The primary aim of this research project was to investigate techniques to replace the complicated process of testing embedded systems in automotive domain. The multi-component domain was composed of different hardware to be used in testing procedure which increased the level of difficulty in testing for an operator. As a result, an existing semi-automated testing procedure was replaced by more simpler and efficient framework (ViBATA). A key step taken in this scenario was the replacement of manual GUI interface with the scriptable one to enhance the automation. This was achieved by building a Domain-specific language which allowed test definition in the form of human readable scripts which could be stored for later use. A DSL is a scripting language defined for a particular domain with compact expressiveness. In this case the domain is testing embedded systems in general and automotive systems in particular. The final product was a test case specification document in the form of XML as an output of generated code from this DSL which will be input to ViBATA to make test specification component automated. In this research a comparative analysis of existing DSLs for alternative domains and investigation of their applicability to the presented domain was also performed. The technologies used in this project are Xtext to define the DSL grammar, Xtend to generate code in Java and Simple framework to generate output in XML. The stages involved in DSL development and how these stages were implemented is covered in this thesis. The developed DSL for this domain is tested for automotive and calculator systems in this thesis which proved that this is more general and flexible. The DSL is consistent, efficient and automated test specification component of testing framework in embedded systems.

The scope of this work is to generate quantifiable measures of sustainability elements that apply to manufactured products in terms of environmental, social and economic benefits. This thesis presents a comprehensive analysis for developing a methodology to compare the costs encountered by a vehicle over its entire life-cycle (Pre-manufacturing, Manufacturing, Use, and Post-use stages), considering two different material scenarios, aluminum versus steel, used in body-in-white (BIW) structures and exterior body panels. The potential benefits of using lighter materials in auto body applications are further evaluated through a Sustainability Scoring method. The proposed six major integral sustainable elements considered in this work are: products environmental impact, societal impact, functionality, resource utilization and economy, manufacturability and recyclability/remanufacturability. Each of these elements has corresponding sub-elements and influencing factors which are categorized as having equal importance to the product.

Background: The automotive industry accounts for a large part of the European economic structure. Due to both economical and environmental impacts, the industry has undergone substantial changes and companies have to increase their efficiency to stay competitive. An improvement-area, which can be directly influenced by the company is the internal material handling. A new technology that potentially supports the internal material handling process is the radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, which is perceived as a fruitful successor of the common barcoding technology. Even though the RFID technology shows multiple benefits over the barcoding technology, many companies are still reluctant to the application of the new method. The authors therefore strive to provide a deeper understanding of the following two research questions:   RQ 1: To what extent and how is RFID currently applied in the internal material handling process in the investigated automotive companies? RQ 2: For what reasons did the investigated automotive companies decide to apply or not apply RFID technologies to support their internal material handling process?   Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to show through a multiple case study to what extent and how RFID technology is currently applied to support the internal material handling process in a number of companies in the automotive sector, both original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers. Thereupon the main reasons for or against the application of RFID in these companies are examined.   Method: This thesis adopts a positivistic perspective and a deductive approach. It is designed as a qualitative multiple case study carried out in four different companies with five different plants in the automotive industry. Empirical data was gathered through interviews. The analysis is based on primary as well as secondary data.   Conclusions: Throughout the course of the study it became apparent that the RFID technology is on the radar of all investigated companies. Only Scania Zwolle, Volvo Skövde and Bosch Homburg apply the technology and see concrete benefits in the usage of RFID above barcoding. The extent of application here differs from a large scale to a small scale. The three companies name benefits such as an improved automatic tracking & tracing system with improved real-time data quality and a reduction in costs, which is mainly achieved through a reduction of manual labour. Additionally they face benefits, which are business-specific such as the possibility for automatic alerts throughout the internal material handling process at Scania Zwolle, the need for a ‘silent’ successor over barcoding at Volvo Skövde and a supporting tool for their lean management program at Bosch Homburg. VDL Nedcar Born and Scania Oskarshamn in turn name concrete reasons for not applying the technology. VDL Nedcar Born is undergoing substantial changes in their production facility which currently has priority and Scania Oskarshamn does not see benefits that outweigh the high costs for the RFID technology.

The motor industry is one of the leading industries in the South African economy. The MIDP, an import/export complementary arrangement, was introduced to help reintegrate the motor industry into the global economy. The aim was to improve the international competitiveness of companies in the industry; enhance the industry's growth through exporting; improve vehicle affordability; improve the industry's highly skewed trade balance; and stabilise employment levels, but succeeded in having the unintended consequence of growing vehicle imports. In this study a literature review is done on studies that were done on governments' policy and the South African motor industry and an empirical study done on a critique of the MIDP as a post-apartheid policy instrument. Of the approximate 500 component manufacturers; only 32 manufacturers participated in this study. South Africa may not have a motor industry in seven to ten years if urgent attention is not paid to increasing local content, gaining certainty on government's support programme for the industry and improving South Africa's cost competitiveness. Imports have grown rapidly and the industry has still not achieved a sufficient volume of production to realise full economies of scale. Another constraint is South Africa's location, remote from major automotive markets. After a long period of heavy protection followed by liberalisation and export support, it is now time for the industry to move towards a balanced growth path on the basis of policies which impose a more neutral incentive structure. This would involve some ongoing protection and assistance for production at low to moderate levels. Under such a scenario, both the domestic market and exports could provide the basis for sustained future growth. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

The motor industry is one of the leading industries in the South African economy. The MIDP, an import/export complementary arrangement, was introduced to help reintegrate the motor industry into the global economy. The aim was to improve the international competitiveness of companies in the industry; enhance the industry's growth through exporting; improve vehicle affordability; improve the industry's highly skewed trade balance; and stabilise employment levels, but succeeded in having the unintended consequence of growing vehicle imports. In this study a literature review is done on studies that were done on governments' policy and the South African motor industry and an empirical study done on a critique of the MIDP as a post-apartheid policy instrument. Of the approximate 500 component manufacturers; only 32 manufacturers participated in this study. South Africa may not have a motor industry in seven to ten years if urgent attention is not paid to increasing local content, gaining certainty on government's support programme for the industry and improving South Africa's cost competitiveness. Imports have grown rapidly and the industry has still not achieved a sufficient volume of production to realise full economies of scale. Another constraint is South Africa's location, remote from major automotive markets. After a long period of heavy protection followed by liberalisation and export support, it is now time for the industry to move towards a balanced growth path on the basis of policies which impose a more neutral incentive structure. This would involve some ongoing protection and assistance for production at low to moderate levels. Under such a scenario, both the domestic market and exports could provide the basis for sustained future growth. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

<p>Purdue University was selected as one of 15 universities to participate in a three year Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition (AVTC) called EcoCar2: Plugging Into the Future. The vehicle built by the Purdue team was a Parallel-Through-The-Road Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PTTR PHEV). The vehicle utilized a B20 diesel powertrain to power the front wheels, as well as a custom electric drivetrain to power the rear wheels. Using this vehicle during the final year of the competition, the team was successful in placing 4th overall as well as 2nd in the category of Well-To-Wheel (WTW) Greenhouse Gas Emissions. A stock 2013 Chevrolet Malibu was given to all teams in the competition to use as a base vehicle. The Purdue team removed the stock 2.4L gasoline engine of the Malibu in order to make room for the diesel powertrain and switched the stock Malibu rear suspension assembly to that of a 2013 All-Wheel-Drive (AWD) Buick LaCrosse in order to make room for the electric drivetrain. The electric drivetrain utilized a 16.4 kWhr Lithium Ion battery pack, a 103 kW (peak) 45 kW (nominal) electric motor, and the driveline components of a 2013 AWD Buick LaCrosse in order to transfer power to the wheels. Significantcant challenges concerning the custom electric drivetrain during the competition included the design, fabrication, installation and operation of a rear suspension cradle, Energy Storage System (ESS) and a Thermal Management System for the ESS. Computer Aided Drawing (CAD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) were used heavily during the design stages of vehicle development in order to give the Purdue team and AVTC competition organizers sufficient confidence to allow the team to build the designs they had proposed. This work describes the design, analysis and fabrication procedures used by the Purdue team in order to create the electric drivetrain used in their vehicle for the EcoCar2 competition.

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Denna rapport beskriver vårt arbete med att framställa en lärobok för GY11 inom inriktningkarosseriteknik. Läroboken ska ses som en introduktion till yrket bilskadereparatör.

<p> This dissertation describes three related studies regarding the imbalance difference theory in modeling the conversion between differential mode and common mode/antenna mode signals. The topics covered are: rigorous derivation of imbalance difference theory for modeling radiated emission problems, modeling the conversion between differential mode and common mode propagation in transmission lines, and modeling the loading impedance on differential mode signals due to radiated emissions. </p><p> The imbalance difference theory describes a method for calculating the coupling between differential mode signals and common mode signals due to changes in electrical balance on a transmission line. It provides both physical insight and a simple technique for modeling the conversions between the two modes. </p><p> The first chapter presents a rigorous derivation of imbalance difference theory for modeling radiated emission problems. Although the theory has been successfully used to model a wide variety of important EMC problems over the past, it has not been rigorously derived. The derivation carefully defines the important quantities and demonstrates that imbalance difference calculations are exact provided that the differential-mode propagation is TEM and the current division factor, h, represents the actual ratio of currents on the two transmission line conductors excited by a common-mode source. This chapter also discusses the acquisition of the current division factor from 2D calculations of the cross-section of the transmission line. </p><p> The second chapter provides a rigorous development of the imbalance difference theory for three-conductor transmission lines where both the differential mode and common mode exhibit TEM propagation. It also derives expressions for the mode conversion impedances, which account for the energy converted from one mode to the other. They are essential for modeling the conversion between the two modes when they are strongly coupled. </p><p> The third chapter introduces conversion impedance to the existing imbalance difference theory model for modeling radiated emission problems, so that when the coupling between differential mode and antenna mode are strong, the imbalance difference theory can more accurately estimate the antenna mode current. </p><p> All three papers are about confirming, enriching and expanding the imbalance difference theory. The first chapter focuses on the rigorous derivation of theory for its most common application, radiated emission problems. The second chapter expands the theory to multi-conductor transmission line structure when the two modes are strongly coupled. The last chapter introduces conversion impedance to the theory in modeling radiated emission problems and improves the accuracy of the model at resonant frequencies. </p>

This thesis centres on experience design and automotive design. The aim is to investigate the emotional experience of the driving activity. The research question driving the study is: "How can experience design influence the driving activity?" Experience design proposes to explore emotional aspects of interactions in context. A model of the human-product-environment relationship, using activity theory as its foundation, is presented. The model is used to situate the overall experience of driving. An experiment exploring the overall emotional experience in real driving situations was conducted. Participants were required to drive around a specified route while performing particular tasks with the vehicle interface. A data triangulation approach was employed involving interviews, think-aloud protocols and observations. Findings indicate that context together with the emotional state of the driver before driving impacts the overall emotional experience. Positive emotional states before driving with no interaction challenges in high-traffic contexts generated neutral overall experiences. However, positive emotional states before driving with interaction challenges in high-traffic contexts generated negative overall experiences. Negative emotional states before driving combined with interaction challenges in high-traffic contexts generated positive emotional experiences. It appears that positive emotions associated with overcoming challenging interactions in high-traffic contexts reflect positively on the overall experience. Emotions elicited in low and mediumtraffic contexts did not affect the overall experience. Another finding suggests that extended visual interaction with interface in high-traffic context generates negative emotions. It is proposed that vehicle interfaces should adapt appropriately to their surrounding context to support positive (and avoid negative) emotional experiences. In low and medium-traffic contexts interfaces may encourage interactions. In high-traffic contexts, if the driver is in a positive emotional state before driving interfaces may discourage challenging interactions. If the driver is in a negative emotional state before driving the interface may encourage challenging interactions. In conclusion, this study proposes the application of current and upcoming technologies for future automotive interiors to enhance positive (and reduce negative) emotional experiences within the driving activity.