California State University
- Colorado State University
- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
- Georgia Tech
- McMaster University
- Mississippi State University
- The Ohio State University
- Pennsylvania State University
- University of Alabama
- University of Tennessee
- University of Washington
- University of Waterloo
- Virginia Tech
- Wayne State University
- West Virginia University
dSPACE is a Leadership level sponsor of the EcoCAR 3 competition. In addition to donating equipment, dSPACE provides training and support to all of the university teams. dSPACE also served as a Platinum sponsor for the EcoCAR 2 challenge and a Gold sponsor for EcoCAR 1.
EcoCAR 3 is a four-year collegiate engineering program that builds on the successful 26-year history of Department of Energy advanced vehicle technology competitions by giving engineering students the chance to design and build advanced vehicles that demonstrate leading-edge, eco-friendly automotive technologies.
In addition to providing a Chevrolet Camaro, General Motors provides each of the 16 competing teams vehicle components, seed money, technical mentoring, and operational support. The U.S. Department of Energy and its research and development facility, Argonne National Laboratory, provide competition management, team evaluation and logistical support. EcoCAR 3 follows the widely acclaimed competition series EcoCAR 2: Plugging In to the Future.