I understand the difference between “taking control inputs and sending them to the ECU,” but you have to be pretty naive to assume no one goes from “vehicle control” to “engine control unit.”
I'd strongly dispute that. Why not include the spark plugs as well? And the fuel pump?
The ECU is a computer, a packaged bundle of chips which plugs in to wires and does nothing but communicate to other components via those wires. That's what an electronic control unit means.
The driven devices, amplifiers etc. are under the control of the control unit. They are not part of the control unit. They're located in areas subject to much more heat and mechanical stress, and in most cases (ignition coils excepted) are mechanical in function.
Again, author of the quote was talking specifically about the controller part. Car ECUs use off the shelf semiconductors. ECU module is usually mounted inside the cabin under the dash.
I don't know how it's done for planes, but I've heard that many automotive ECUs are programmed graphically, as a block diagram. The engineers basically pretend it's an insanely complicated analog system with amplifiers, filters, switches, and what have you. Then the whole thing gets compiled into a real time binary that simulates the system one timestep at a time.
>Your car is running a real-time simulation of your engine to keep itself operational, and it's a much serious business than running Android or iOS.
Lets not exaggerate :) ECU reads a bunch of sensors, does some mild compute, uses that to do a table lookup, interpolates and slaps the result into actuators. 8bit 10MHz is enough to accomplish this task.
Yes I work in automotive and have routinely replaced ECUs. I work for an American OEM, I guess we don’t pair ecus to each vehicle. Unless its ecm/tcm/radio/security gateway and probably the key fob ecu. Everything else is just a part number that you can easily swap out. The few screws holding the controller and the wiring connector(assuming the controller is easily accessible)…
Though I own an Audi and use VCDS I was not familiar with pairing an ecu to the vehicle, however I was aware of coding in the VCDS. (I have not yet needed to swap an ecu on my car)
ECU is abbreviation for Electronic Control Unit in automotive.
(And a modern car may actually have multiple ECUs controlling the engine(s), especially if it is a hybrid=HEV, plugin HEV=PHEV or battery electric vehicle=BEV.)
My 1989 Honda has an Intel chip that powers the ECU. They have been in millions of cars, so I would say they probably have some knowledge buried somewhere in the company.
I've never heard of any regulations governing software in ECUs in automotive. Do these exists anywhere? Does anyone actually regulate this? Because ECU software is typically very bad.
mechanics don't need to learn programming, but there is a growing industry of people making tools for this kind of thing. It has been around a long time in the aftermarket performance world. People have been reprogramming ecus or attaching add on ecus that intercept signals for a long time.
The "E" in ECU sometimes is eletronic and sometimes engine, depending on the sub-field and region of the automotive industry.
For engine control (the topic of the original article) a general-purpose Os and lots of idle time are unusual. In many cases the most powerful controller available on the market is is filled with software just shy of losing tasks.
I’d say an engine controller which needs a specific vehicle information to work is going to be difficult.
But an ecu that controls say your headlights, depending on the oem it is just a part with unique part# that can be swapped. I work for one of the American OEMs and have replaced a ton of controllers on vehicles (engineering vehicles and customer vehicle). never had an issue. That being said I know German vehicles are next level pita since I do own an Audi. I just wasn’t aware about the coding part for the Audis.
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