FROM EDN EUROPE: Achieve whole-vehicle simulation for 42V car designs

Avanti based its new iQBus design environment, targeting all aspects of automotive design, on the Saber mixed-signal, mixed-technology simulator, which finds extensive use in automotive design. Avanti developed the iQBus because of the imminent introduction of 42V automotive systems and the major redesign and simulation that they will require. Avanti, which acquired the simulator when it purchased Analogy, designed the environment for automotive electronic, electrical, mechanical, and bus subsystems and the components they use. The iQBus combines a number of existing tools, such as the Saber harness-design system, with new elements. Electrically, the system views automotive power sources, including batteries and generators; power consumers, including all forms of load; and interconnections. Crucial to 42V systems is the ability to accurately model dc/dc conversion. The iQBus works with a model for all functional blocks in the car, including the engine, hydraulics, and electromechanical components, and fully functional models for all electronic and bus systems, based on a common simulation engine. You can use the resulting simulation modularly to build virtual prototypes of all possible variants of a vehicle to see how every possible combination of features will function. The environment also has handoff points to 3-D mechanical-design systems for harness design, for example, and can peform full fault simulation.

Avanti, +44 118 971 5100, www.avanticorp.com.