Automatic test case generation is a process that starts with text based functional requirements which are converted to a formal system requirements model. Once the formal system requirements model is created the automatic test case generation software creates a set of test scenarios that will verify that the requirements are all met. The automatic test case generation software accomplishes the conversion in a four step process: create base scenarios, identify unverified requirements, enhance scenarios to cover all requirements and allow black box testing, and then combine the scenarios into a single scenario tree. The automatic test case generation system outputs a set of scenarios by walking the final scenario tree. This dissertation expands on automatic test case generation for embedded systems in two major ways. The first is to extend functional automatic test case generation to allow for time based requirements as first class objects. The second is to use the automatic test case generation system to enable system partitioning decisions. The addition of time based requirements to the automatic test case generation system allows more complex systems to be developed. By providing a partitioning recommendation based on the test cases generated from the system requirements, the scope and capabilities of a single designer can be expanded to more complex systems. The resulting upgrades to the theory of automatic test case generation could be applied to the existing tools or incorporated in modern UML/SysML based design tools.

Virtual reality (VR)-based surgical simulators using haptic devices can increase the effectiveness of surgical training for surgeons when performing surgical procedures in hard tissues such as bones or teeth milling. The realism of virtual surgery through a surgical simulator depends largely on the precision and reliability of the haptic device, which reflects the interaction with the virtual model. The quality of perceptiveness (sensation, force/torque) depends on the design of the haptic device, which presents a complex design space due to its multi-criteria and conflicting character of functional and performance requirements. These requirements include high stiffness, large workspace, high manipulability, small inertia, low friction, high transparency, and cost constraints. This thesis proposes a design methodology to improve the realism of force/torque feedback from the VR-based surgical simulator while fulfilling end-user requirements. The main contributions of this thesis are: 1. The development of a model-based and simulation-driven design methodology, where one starts from an abstract, top-level model that is extended via stepwise refinements and design space exploration into a detailed and integrated systems model that can be physically realized. 2. A methodology for creating an analytical and compact model of the quasi-static stiffness of a haptic device, which considers the stiffness of actuation systems, flexible links and passive joints. 3. A robust design optimization approach to find the optimal numerical values for a set of design parameters to maximize the kinematic, dynamic and kinetostatic performances of a 6-degrees of freedom (DOF) haptic device, while minimizing its sensitivity to variations in manufacturing tolerances and cost, and also satisfying the allowed variations in the performance indices. 4. A cost-effective approach for force/torque feedback control using force/torque estimated through a recursive least squares estimation. 5. A model-based control strategy to increase transparency and fidelity of force/torque feedback from the device by compensating for the natural dynamics of the device, friction in joints, gravity of platform, and elastic deformations. / <p>QC 20140415</p>

With the need for greener powertrains every more present, automakers and part suppliers are lacking skill staff to fulfill design roles. It is estimated there are over 20 million lines of software code in vehicles today and many embedded controllers. The shortage of these engineers is compounded by the economic down-turn of 2008-2009, which resulted in massive 20% to 30% layoffs, reduced internships and reduction of programs designed to recruit new talent. To increase their workforce pool, automakers are working with universities and governments operate student competitions such as EcoCAR 2: Plugging into the Future, alongside traditional private/university collaborations. These programs present students with real-world engineering challenges and the opportunities to design/construction solutions. This also exposes students to the concepts of experiential learning. The objective of this thesis will be to discuss the design, construction and operation of a vehicle for a student design competition or research group at an educational institution. A process based on model based design will be undertaken, which allows for a majority of the vehicle???s design to be completed virtually prior to vehicle prototyping. In this work the model based design method is based on General Motor???s Vehicle Design Process. A project management plan is also proposed, which breaks down tasks into three technical areas (mechanical, electrical and controls) and allows for parallelization and reduced development time will also be proposed. Finally, the resources required to operate a vehicle design team will be defined. This includes the support needed from the University, physical space, software and hardware tools, safety considerations and human capital. Examples are drawn from 2013 Chevrolet Malibu converted to a plug-in hybrid vehicle with an ethanol engine and a battery pack was designed and built. This thesis will showcase the concepts mentioned above through examples from the University of Waterloo Alternative Fuels Team and its participation in international EcoCAR 2 vehicle development competition. The conclusion is that application of the concepts did result in the successful construction of an EcoCAR 2 vehicle. Generally projects that were successful were provided with sufficient technical information from suppliers and supported with past-experiences. Recommendations include: (i) working with suppliers who are familiar with academic environments (including working with students new to vehicle design), (ii) rigorous documentation of design for future designs; and (iii) close collaboration with industry experts to review designs, manufacturing, project management and budgets.

The use of alternative fuels and advanced powertrain technologies has been increasing over the past few years as vehicle emissions and fuel economy have become prominent in both manufacturer needs and consumer demands. With more hybrids emerging from all automotive manufacturers, the use of computer modeling has quickly taken a lead in the testing of these innovative powertrain designs. Although on-vehicle testing remains an important part of the design process, modeling and simulation is proven to be an invaluable tool that can be applied anywhere from preliminary powertrain design to controller software validation. The Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team (HEVT) of Virginia Tech is applying for participation in the next Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition. EcoCAR 3 is a new four year competition sponsored by the Department of Energy and General Motors with the intention of promoting sustainable energy in the automotive sector. The goal of the competition is to guide students from universities in North America to create new and innovative technologies to reduce the environmental impact of modern day transportation. EcoCAR 3, like its predecessors, will give students hands-on experience in designing and implementing advanced technologies in a setting similar to that of current production vehicles. The primary goals of the competition are to improve upon a provided conventional, internal combustion engine production vehicle by designing and constructing a powertrain that accomplishes the following: • Reduce Energy Consumption • Reduce Well-to-Wheel (WTW) Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions • Reduce Criteria Tailpipe Emissions • Maintain Consumer Acceptability in the area of Performance, Utility, and Safety • Meet Energy and Environmental Goals, while considering Cost and Innovation This paper presents a systematic approach in selecting a powertrain for HEVT to develop in the upcoming competition using model-based design. Using a base set of powertrain component models, several powertrain configurations are modeled and tested to show the progression from a basic conventional vehicle to several advanced hybrid vehicles. Each model is designed to generate energy consumption data, efficiency, emissions, as well as many other parameters that can be used to compare each of the powertrain configurations. A powertrain design is selected to meet the goals of the competition after exploring many powertrain configurations and energy sources. Three parallel powertrains are discussed to find a combination capable of meeting the target energy consumption and WTW GHG emissions while also meeting all of the performance goals. The first of these powertrains is sized to model a typical belted alternator starter (BAS) system and shows small improvements over a conventional vehicle. The next design is a parallel through the road hybrid that is sized to meet most power needs with an electric motor and a smaller IC engine. This case comes closer to the design goals, but still falls short on total energy consumption. Lastly, the battery and motor size are increased to allow a charge depleting mode, adding stored grid electricity to the energy sources. This electric energy only mode is able to displace a large amount of the fuel energy consumption based on the SAE J1711 method for determining utility factor weighted energy consumption of a plug-in hybrid vehicle. The final design is a Parallel Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle using E85 fuel and a 7 kWh battery to provide an all-electric charge depleting range of 34 km (21 mi). / Master of Science

The powertrain design and control strategies for three representative hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (HEV/PHEVs), a plug-in hybrid passenger car, a plug-in hybrid race car, and a hybrid electric mining truck, have been investigated through the system modeling, simulation and design optimization. First, the pre-transmission gen-set couple Plug-in Series-Parallel Multi-Regime (SPMR) powertrain architecture was selected for PHEV passenger car. Rule-based load following control schemes based on engine optimal control strategy and Equivalent Consumption Minimization Strategy (ECMS) were used for the operation control of the passenger car PHEV powertrain. Secondly, the rear wheel drive (RWD) post-transmission parallel through road powertrain architecture was selected for race car PHEV. A high level supervisory control system and ECMS control strategy have been developed and implemented through the race car’s on-board embedded controller using dSPACE MicroAutobox II. In addition, longitudinal adaptive traction control has been added to the vehicle controller for improved drivability and acceleration performance. At last, the feasibility and benefits of powertrain hybridization for heavy-duty mining truck have been investigated, and three hybrid powertrain architectures, series, parallel and diesel-electric, with weight adjusting propulsion system have been modeled and studied. The research explored the common and distinct characteristics of hybrid electric propulsion system technology for different vehicular applications, and formed the foundation for further research and development. / Graduate / 0540 / ruicheng@uvic.ca

The Hydro Muscle is a soft linear actuator which utilizes hydraulic pressure and elastic properties of its core for actuation. The Hydro Muscle has been recruited to actuate bio-inspired robot systems using a classic set point tracking feedback control system. A more efficient method is to develop a model-based control system which uses a dynamic model of the Hydro Muscle. The dynamic behavior of the Hydro Muscle which describes the relation between the forces exerted to the resultant motion can be studied with the help of a dynamic viscoelastic model. A dynamic viscoelastic model defines the force exerted by the Hydro Muscle as a function of the hydraulic pressure, the tensile expansion of the Hydro Muscle and the rate of its tensile expansion. Multivariable linear regression is employed to generate a model to relate fluid pressure, tensile expansion, and the rate of tensile expansion to the force exerted by the Hydro Muscle. The developed model can be utilized to implement a model-based control algorithm for the force control of individual joints. This model-based control design could be extended to systems involving multiple Hydro Muscles to allow for a modular control system. The design and test of multi-fiber Hydro Muscle actuated biologically inspired ankle is considered to study control strategies for multi-fiber system. A set-point tracking control algorithm with a proportional differential controller is used to minimize the tracking error. Modular force variation with sequential recruitment of Hydro Muscle is studied.

Avec le développement de l'industrie électronique, on constate un nombre croissant de projets avec des contraintes matérielles et temporelles de plus en plus élevées, ce qui conduit à l'utilisation de FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Arrays). Pour cela, le concepteur doit avoir une bonne connaissance de la programmation VHDL car cela nécessite beaucoup de formation et de pratique pour maîtriser ces architectures. Mais même pour les spécialistes, le processus de développement prend beaucoup de temps. Par conséquent, le développement d'un outil pour aider les utilisateurs non experts à travailler sur FPGA est nécessaire.Des outils tels que Simulink+HDL coder proposent une interface graphique pour créer un design en posant des blocs sur un tableau et en les connectant. Malheureusement, ce type d’outil souffre de deux défauts. Le premier est qu'il ne prend pas en compte les caractéristiques physiques de l'architecture cible. L'autre est qu'il ne vérifie pas si les flux de données entrant sont traités correctement par le design. Cela oblige le développeur à créer de nombreux tests, ce qui est fastidieux et consommateur en temps. Par conséquent, ce n’est pas une solution adaptée pour produire des applications dans un environnement en temps réel et des contraintes matérielles strictes.Pour gérer la complexité et la taille croissante des designs, l’abstraction est devenue graduellement essentielle. Des modèles ont émergé afin de représenter un design comme un graphe d’acteurs (c.a.d. de blocs), avec une analyse statique de l’exécution du graphe. Néanmoins, ces modèles sont basés sur une description plus ou moins fidèle du comportement d’architecture réelles telles que les FPGAs.Dans cette thèse, nous nous concentrons sur l'étude d’un nouveau modèle et d’un nouvel outil logiciel pour aider les utilisateurs non experts à concevoir automatiquement des implémentations correctes de FPGA. Les principales contributions sont résumées comme suit:1. Les limitations des modèles SDF existants, en particulier ceux du modèle SDF-AP, sont décrites et illustrées par l'analyse d'exemples caractéristiques. Les deux problèmes les plus courants rencontrés dans les implémentations d'assemblages de blocs sont la production de résultats incorrects et la croissance infinie de la taille du tampon.2. Nous proposons un nouveau modèle appelé "Actors with Stretchable Access Patterns" (ASAP) qui décrit le comportement matériel de façon mins limitée que les approches antérieures. Il s'agit d'une manière originale de résoudre le problème d'ordonnancement des acteurs, adaptée aux FPGAs. Il permet de déterminer l'exactitude mathématique d'une exécution sans lancer de simulations complexes. Il peut non seulement modéliser correctement les comportements des acteurs, mais aussi éviter les inconvénients mentionnés ci-dessus. Des algorithmes implémentant ces principes sont également fournis.3. Nous avons étudié des stratégies et des algorithmes connexes pour analyser un graphe représentant un design. L’exactitude du traitement peut être analysée par une série d'algorithmes permettant par exemple la vérification de la vitesse des flux et la vérification de la compatibilité des patterns. Il est ainsi possible de calculer la vitesse de décimation ou la longueur de délais à appliquer sur les entrées lorsqu'une erreur de correction est détectée.4. Un logiciel d’aide à la création de design est également développé. Il est appelé BlAsT (Block Assembly Tool) et vise à compenser les inconvénients des outils similaires tels que Simulink + HDL. Dans BlAsT, les algorithmes du modèle ASAP sont utilisés pour vérifier que pour un flux d'entrée donné, le système peut produire un résultat correct et finalement générer des codes VHDL directement utilisables sur une carte FPGA réelle. De plus, l'outil détermine automatiquement les décimations et les modifications requises. Ainsi, un utilisateur sans aucune compétence de programmation, est capable créer un design pour FPGA. / With the development of electronic industry, a growing number of projects require real-time streaming applications on embedded platforms. These comprise increasingly high hardware and timing constraints, which leads to the use of FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays). Usually, the designer should have a good knowledge of programming with VHDL or Verilog HDL. Unfortunately, only specialists can do it, because this needs a lot of training and practices to master these architectures. Furthermore, even for specialists, the process of development is quite time consuming. Therefore, how to develop a tool to help non-expert users working on FPGA is a promising but challenging work.Tools like Simulink+HDL coder provide a graphical interface to create a design, by putting functional blocks on a layer and to connect them. Nevertheless, such tools are generally suffering from two flaws. One is that they do not take the physical characteristics of the target architecture of the application into account, including that of the selected FPGA. The other one is that they do not check whether a data stream is processed correctly by the design, besides creating many test-benches, which is tedious and time consuming for the developer. Therefore, they are not suitable to produce applications in real-time environment and high hardware constraints.In order to manage the ever-increasing size and complexity of designs, the abstraction is gradually more and more essential. Some models have emerged to represent a design as a graph of actors (i.e. blocks), with a static analysis of the graph execution. Nevertheless, they have an unfaithful description of the behavior real architectures like an FPGA.In this dissertation, we concentrate on the study of a novel model and software tool that can help non-expert users for automatic design of FPGA implementations correctly. The main contributions are summarized as follows:1. The limits of existing SDF models, in particular those of the SDF-AP model, are described and illustrated by the analysis of characteristic examples. The two most common problems encountered in block assembly implementations are the production of incorrect results and the infinite growth of buffer size.2. We propose a new model called Actors Stretchable Access Patterns (ASAP) that describes the hardware behaviors as efficiently and precisely as possible. This is a novel way to address the scheduling problem of actors, adapted to FPGA architectures. It opens the possibility to determine the execution correctness mathematically without launching complex simulations. It can not only model actors' behaviors properly, but also avoid the above mentioned drawbacks. Algorithms that implement these principles also provided.3. We investigate strategies and related algorithms to analyze a graph representing a designed system. Its correctness can be analyzed by a series of algorithms, such as sample rate checking and pattern compatibility checking. The decimation rate or the delay length to be applied on actor's input can be computed when a correctness failure is detected. This increases the number of possible real FPGA implementations covered by the block assembly method.4. A software tool based on the concept of functional block graph is also developed. It is called BlAsT (Block Assembly Tool) and aims to compensate the drawbacks of other tools based on the same concepts, as for example Simulink + HDL coder. In BlAsT, the proposed ASAP model and related algorithms are used to check that for a given input stream, whether the system can produce a correct result and finally generate VHDL code directly usable on a real FPGA-based board. Otherwise, the tool determines the required decimations and modifications on the graph automatically. It makes a user without any programming skills to make designs on FPGAs thanks to the friendly graphic interface.

The paper focuses on the design and implementation of the base-band basic receiving functions, for a binary CP-FSK demodulator pilot study, as independent modules of a complete Reconfigurable Data-Link (RDL). A model-based approach and Software Defined Radio (SDR) paradigm are used for the design. The implementation will be executed on Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based hardware.

abstract: This research effort focuses on thermal management system (TMS) design for a high-performance, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV). The thermal performance for various components in an electrified powertrain is investigated using a 3D finite difference model for a complete vehicle system, including inherently temperature-sensitive components. The components include the electric motor (EM), power electronics, Energy Storage System (ESS), and Internal Combustion Engine (ICE). A model-based design approach is utilized, where a combination of experimental work and simulation are integrated. After defining heat sources and heat sinks within the power train system, temporal and spatial boundary conditions were extracted experimentally to facilitate the 3D simulation under different road-load scenarios. Material properties, surface conditions, and environmental factors were defined for the geometrical surface mesh representation of the system. Meanwhile the finite differencing code handles the heat transfer phenomena via conduction and radiation, all convective heat transfer mode within the powertrain are defined using fluid nodes and fluid streams within the powertrain. Conclusions are drawn through correlating experimental results to the outcome from the thermal model. The outcome from this research effort is a 3D thermal performance predictive tool that can be utilized in order to evaluate the design of advanced thermal management systems (TMSs) for alternative powertrains in early design/concept stages of the development process. For future work, it is recommended that a full validation of the 3D thermal model be completed. Subsequently, design improvements can be made to the TMS. Some possible improvements include analysis and evaluation of shielding of the catalytic converter, exhaust manifold, and power electronics, as well as substituting for material with better thermal performance in other temperature-sensitive components, where applicable. The result of this improvement in design would be achieving an effective TMS for a high-performance PHEV. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Engineering 2017

This thesis presents the \emph{Boundary Diagram Tool}, a tool for change impact analysis of large Simulink designs of embedded systems. The Boundary Diagram Tool extends the Reach/Coreach Tool, an existing tool for model slicing within a single Simulink model, to trace the impact of model changes through multiple Simulink models and to network interfaces of an automotive controller. While the change impact analysis results can be viewed directly within the Simulink models, the tool also uses various block diagrams to represent the impact analysis results with different levels of abstraction, motivated by industrial needs. In order to effectively present the complex impact analysis results, various techniques for visual representation of large graphs are employed. Furthermore, the Reach/Coreach Tool as an underlying model slicing engine was significantly improved. The Boundary Diagram Tool is currently being integrated into the software development process of a large automotive OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). It provides support during several phases of the change management process: change request analysis and evaluation, as well as the implementation, verification and integration of software changes. The tool also aids impact analyses required for compliance with functional safety standards such as ISO 26262. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)