Exploring the Generic Timer Module’s Feasibility for Truck Powertrain Control

Abstract

Timer modules are employed in ECUs to perform real-time signal processing in truck powertrains. The architecture of these modules usually has either a hardware centric or a software centric approach. In 2014 Robert Bosch GmbH released the Generic Timer Module (GTM), which has an architecture that combines both approaches, in the form of signal processing hardware modules and small embedded RISC cores. As it is fairly new on the market no publicly available evaluations of the GTM exist. This thesis examines the GTM’s feasibility to perform all timer-module tasks in Volvo Group Truck Technology powertrain ECUs. We do this by developing and implementing two proof-of-concept designs for the most demanding of these tasks, the control of fuel injection. With the results from tests performed on the designs we show that the GTM, with the help of DMA, can perform the tasks at hand. Volvo’s existing ECUs are used as the reference system which utilize another timer module, the enhanced Time Processing Unit, against which the GTM is compared.