NEWS HEADLINES
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June 2009 - FlexRay Network Optimisation Research Programme Complete
Sept 2007 - Automotive Control Group chosen by Sumitomo to research FlexRay implementation issues.
Sept 2007 - Significant funding received for AUTOSAR research.
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NEWS IN DETAIL:
FlexRay Network Optimisation Research Programme Completed
A significant amount of funding was received by the Automotive Control Group to research ways in which the FlexRay vehicle network protocol could be optimised for use on vehicle electronic control units. This research programme has now been successfully completed by Robert Shaw and has resulted in the development of a detailed optimisation tool that can be used by network designers to tune FlexRay configurations to suit individual vehicle applications.
A related research programme undertaken for Sumitomo Europe to develop a migration framework from CAN to FlexRay networks has been successfully completed by Richard Murphy under the supervision of Mr. Frank Walsh.
Safety-Critical Automotive Systems Research
WIT's Automotive Control Group has been chosen by Sumitomo Electrical Wiring Systems Europe to research the technologies and processes required to implement FlexRay in customer systems. FlexRay is an emerging vehicle communications network that will be used for safety-critical vehicle systems such as brake-by-wire. BMW will be the first to use FlexRay in a production vehicle this year when it uses the technology to control the BMW X5?s Active Suspension system. Sumitomo will fund the M.Sc. research at the Automotive Control Group over a two-year period.The research activities will be carried out at both Sumitomo?s European Research and Development Centre, located in Swansea , Wales , and at the Automotive Control Group?s facilities at Waterford Institute of Technology.
Sumitomo Electrical Wiring Systems Europe is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Electric Industries. Headquartered in Osaka , Japan , with an £11 billion turnover, the group?s global interests include electronics, automotive, telecom and datacom, and electric utilities.The Sumitomo Electric Industries Group Automotive products include electrical and electronic systems, brake systems and activator components, manufactured and distributed through a global network in over 24 countries worldwide, employing over 60,000 people.Sumitomo Electric Wiring Systems is responsible for supplying around 20% of the world's automotive electronic design services market. Two postgraduates from the Automotive Control Group, Eamonn McDonnell and Fergal Keating, are currently employed by Sumitomo in the UK .
The Automotive Control Group, founded in 2000 at Waterford Institute of Technology, was the first Irish third-level research group dedicated to advanced automotive software and electronic systems research. Since that time all graduates from the group have gone on to employment in the international automotive industry.
This latest announcement of research collaboration with Sumitomo brings the total funding secured by the Automotive Control Group to almost €100,000. This includes a recent success in securing funding under the TSR Strand 1 programme to investigate software requirements analysis techniques for use with AUTOSAR, a new automotive software development platform.
Commenting on the latest collaboration agreement, Brendan Jackman, founder of the group stated that ?this alliance endorses the international reputation of the group and strengthens our good working relationship with Sumitomo.?Paul Eustace, Engineering Manager at Sumitomo commented ''Collaborative research is very important to Sumitomo's future European R&D strategy and this joint project will enable us to enhance our links with the Automotive Control Group, who are already highly regarded by our company. The 'knowledge transfer' provided by this project will help Sumitomo strengthen its capability in the design and development of whole vehicle electrical and electronic systems architecture for the European market.''
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AUTOSAR Research Funding
Research has begun on the development of new processes for reusing software components in an AUTOSAR environment. AUTOSAR (AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture) is an open and standardized automotive software architecture, jointly developed by automobile manufacturers, suppliers and tool developers. The Automotive Control Group has received significant funding from the Irish Government under the Strand 1 initiative to fund this research over a two-year period.