Q4 2012 pdf

ai-online.com • autoindustry.us • peaceVol. 191 • Issue 4

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We can show an online overview of the whole test situation

including test track, multiple vehicles, fixed obstacles and

pedestrians at an accuracy of 2cm and in real-time. Page 14“Raimund Trummer, Director Product Marketing at DEWETRON.

Auto Shanghai

Mercedes

125+

Frackingvs Bio

In-VehicleInfotainment

Automotive Consultancies

DoE / NHTSA

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contents

contentsAutomotive Industries is published by:Automotive Industries Ltd.Publisher: John [email protected]+1 313 262 5702 (IP 5101888888) Editor: Ed [email protected] • +27 (0) 41 582 3750 Editing: Claire [email protected] • +27 (0) 41 582 3750 Circulation Management: Dave [email protected]+1 859 879 8420 Finance: Ben Adler [email protected]+44 (0) 20 8458 7130 Press Releases and Advertising Enquiries: Enquiries should be sent to the AI Team via the contact details below NICK PALMENEngineering & Design Press Releases and Advertising [email protected]+44 (0) 20 8764 9696 (IP 5101401836) JAMES HILTONShows Press Releases and Advertising [email protected]+44 (0) 1142 811 014 CLINTON WRIGHTEnvironmental Technologies Press Releases and Advertising [email protected]+44 (0) 7852 722 602 JON KNOXFuels & Future Fuels Press Releases and Advertising [email protected]+34 (0) 690 276 463 ALAN TRANVehicle Systems - Interior Press Releases and Advertising [email protected]+ 44 20 3129 8361 (IP 5101401831) ROB WHITEVehicle Systems - Exterior Press Releases and Advertising [email protected]+44 (0) 20 8202 3770 (IP 5101401833) RON CHARLESInnovation & Sustainable [email protected]+44 (0) 79 303 84026 MICHAEL STEWARTVehicle Systems - Electrical/Electronic Press Releases and Advertising [email protected]+44 (0) 7853 499 350 ELVIS PAYNEHead of Sports [email protected]+ 44 7824 975 718 Layout: GIA: [email protected]

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Volume 191 Number 4. December 2012Published Quarterly by Automotive Industries Ltd . Issue date: Q4 20123859 Shannon Run, Versailles, KY 40383.Subscription rates are $330 North America, Rest of the World (Airmail)Periodical postage paid at: Versailles, KY 40383 and at additional mailing officesCopyright AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRIES LTDCanadian Publication Mail Agreement # 41301520.Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to:P.O. Box 122, Niagara Falls, ON, L2E 6S8, CanadaPOSTMASTER: send address changes to Automotive IndustriesPO Box 1510, Versailles, KY 40383, USA

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Predicting the unpredictable ........................................................................................................ 06

80% CO2 reduction targeted by joint Audi-Joule program ............................................................ 08

Auto Shanghai to showcase “turning of a new page” in automotive history .................................. 10

Building an auto industry hub through value creation ................................................................... 12

Meeting the increasingly complex challenge of real-time data capture .......................................... 14

US government adds US$120 million spark to EV research ......................................................... 16

Plastic optical fiber meets demand for bandwidth, lower costs .................................................... 18

Mercedes-Benz – capturing the history of the auto industry ......................................................... 20

Infotainment and Driver Assistance Networks Require Seamless Integration ................................ 24

XIRAN® compounds for eco-friendly and system cost efficient part production ........................... 28

TTTech brings networking scalability and flexibility to automotive customers ................................ 30

CBI - Promoting exports from developing countries ..................................................................... 32

Will advanced bio-fuels outperform oil from fracking? .................................................................. 33

The new Aktaş “spring collection” offers color customization ........................................................ 34

Opensource technologies merge communication and transportation ........................................... 36


To borrow from the wisdom of Yogi Berra, the one thing we do know for sure about 2013 and beyond is that “the future ain’t what it used to be”.

The future that has changed is the industrial and consumer dominance of the West. Eastern manufacturers are now innovators setting the bench-marks for quality. We saw it first with Japan, then with Korea. In 2000 Hyundai Motors was bankrupt. Today it is one of the world’s fastest-growing car manufacturers, ranked around fifth-largest. Chinese and Indian marques will undoubtedly follow suit.

While all this means more choice for consumers, auto industry suppliers have seen what was once a neatly defined market served by a limited and stable number of manufacturers change fundamentally, along with their role: “As suppliers take on more responsibility for technology innovation, they will need to become more agile and adroit in managing the technology project portfolio,” says Booz & Co in its 2013 Automotive Industry Perspective. Booz & Co advises suppliers to rethink their approach to contracting with OEMs and become “more discerning” in their evaluation of programs. For example, ask whether there is a clear path to recover costs for a given program. “To improve the chance that their innovations will fit seamlessly and hence improve competitive positioning, suppliers will need to continue to expand their knowledge of the vehicle systems in which they play.

Predicting the unpredictable

intro

Editor, Ed Richardson

(over 40) and an aggressive marketing strategy being put into effect by virtually every OEM. With make-loyalty hovering around 48%, it means over half of any brand’s customer base will defect.

As Booz & Co point out, the challenge for suppliers is to tool up for the new models, and to have enough flexibility to absorb lower than expected sales as consumers switch brands, or to gear up if a model is selling faster than expected. With all the choice in the market-place, buyers will not wait around while a factory and its suppliers catch up with demand.

A good example of the risk is the switch to electric vehicles and hybrids, where improved efficiency in combustion engines is slowing the transition to electric power: Hybrids will continue to occupy less than 3% of the market due to “very affordable fuel-efficient vehicles powered by none other than good ‘ol fossil fuel. Sales of 4-cylinder vehicles broke 50% in 2012 in the U.S. and the sub-compact and compact car segment will be a focal segment in 2013,” predicts Polk.

Outside of the US, the market reflects the same challenges and opportunities. It is expected that Brazil, Russia, India and

China will account for over 60% of total global light vehicle sales growth between 2012 and 2020.

Polk sees the globalization of vehicle design presenting opportunities for aftermarket

suppliers as vehicle components will increasingly become universal.

Booz & Co sums up the situation nicely: “The automotive industry is in a phase of both rapid and broad technological innovation that spans several scientific disciplines—chemistry (batteries), materials science (lightweight

materials), and consumer electronics (infotainment). It’s becoming exceedingly

difficult and too costly for OEMs to “go deep” across all technologies. Additionally, some

nonautomotive players have superior specialized technical capabilities and R&D scale in specific

disciplines. These factors are fundamentally shifting the industry’s long-standing model of innovation —which had been centered around large OEMs and major suppliers — toward a more decentralized approach in which OEMs serve as integrators, and large and small suppliers play an expanded role.

All in all, for those suppliers with the foresight, flexibility and drive to succeed in the auto industry, the future is better than what it used to be.

This could involve enhanced networking or partnerships with sub-tier suppliers (such as electronics providers), market peers, or adjacent technologies, in addition to traditional OEM relationships,” says the White Paper.

Where there does seem to be consensus among the various analysts is that – barring any unforeseen developments – vehicle sales will continue to grow, even in a depressed Europe. Consulting group Polk is among those which see a 6.6% growth in American light vehicle sales, to 15.4 million units, and reaching 16.2 million by 2015. What is uncertain is what Americans will be driving. The Polk White Paper observes: “Most dealers and leaders running key units within an OEM will continue to struggle with owner loyalty given the number of new model introductions hitting the market

AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRIES and Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, have put together a digital library of back issues of AI from the early 1900’s (high res and low res) of approximately 230,000 images of the print publication. This archive, which documents the birth of the auto industry to the present, is available to AI subscribers. Go to AI’s homepage www.ai.com and click on the “AI Library” link or visit www.ai-online.com/100YearLibrary

AI

Short installation time, user exchangeable modulesOnline overview of the whole test situation via 3d displayReal-time calculation and analysis for immediate results

www.dewetron.com/auto

Evaluation of ADAS systems SYNC-CLOCK™ for synchronized analog, CAN/FlexRay™, GPS/INS and Video inputs

NHTSA recommended FCW test system

xcp CAN

GPS/INS

Analog

Video

OBD2


In order to better understand Audi’s position in the program, Automotive Industries (AI) asked Reiner Mangold, head of environmental product at Audi, what the company’s principal interest is in Joule diesel and other fuels.

Mangold: Diesel fuel is the primary focus for Audi support. Audi, with TDI technology, is a world leader in efficient, yet powerful diesels for passenger vehicles. Through its knowledge of diesel fuel and engine combustion processes, Audi is helping to design the perfect synthetic fuel for vehicles. Synthetic ethanol production will become commercially viable before diesel. After ethanol, Joule diesel fuel is the main focus of Audi support. We expect Joule’s diesel fuel will provide CO2 reduction of 80% compared with fossil diesel fuel if the overall diesel fuel production system is taken into consideration. We expect to find the main attraction of Joule diesel fuel to be blending with conventional diesel fuel at any percentage. Joule diesel fuel has virtually no sulfur or aromatics. It does not require use of sugar, other food sources or precious potable water.

AI: How will Audi help advance production and availability of Joule fuel?

Mangold: Audi’s world leadership position and knowledge of motor fuel, combustion systems and experience with powerful, efficient engines will contribute to advancing Joule’s fuels (both diesel and ethanol).

The Audi/Joule affiliation raises a number of issues for which there are no ready answers as yet. They include: • How will total combined CO2 emissions from vehicles and the

Joule diesel fuel production system impact the thinking and plans of regulators and industry?

• How will total fuel + vehicle CO2 emission levels from three cylinder diesel cars compare and be used to average out regulated fleet requirements beginning mid next decade?

• Considering the degree of Joule’s indicated interest in world markets, what countries are the firm likely to focus on for potential licensees.

• What percentage of U.S. fuel with properties comparable to Joule fuel may be produced domestically and at what price?

• What reaction in general is likely from environmentalists? Although first production at scale of Joule ethanol and diesel fuel have not been formally announced, sources in Hobbs, New Mexico indicate Joule’s new plant is now ready for startup. With a recent population of only 35,000 and now a US$100 million new facility and all that comes with it, Hobbs will likely become an energy boom town due to remarkably clean, renewable Joule drop-in fuels without the environmental problems associated with fracking.

Ai insider

80% CO2 reduction targeted by joint Audi-Joule program By: Bob Brooks, member SAE

Ai Insider Bob Brooks is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers, and long-time automotive technology journalist specializing in powertrains and fuels.

It was announced in September 2012 that Audi and Joule Unlimited had formed a joint venture

to commercialize Joule’s unique synthetic diesel and ethanol fuel technology based on microor-

ganisms (www.jouleunlimited.com). Initial production at scale is expected to start at a new plant

in Hobbs, New Mexico, which is engineered and constructed by the Fluor Corporation.

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Themed as “Innovation for Better Life,” the 15th Shang-hai International Automobile Industry Exhibition, or Auto Shanghai 2013, will be held from April 21 to 29 in the Shang-hai New International Expo Center, Shanghai.

The organizers of Auto Shanghai 2013 include the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Shanghai Sub-Council, and China Council for the Promotion of International trade, Automotive Industry Committee; and the co-organizers are Shanghai International Exhibition Co. and

Haima Automobile, Soueast Motor, and Lifan Auto. Jiangling Motors as well as Changfeng Group will showcase their models as independent exhibitors. Global auto components giants like BorgWarner, Eaton Group, Bosch, Continental AG, ThyssenKrupp, NSK, ZF and Faurecia will also be there.

As most automobile makers prefer their new car release to be on the first day of the exhibition, the organizers have set

aside April 20 as a media day. The exhibition will be reserved for business visitors on April 21 and 22,

and will then open to the public from April 23 to 29 – a day longer than previous shows.

Automotive Industries (AI) asked Gu Chunting, Vice General Secretary of CCPIT Shanghai Sub-council, and president of SIEC, what aspects of the Chinese automotive industry Auto Shanghai 2013 will highlight.

Chunting: Auto Shanghai 2013 will help to achieve technological innovation and leapfrog development

of China’s automobile industry. This is in keeping with the theme of “Innovation

for better life,” following China’s industrial strategy of “adjustment and

transformation, innovation and upgrading.” Over the next few years motor vehicles will

spread rapidly into Chinese families. Our show will emphasize the safety, environmental protection, and energy

conservation; focus on the new ideas of auto manufacturing, upgrading of auto technology, unique auto design, and intelligent auto controlling. It will help to increase the competitive power of China’s automobile industry in the world.

innovation

Auto Shanghai to showcase “turning of a new page” in automotive history By: Alan Tran

MMG-Messe Muenchen International/IMAG. The event is also supported by China Machinery Industry Federation and The Society of Automotive Engineers of China.

Top brands participating include General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, German automakers Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, BMW, Peugeot, Citroen, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, Honda and Nissan. Also represented are China’s top six: FAW, SAIC, DFM, CHANGAN, GAC and BAW. Other Chinese brands include Geely, BYD, Chery, Brilliance Auto, Great Wall Motor, JAC,

Gu Chunting, Vice General Secretary of CCPIT Shanghai

Sub-council, President of SIEC

“Innovation will lead to industry development, which createsa better life.”

Automotive I n d u s t r i e s 11

AI: What does the motto “Innovation for Better Life” mean for Auto Shanghai – how will it be reflected in the event?

Chunting: The development of the automobile has been going on for over a century, and Auto Shanghai is an epitome of this history. It is where hot issues in the auto industry are presented, and emerging technologies and energy-saving and environment-friendly technologies are shared. Along with the global automobile industry reform, independent innovation and China’s growing automobile market will offer visitors an inspiring preview of the future of the industry.

The theme of Auto Shanghai 2013 is “Innovation for Better Life”. Innovation will lead to industry development, which creates a better life. Auto Shanghai is not only a testament to the development of China’s automobile industry, but a showcase of a better lifestyle brought about by green technology. As one of the most important international auto shows, Auto Shanghai will bear the dreams of global automotive players, the responsibility of promoting the healthy development of China’s self-owned brands, as well as direct the auto culture and reflect the public’s aspiration for auto lifestyle.

AI: What will some of the highlights of Auto Shanghai 2013 be?

Chunting: Auto Shanghai 2013 will once again be the information dissemination platform of new technology, new vehicle models, and new ideas. We will showcase innovative automotive manufacturing concepts, new technologies, amazing auto designs and intelligent automotive controlling systems. We will firstly use the all indoor halls and outdoor temporary tent of Shanghai New International Expo Center for exhibiting. During the exhibition, the latest vehicles from those famous brands will be displayed, and more auto debuts will appear at Auto Shanghai. These are all highlights of our show.

And we have some changes of exhibition schedule. As most automobile makers customarily prefer their new car release to be on the first day of the exhibition, the organizer will only arrange one media day (April 20) and expand the media release time to 8 p.m. Subsequently the exhibition dates will be increased by one day, i.e. from 21st to 29th April 2013 (21st and 22nd for professional visitors, 23rd to 29th for the public), leaving visitors more time to enjoy the event.

AI: Tell us a little about the organization of the event, and how it will be different from previous years’ shows.

Chunting: Auto Shanghai will continuously keep “people-orientation” and “continual innovation” as its basic concepts of service and management. The show seeks to offer a detailed, careful, efficient, and perfect service with a delicate Shanghai tone and style. We believe that a successful show should be enjoyed by all participants, including exhibitors, visitors, and the media. This show will be a celebration of automotive culture, including various supporting activities which promote automotive knowledge, energy conservation and environment protection.

AI: What kind of participation do you expect from the 2013 Auto Shanghai? How many visitors and exhibitors are you planning for?

Chunting: Auto Shanghai 2013 is expected to occupy all 17 indoor exhibition halls and outdoor temporary exhibition tents, covering a total of 280,000 m2. The show will gather together the top international car manufacturing companies, new co-operating brands, and their own brands. In addition, new commercial vehicles from every major manufacturer will be on show. The world’s top-ranking auto parts groups will also attend Auto Shanghai 2013. We expect to attract over 800,000 visitors and 3,000 media representatives. About 10,000 journalists will report this event, and witness the turning of a new page in the development of the international automotive industry. AI


These carmakers have in turn attracted 170 foreign and Chinese components manufacturers including Germany’s Continental, which invested US$180 million in a spare parts plant in TEDA, creating an ever more integrated industrial chain making anything from satnavs and stereos to seats, wiring and engine control units.

TEDA hopes this synergy between manufacturers and suppliers will make it the country’s biggest automotive manufacturing base. It is also home to two domestically-funded auto research institutes and four foreign-funded independent research institutes. In addition, Shanghai Volkswagen has set up its distribution base for north China in TEDA, and the park is also setting up a suppliers’ platform for Toyota and Hyundai.

Overall, TEDA estimates that its auto industry will be worth 250 billion yuan (US$39.6 billion) by 2015, accounting for just under a quarter of the park’s total output. Of this figure, 130 billion yuan will come from cars and 120 billon yuan from parts and accessories.

Still, this is only a fraction of the car industry’s overall value. Between 60 and 70% of the profit in the automotive industrial chain is estimated to be derived from automotive services, such as lines of credit for vehicle purchases, after-sales service, automotive logistics and the used car trade. These services in China are still at the initial stage of their development but will emerge as the consumer market grows. TEDA is doing its best to attract automobile finance companies.

TEDA’s advantages as an automotive hub include hefty government support and its prime location for distribution across north China and for export through its busy port. The park also claims to have lower production costs than the big manufacturing regions of the Pearl and Yangtze River deltas.

But TEDA also faces certain challenges. It operates in an intensely competitive environment. The car industry’s long industrial chain, which brings large-scale employment and a big boost in consumption, means it is eagerly sought after by all regions, which all offer favorable policies and incentives to manufacturers.

While the park is churning out hundreds of thousands of vehicles a year, TEDA is looking to the greater fruits of investment in research and development (R&D), which aims to yield new technology and products to serve as the foundation for long term future profit.

As demand for luxury foreign brands such as BMW and Audi easily outstrips growth in China’s overall car market, TEDA’s task – and that of the country as a whole – is not just to make cars but to find a way to create value in the attempt to make the most of the historic opportunity that the domestic auto market represents.

China’s auto market is likely to grow by between five and 10% in 2012, and is projected to grow to about 30 million vehicles by the end of the decade.

The numbers of new vehicles on Chinese roads prompted Volkswagen to sign a 900 million Euro deal earlier this year to establish a gearbox production base in Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA), a vast government-backed industrial park, home to over 20,000 manufacturers. It is located between the Bohai Sea and Tianjin city, one hour east of Beijing by high-speed train.

Volkswagen’s gearbox production base involves an initial 627 million Euro (US$826million) investment, with production of about 450,000 gearboxes scheduled to begin in 2014. When the second phase is completed, the plant will have a total annual capacity of 1.35 million units, with output value at 30-bn yuan (US$4.8-bn). The investment is the biggest ever manufacturing project wholly-funded by a foreign company in Tianjin.

“The production of DQ380 series transmission in China marks the introduction of the latest transmission technology into China. This is another action of Volkswagen to practice its long-term commitment to China, which has become our second home market,” says Jochem Heizmann, chairman and CEO of Volkswagen China.

Other auto manufacturers in TEDA include Toyota, which gave TEDA’s automotive zone an early boost with a US$1billion investment in a manufacturing plant in 2001, Great Wall Motors, which is China’s top automotive exporter, and Xingma and Qingyuan, which make electric-powered vehicles. In 2010, about 500,000 cars were manufactured in TEDA, a figure that TEDA hopes will rise to around 1.2 million in 2015.

innovation

Building an Auto Industry Hub through Value Creation By: Esther Francis

Toyotas rolling off the production line in the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area.

Tianjin City is one of the five national central cities of the People’s Republic of China.

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innovation

Vehicle system testing is becoming increasingly sophis-ticated in order to capture information from the growing number of sensor and actuator clusters in modern vehicles. Country or region-specific testing is also required before vehicles can be sold into most markets.

Austrian firm DEWETRON, a leading supplier of test and measurement systems to the automotive as well as other industries, was recently named winner of the NASA Tech Briefs product of the month and product of the year finalist for 2012 for its DEWE2-A4 system. The DEWE2 measurement series with TRION™ modules is a compact and portable all-in-one instrument with display.

Automotive Industries (AI) asked Raimund Trummer, Director Product Marketing at DEWETRON, what are some of the latest developments in vehicle testing.

Trummer: We see two major trends. The first one is that more data needs to be recorded. While up to now CAN tools have been used

Meeting the

increasingly complex challenge

of real-time data capture By: Lenny Case

We can also guide the driver through certain tests through the display. What exactly does that mean? If test engineers, for example, run circular tests on high-µ circles at the home proving ground they can do the very same on a low-µ iced lake. We simply record the movements at 2cm accuracy, and when the engineers move from Germany to an iced lake in Sweden, for example, a software button allows changing the origin of the test-run to the current position. The system sees what we call the virtual proving ground, and immediately can start testing, without the need to mark circles on the lake. Another nice thing is that DEWE2 supports mobile devices, like iPAD. Such devices are very convenient to use for our GPS-supported cone placement. Of course, a simple online view of measurements is also possible using mobile devices. We have a few more data quality

innovations. Our existing SYNC-CLOCK technology is implemented in DEWE2. The analog inputs

are also more precise than ever, plus DEWE2 supports modules at different sampling rates

to optimize the test configuration.AI: What are some of the reasons

why the DEWE2 series is particularly suited to automotive applications?

Trummer: There is the integration of all important interfaces like CAN, OBDII, J1939, LIN, FlexRay, XCP-on-CAN and XCP-on-Ethernet. DEWE2 records analog and digital signals,

counters, bus data, intelligent automotive sensors like GPS/Inertial platforms, regular

video, high-speed video, thermal video and even ECU parameters. Another good reason

is that the systems are fully user configurable - simply change modules to turn a very compact

chassis from, say, a CAN recorder with 16 CAN interfaces into a 32 channel analog signal recorder within one minute. We also developed new power supplies for DEWE2, with isolation and wide-range DC input as basic features. We can add an internal buffer battery for ~5 minutes to bridge voltage drops, or turn the units into completely hot-swappable battery-powered systems. DEWE2 also serves as laboratory and test bench measuring system. Multiple front-ends can be attached to a base instrument by daisy-chain method.

Raimund Trummer,Director Product Marketing

at DEWETRON.

to monitor just the bus condition, a new development is to use XCP for simultaneously monitoring the internal parameters of control units. The second trend is that multiple vehicles or vehicles plus other objects - like fixed obstacles or pedestrians - are involved in testing. The applications for such complex test scenarios are mainly in the fields of ADAS testing and functional safety testing.

AI: How innovative would you say the DEWE2 series is and why?

Trummer: We concentrated on channel density and ruggedness for in-vehicle use. We can show an online overview of the whole test situation including test track, multiple vehicles, fixed obstacles, pedestrians, etc. at an accuracy of 2cm and in real-time.


AI: How do DEWETRON’s solutions help automotive engineers minimize time and maximize quality when testing?

Trummer: The most important thing is that every kind of signal can be connected to a single instrument. The DEWETRON SYNC-CLOCK reduces editing times up to 50% and improves quality of data by factors of five to 10! There are a few more obvious features which are continuously improved, like quick installation of the hardware into the test vehicles, the chance to prepare instrument-setups offline on any office PC, and reducing the preparation time on the test track by, for example, supporting cone placement via GPS and instructions on a display; like our own MOB-DISPLAY or any other, such as an iPAD.

AI: How does SYNC-CLOCK work?Trummer: Our slogan to describe SYNC-CLOCK is “from

many, one” because it provides the timing backbone that allows all different data types to be recorded in perfect sync from the very beginning with each other, and when needed also in relation to an absolute time reference like the highly precise PPS signal from GPS. By recording all signals in perfect sync, SYNC-CLOCK not only increases the quality of mixed-signal data significantly, but also enables any kind of online calculations and display. The real power of SYNC-CLOCK is reflected in the analysis of the data. Since everything is already recorded in sync, analysis can be performed immediately.

AI: What are some of the technologies DEWETRON has brought to automotive testing?

Trummer: I think we are the only ones who can measure the position of vehicles dynamically with an accuracy of +-2 cm and calculate and display relative distances, speeds, accelerations, etc. between the vehicles – absolutely time synchronous to all other measurement data online. This is the foundation for the establishment of constant test conditions and sequences for efficient evaluation or benchmarking of ADAS systems. Another key technology we invented eight years ago is the perfectly synchronized video acquisition. Also worth mentioning is our STREAM technology, which enables data recording at speeds up to 200 MB/s. Finally, there is a proprietary data format which enables us to reload multiple-GB files within moments, browse the data and cut-out and store the relevant parts.

Power analysis is getting more and more important in automotive testing and we created a power analyzer which can run multiple

power calculation modules on a single instrument – thanks to i7 CPU and synchronously record extra information from CAN bus, analog sensors, etc. This means a single instrument can be used for the determination of total efficiency by analyzing power at the battery, at all e-motors plus the mechanical parameters. In hybrid cars, combustion analysis can be added to get the complete picture.

AI: Tell us a little about your company’s strategy in the automotive sector.

Trummer: We live a very simple strategy: supply instruments and support to help the customer to improve his product and make his tasks more efficient. We work very closely with OEMs, and I mean this literally. We’re really there for measurements and support them actively. Our support includes everything from preparation through implementation to evaluation. This enables us to keep a finger on the pulse in terms of new developments and testing requirements. In addition, we understand the challenges the test engineers face out there at -20 °C and +40 °C and we learn to speak “their language”. We build a lot of know-how through such close cooperation, which guarantees us the lead in the development of new devices and new software functionality for our automotive toolbox. It´s a success for us when OEMs approach DEWETRON to inquire about how to solve specific measurement tasks.

AI: How do DEWETRON’s products help automotive OEMs building alternative-fuelled vehicles?

Trummer: If it´s a combustion engine, obviously there is our combustion analyzer. If we are talking about EVs, our power analyzer with additional inputs for CAN, analog, video, etc. is perfectly suited to evaluate the total efficiency of the drivetrain. It also can be used to record driver behavior and road-profiles which are then used on the HIL test-stand to optimize the battery use. Our instruments are a re-ally perfect fit for the evaluation of hybrid cars, since we can combine combustion analyzer plus power analyzer plus additional inputs like analog, CAN or video into a single device. Besides our instruments, I can say that our know-how in the electrical power measurement is a big help for the OEMs – DEWETRON has had a power division for the past 10 years. Many OEMs and a number of the TIER1s already use DEWETRON e-mobility systems to measure and benchmark e-drive vehicles on the road as well as in their laboratories. Analysis of fre-quency phenomena up to the 200th harmonics and even above in a frequency converted e-drive system requires very detailed knowledge which is not common yet in the automotive industry, and this is where our customers rely on and trust our electrical power specialists. AI

GPS-supported-cone-placement. Analyzing efficiency of EV including highspeed power measurement.


innovation

EV battery development in the United States has received a major boost through the award of a US$120-million grant over five years to a multi-partner team led by Argonne Na-tional Laboratory to establish a new Batteries and Energy Storage Hub.

The Hub, to be known as the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), will combine the R&D firepower of five DOE national laboratories, five universities, and four private firms in an effort aimed at achieving revolutionary advances in battery performance. There is high-powered political will behind the US drive. In March 2012, President Barak Obama launched the EV-Everywhere Challenge designed to make clean energy technologies affordable and accessible to American families and businesses. The JCESR funding award was announced by U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, who was joined by Senator Richard Durbin, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Advancing next generation battery and energy storage technologies for electric and hybrid cars and the electricity grid are a critical part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to reduce America’s reliance on foreign oil and lower energy costs for U.S. consumers.

“This is a partnership between world leading scientists and world leading companies, committed to ensuring that the advanced battery technologies the world needs will be invented and built right here in America,” said Secretary Chu. “Based on the tremendous advances that have been made in the past few years, there are very good reasons to believe that advanced battery technologies can, and will, play an increasingly valuable role in strengthening America’s energy and economic security by reducing our oil dependence, upgrading our aging power grid, and allowing us to take greater advantage of intermittent energy sources like wind and solar.”

“This new hub brings together, under a single organizational roof, the world’s leading scientists, engineers and manufacturers in

US government addsUS$120 million spark toEV research By: Jon Knox

energy storage and provides them with the tools, resources and market reach necessary to produce major breakthroughs,” said U.S. Senator Dick Durbin. “The large-scale, innovative research and transformational new battery systems that will result from this venture will mean more effective, lower cost and longer life energy storage technologies with real world applications for anything that can use a rechargeable battery. The project promises to have a significant economic impact across Illinois with the help of towns and businesses who have already agreed to partner on the commercialization of promising technology developed at the Hub.”

“The research at the Energy Storage Hub has the potential to revolutionize the energy industry,” said Senator Kirk. “From transportation to the electric grid, the hub will bring the private sector, national labs and universities together to deliver new technologies and scientific approaches needed to transform the battery and energy storage industry and spur commercial innovation. The Hub at Argonne will help boost our local economy and create new jobs. Today’s announcement further establishes Illinois and Argonne as a leader in this growing industry.”

Governor Quinn is providing $5 million through his Illinois Jobs Now! capital construction plan to help build the state-of-the-art JCESR facility, which will be located on the Argonne National Laboratory campus in suburban Chicago. The Governor has also committed to working with the General Assembly to provide an additional $30 million in future capital funding for the building, which will serve as a nationwide center for energy storage research and is a key part of the governor’s plan to create jobs and grow Illinois’ economy through cutting-edge innovation.

“Since taking office, I have been focused on making Chicago the electric vehicle and batteries capital of the nation,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “This includes creating incentives to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles, attracting companies to manufacture electric vehicles, and now, working with Argonne to make sure that


Chicago is at the epicenter of research on this subject. All of these pieces fit together into a comprehensive strategy that will allow Chicago to lead in this industry, from conception to construction to implementation.”

JCESR will be directed by George W. Crabtree, Argonne Senior Scientist, Distinguished Fellow and Associate Division Director; Distinguished Professor of Physics, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago; and an internationally recognized leader in energy research. “The JCESR batteries and energy storage hub gives us a new collaborative, inter-institutional R&D paradigm in which to develop the energy storage technologies that transform both the electricity grid and transportation and so reduce our dependence on foreign oil,’ said Eric Isaacs, Director of Argonne National Laboratory.

The Hub will bring together some of the most advanced energy storage research programs in the U.S. today. Other national labs partnering with Argonne include Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. University partners include Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois-Chicago, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, and University of Michigan. “This ambitious initiative, which builds on Argonne National Laboratory’s innovative work in advanced battery technology, will create new opportunities for technological research and economic development in the city of Chicago and the region,” said Robert J. Zimmer, University of Chicago President. “It will rely on a public-private partnership to speed the development of environmentally sound energy storage capabilities, with potentially profound economic benefits.”

Four industrial partners have also joined to help clear a path to the marketplace for the advances developed at JCESR, including Dow Chemical Company, Applied Materials, Johnson Controls, and Clean Energy Trust. In March 2012, Secretary Chu announced

that Best Buy, Johnson Controls, Pacific Gas and Electric, and Veolia had joined the Energy Department’s National Clean Fleets Partnership, a broad public-private partnership that assists the nation’s largest fleet operators in reducing the amount of gasoline and diesel they use nationwide.

JCESR is the fourth Energy Innovation Hub established by the Energy Department since 2010. Other Hubs are devoted to modeling and simulation of nuclear reactors, achieving major improvements in the energy efficiency of buildings, and developing fuels from sunlight. A fifth Hub focused on critical materials research was announced earlier this year and is still in the application process.

Over the past few decades, DOE national laboratories and DOE-funded university research programs have been responsible for some of the most important advances in battery technology. For example, key battery improvements developed at Argonne helped make the Chevy Volt battery possible.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu (right), with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, announces the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, a US$120 million federally funded research center directed by UIC professor George Crabtree (left) and led by Argonne National Laboratory. Photo: UIC News Center.

The first Chevrolet Volt lithium-ion battery built at the company’s Brownstown plant being fitted. The battery is one of the successes of the DOE-funded university research programs.

AI


innovation

Plastic Optical Fiber (POF) technology is rapidly replacing existing systems as OEMs strive to meet consumer de-mand for more electronic devices in cars. This has led to an increase in the bandwidth demands within the vehicle.

In response to this demand, Spanish company Knowledge Development for Plastic Optical Fibers (KDPOF) has developed a gigabit, standardized, SI-POF based physical layer which meets the automotive requirements for data networks in the areas of cost, weight, reliability and environmental constraints (from -85 to 105ºC). Earlier POF solutions were limited to a maximum temperature of 85ºC.

“KDPOF’s gigabit POF proposal for the automotive industry was conceived as an Ethernet compatible PHY. This means that it can interface seamlessly with Ethernet MAC layers and support the new paradigm of Ethernet as claimed by well-known organizations like MOST® (Media Oriented Systems Transport) or OPEN,” says the company.

KDPOF is working with companies and organizations like Avago and Hamamatsu, as well as the Open Alliance. Within the latter organization, KDPOF is working to promote gigabit POF as an alternative medium – currently no gigabit technology over UTP is available. KDPOF gigabit Ethernet technology is, however, available.

“The field of infotainment automotive buses is dominated by standard solutions like LVDS point-to-point links or proprietary technologies like MOST. KDPOF´s solution for MOST enables the future generation of MOST that goes to 1 Gbps,” says the company.

KDPOF says that infotainment systems like Automotive Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are becoming an integral part of the vehicle, with interfaces to many different clusters of electronic systems in the vehicle.

Companies are currently developing optoelectronics for KDPOF technology and for the development of new low-cost

Plastic optical fiber meets demand for bandwidth, lower costs By: Lenny Case

and robust connectors for automotive and industrial applications. KDPOF says that its technology has been developed to approach the Shannon’s limit of SISO communication channels. Features include advanced DSP techniques for non-linear channel equalization, novel capacity approaching multi-level coset coding (MLCC), frame structure for continuous adaptation and tracking, and flexible multi-protocol encapsulation.

Automotive Industries (AI) asked Carlos Pardo, CEO of KDPOF, what the advantages of POF are over other alternatives such as UTP, STP or Coaxial.

Pardo: POF is immune to electrical noise, which is not the case of UTP. POF is cheaper than STP and of a similar cost to

Coax. The future evolution of the POF cost is much more predictable than those of copper-based solutions.

POF is basically made of plastic so weight is much lower than any of the other alternatives.

Finally, POF can withstand harsh environ-ments and tolerate, for example, routing across the engine compartment with temperatures as high as 105ºC.

AI: What are some of the features of POF that can be used in rugged appli-cations required by automotive OEMs?

Pardo: Being immune to noise, POF can be installed in electrically noisy

environments. Being an optical fiber with a big core, it is able to withstand vibrations

and misalignments much better than other optical or copper alternatives. AI: Tell us a little about the quality and cost

benefits of POF.Pardo: POF systems are not new to the automotive market.

The technology has been around in several communication standards for years now. Names like Flexray, byteflight or MOST are well known in the industry. This ensures a wide market of devices and suppliers that comply with the strict requirements of the industry. POF being a plastic, wide diameter fiber is cheap to manufacture and install as it doesn´t require any special equipment or professional qualifications. Harness manufacturing processes don´t need to be changed with POF.

AI: What technical partnerships does your company have, and how do they work?

Pardo: KDPOF has established engineering collaborations

Carlos Pardo,CEO of KDPOF.

“Being an optical fiber with a big core, it is able to withstand vibrations and misalignments much better than other optical or copper alternatives.”


with key leading optoelectronic and connector vendors worldwide to ensure a well supplied and competitive market for all the components needed in the system. Components include PHY, FOT, fiber and connectors. All these companies are excited about the new market opportunities that the gigabit POF technology has opened up. Thanks to this ecosystem of POF companies, customers do not have to worry about assurance of supply or monopolistic market situations.

AI: Why do you think that your technology is particularly suited to automotive applications?

Pardo: The key automotive challenges center around two factors - lowering cost and weight while maintaining reliability. A gigabit solution based on currently qualified and available SI-POF and optoelectronic devices ensures a cost competitive solution to the market with a substantial weight saving to the vehicle. The new technology opens the door to next generation applications and safety features in the car without paying the penalty of an increase in weight, or incurring the cost of alternatives.

AI: What kind of standardization certifications has your company’s technology received – what do they signify?

Pardo: KDPOF´s technology was selected among other alternatives as the basis for the VDE-DKE pre-norm to be published officially in February 2013 (0885-763-1). The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) communications norm for POF (TS 105 175-1-1) now refers to the VDE-DKE pre-

norm, which also implies CENELEC acceptance on their generic cabling norms (50173-1&4). All these standard recognitions help the growth of a competitive gigabit POF market around the new technology where devices can interoperate and users are confident on the future assurance of their investments. Next steps include a wider standardization with well-known institutions like the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

AI: What is the status of your project with MOST where KDPOF is offering the POF link for the MOST nG?

Pardo: The MOST Cooperation decision for next generation has chosen to provide two paths. One is aimed at high-end, mid-long term systems where speeds in excess of 3-5 Gbps are needed. Secondly, a 1 Gbps profile based on POF will also be supported. This is where KDPOF´s technology of 1 Gbps adds a great value proposition.

KDPOF´s technology has already been evaluated with very positive feedback from key suppliers like SMSC; carmakers like Jaguar-Land Rover, Volvo, and Audi; and Tier 1 vendors like Harman, Valeo and Delphi. Now, we are one step further, where detailed integration work is being done between SMSC´s iNIC and KDPOF´s PHY. The final objective is to set up a system, which, from OSI layers 2 and above complies with the new MOST nG technology and incorporates KDPOF´s PHY as layer 1. We are confident on the results of this trial and the choice of our technology for the 1 Gbps POF path of the MOST nG. AI

POF fiber can handle inputs from multiple interfaces. Performance of KDPOF technology with Standard POF fiber.

Overall system cost will benefit from re-using standard SI-POF.

Current, well proven & qualified optoelectronic devices are carried over.


By 1887, the Motorwagen Model 3 (the first model had been tested in 1885 and then again the Model 2 in 1886), had launched. The three-wheeled vehicle, with its combustion engine and electric ignition, was sold under the Benz Patent Motorwagen brand name – making it the first automobile to be marketed commercially. A popular story is that Bertha Benz decided to help promote his invention by taking it on a 120-mile drive without his prior knowledge. She apparently served as her own mechanic on the trip. Bertha’s adventurous spirit

and early marketing savvy resulted in a sale of the Motorwagen Model 3.

One short fall of Bertha Benz’s car journey with the Model 3 was that since the early version had no gears, it couldn’t go uphill. This was rectified after Bertha’s driving tour. In 1888, gasoline was available in chemists as it was sold as a cleaning agent. Between 1886 and 1893 around 25 Motorwagens were built – with the vehicle making its debut at the Paris World

Fair in 1889. Carl’s company Benz & Cie, grew from strength to strength after that. By the end of

the nineteenth century Benz & Cie was the largest automobile company in the world, with 572 units

produced in 1899. While Carl Benz was developing his vehicle, Gottlieb Daimler

and Wilhelm Maybach were also working on developing gasoline engines. The two men went to work on developing light-weight, high speed internal combustion engines from 1882. Maybach unearthed a patent belonging to an Englishman called Watson describing an unregulated hot-tube ignition system - an essential element in generating high engine speed. The horizontal engine of 1883 was followed by the “grandfather clock,” a particularly light-weight and compact engine with a vertically-fixed cylinder which was particularly suited to installation in vehicles. In 1885, the new engine was installed first into a wooden riding car and then, a year later, into a carriage.

As one of the pioneers of the auto industry, the history of Mercedes-Benz provides a window into the way that the internal combustion engine has transformed society in less than 100 years.

It also reflects the shifting economic fortunes of countries and regions. In December 2012, the Daimler Supervisory Board appointed Hubertus Troska as the member of the Board of Management for the newly created position of “China”. Troska is now CEO and Chairman of Daimler Northeast Asia and responsible for all of Daimler’s strategic and operating activities in China. The appointment of Troska expands the Daimler Board of Management to eight members.

innovation

Mercedes-Benz – capturing the history of the auto industry By: Lenny Case

“China has developed into the world’s biggest market for motor vehicles. With the decision to establish a Board of Management position specifically for this market, we are underscoring the strategic importance of China for Daimler. We continue to see great potential there for sustained growth and the continuous expansion of our business activities,” said Manfred Bischoff, Chairman of the Daimler Supervisory Board at the announcement of the new position.

Daimler AG celebrated 125 years of the automobile in 2011. It was in January 29th 1886 that Carl Friedrich Benz patented the Motorwagen. While Benz, along with his wife Bertha Benz, were doing pioneering research and development in the gasoline-powered automobile – Benz’s two German contemporaries, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach were partners in a venture with a similar goal in mind. Daimler and Maybach were also working on horseless carriages.

Mercedes-Benz Cars have inspired collectors ofall types. This tin model of a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W 198 I) by Märklin has a body screwed to the frame and a wind-up engine, scale approx.1:14. The 300 SL racing car was first

produced in 1953 as a model.

Bertha Benz – a pioneer of automotive technology and marketing. She drove 120 miles

in Motorwagen Model 3 to demonstrate the capabilities of the vehicle.


name was also included as a product designation. It was decided that a new engine would be developed and bear the name Daimler-Mercedes. Maybach designed the first “Mercedes” in 1900 – it was a sensation at Nice Week in 1901. The first Mercedes was a 35 hp racing car and had a low center of gravity, pressed steel frame, high-powered engine and a honeycomb radiator. With its innovations, it is regarded as the first modern automobile.

With the outbreak of World War I, Germany’s automobile industry took a beating. As in other industries, companies tried to merge to benefit from economies of scale. After initially entering into a joint venture with the aim of rationalizing production (with a major role played by Deutsche Bank), the two companies – Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft and Benz & Cie finally merged in 1926 to form Daimer-Benz AG, with its registered office in Berlin and administrative headquarters in Stuttgart.

In 1890, Daimler founded the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) and Maybach and Daimler’s partnership resulted in the spray-nozzle carburetor and the Phoenix engine and improvements to the belt drive system. Early Daimler cars were four-wheeled, with two-cylinder engines with a 6 hp belt. By 1898, DMG had started producing Phoenix cars with front-mounted, 8-hp engines – the world’s first road vehicles with four-cylinder engines. Emil Jellinek, a businessman, advertised and sold Daimler automobiles among the higher echelons of society. By 1900 DMG had supplied him with as many as 29.

Jellinek constantly demanded faster, more powerful cars from DMG, and entered these in race meetings. Jellinek’s most important race was Nice Week where he raced under a pseudonym – his daughter’s name, Mercedes. In April 1900, when Jellinek and DMG came to an agreement about the sale of cars and engines, the

The Mercedes-Benz S-Class looks back on a tradition reaching back to the early days of the Mercedes brand. The photograph displays a Mercedes-Simplex 60 hp from 1904, the elegant and luxurious touring limousine formerly owned by Emil Jellinek.

ABOVE LEFT: Emil Jellinek – the marketer who repositioned the company. ABOVE RIGHT: Mercedes Jellinek aged 15. Emil Jellinek initially chose the first name of his daughter as a pseudonym for his own involvement in racing with vehicles from Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft.It later became the brand name.

LEFT: Completing the London to Brighton VeteranCar Run in November 2011 is Jutta Benz driving BenzPatent-Motorwagen.


Under the leadership of Wilhelm Kissel, the company stabilized by strictly limiting the number of vehicles and introducing a flexible production system at the large factories in Unterturkheim, Sindelfingen and Mannheim. This helped the company survive the Great Depression which impacted the world economy from 1929. Of these, the supercharged sports car in its various versions S, SS and SSK was the showcase model of the Daimler-Benz brand which not only achieved motorsport success, but also helped improve the company’s export record. During the world economic crisis, the Stuttgart automaker also managed to add the 170 Mercedes to its model range. In the commercial-vehicle sector, Daimler-Benz introduced the first compressorless six-cylinder diesel truck in 1927. The Lo 2000 developed by Daimler-Benz at the beginning of the 1930s brought the company the major breakthrough in the truck business.

During World War II, the company shifted its focus to support Germany’s war efforts. Post 1945, it took years for Daimler-Benz to recover from the impact of war reparations. During the period from 1949 to 1960, in the fast-expanding German automotive industry Daimler-Benz AG succeeded in regaining the position it had enjoyed before the Second World War. As early as 1954 the company cracked the billion dollar mark in terms of turnover, and with that, broke the existing sales record.

What helped Daimler-Benz keep its premier position are the people who played a critical role in the engineering and design departments. In 1938, Béla Barényi, a visionary in automotive safety was given carte blanche by Daimler-Benz. In 1951 Barényi achieved a breakthrough in safety development when he applied for a patent for the foundation of the safety passenger compartment.

The concept of defined crumple zones in combination with a high-strength passenger compartment, in August 1952, is a milestone of passive safety. This innovation first entered into the production of luxury model series W 111, the “Tailfin,” presented in August 1959. The safety steering wheel goes back to a Barényi idea dating from 1947.

“A company like Daimler-Benz cannot live from hand to mouth. Mr Barényi, you are thinking 15 to 20 years ahead. In Sindelfingen we’ll wrap you in cotton wool. What you invent goes straight to the Patents department,” said Wilhelm Haspel who went on to become chairman of Daimler-Benz AG. This meant carte blanche, so to speak, for this creative thinker, because freed from the constraints of series production development he could now develop his ideas and commit them to paper.

Haspel, was not overstating the case with his assessment. The future VW Beetle, for instance, showed a great many constructional parallels to the coming “people’s car” that was the subject of the paper that Béla Barényi had submitted back in 1925/26 at the Mechanical Engineering School for his examination. And in the area of vehicle safety, one finds design solutions which Barényi had devised and readied for production.

As early as 1948, he designed a “vanishing windscreen wiper” that, when switched off, was covered by the body and as a result posed less risk of injury to pedestrians. This idea became reality for the first time in the W 126 S Class built from 1979 to 1991.

Similarly, from the 1957, Paul Bracq, head of Daimler-Benz’s Advanced Design studios, worked on the most expensive and complex Mercedes-Benz – the MB 600. He also designed iconic cars such as the 230SL Pagoda, the 220S Coupe, the 250 and 220D as well as the W108 series. Bracq is credited with defining the design of the Mercedes-Benz car – initially with the 600 – to the famous international look it became known for.

Another iconic automotive designer, Bruno Sacco, joined Daimler-Benz in the late 50’s. Until his retirement in 1999, Sacco was responsible for every Mercedes vehicle. Some of his best known work includes that for the C111 concept car, the S-Class luxury car, the C-Class compact executive car, the E-Class sedan, the CLK and SLK sports car and the M-Class luxury SUV.

A major turning point for Daimler-Benz was when the company merged with the Chrysler Corporation in 1998 to form Daimler Chrysler AG. The merger was not as successful as hoped, and in 2007 Daimler offloaded the Chrysler Corporation to Cerberus Capital Management for over US$7 billion. And the company name changed again to Daimler AG. The renaming of the company was to make a clear distinction between the company brand Daimler and the Group’s various activities.

Today, Daimler AG says it is confident of facing economic challenges and indeed any other hurdles facing automotive manufacturers. The biggest challenge of which is sustainable mobility. “Our objective is to secure sustainable mobility on a long-term basis – as anchored in our road map,” says Thomas Weber, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development. “We intend to be leaders in green technologies while, on the other hand, not neglecting typical Mercedes-Benz virtues such as safety, comfort, or superior driving pleasure. We make high investments to this end. However, Daimler and Mercedes-Benz do not only stand for topics of the future such as electric automobiles powered by the fuel cell or the battery. Our current models already incorporate effective technologies for even more efficiency, environmental compatibility, and safety.”

Mercedes-Benz has been producing the Unimog for over 60 years.

The Opel Blitz, produced from 1930 onwards, was one of the classic trucks of the 1930s and 40s.


“In the first stage, we are setting out to achieve this with our BlueEFFICIENCY measures for passenger cars with state-of-the-art internal combustion engines. These include downsizing, high-pressure supercharging, direct injection, and strategic optimization measures on the vehicle itself, for example in matters of aerodynamics, lightweight design, and energy management. Great potential for further enhanced efficiency is also offered by made-to-measure hybridization in a number of stages,” he says.

Speaking at the release of the 2012 third quarter results, Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars said: “Due to the economic challenges, Daimler will not match the high prior-year EBIT in full-year 2012, but will still post good earnings once again. But we are not yet at the level that we aim to reach in the medium to long term. We have therefore initiated appropriate measures for all divisions and are thus prepared for a difficult market environment.

At Mercedes-Benz Cars, we are adding an important element to our Mercedes-Benz 2020 growth strategy: ‘Fit for Leadership.’ With this program, we are combining existing and additional efficiency measures in order to secure our short-term targets and to give our business system an optimal and sustainable positioning.”

Zetsche’s goal is to increase Daimler’s sales by 2020.“We have made considerable productivity

gains from the old to the new generation,” explained Wolfgang

Bernhard, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG Manufacturing and Procurement Mercedes-Benz Cars and Mercedes-Benz Vans.

“The segment of imported Mercedes-Benz premium trucks is growing in importance in many countries. Our product range is ideal for serving this segment,” says Head of Mercedes-Benz Trucks Hubertus Troska. “This is mainly due to our reliable high-quality products, our perfect service, and the outstanding total cost of ownership that our trucks offer. The rapidly rising demand for Mercedes-Benz trucks in countries like China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia also provides us with an additional stable pillar for counteracting the strong cyclical fluctuations on the European market”. The Chinese truck market is expected to recover and grow by more than 10% next year. “Our Mercedes-Benz trucks will definitely be part of that growth,” says Troska.

Developments in Russia have been similar, so the Russian market has also become more important for Mercedes-Benz Trucks in recent years. Russia was ranked 20th for the brand’s truck sales in 2007. Sales there have risen continually since that time, and Russia is now the sixth most important market for Mercedes-Benz Trucks.

China and Russia are not the only countries where interest in Mercedes-Benz Actros, Axor, and Atego trucks is growing. These vehicles also enjoy an excellent reputation and great popularity on the Arabian Peninsula. Back in 2007 Saudi Arabia ranked only 13th on the list of the top sales markets for Mercedes-Benz Trucks; in 2012 it rose to eighth place.

Two trends can currently be observed on the world’s expanding truck markets, such as China, India, and Russia. The first is that local manufacturers are technically upgrading their volume segment models, partly because of increasingly stringent emission

standards. The second trend is that the demand for premium products built by manufacturers from the traditional triad sales markets is increasing, because attributes such as reliability, efficiency, and durability are becoming more important for heavy-duty applications in growing economies.

These developments are playing a key role in growth markets especially countries such as China (the world’s biggest truck market), India (the third biggest), and Russia (the largest truck market in Europe). Daimler Trucks offers both premium and modern domestic trucks (volume segment vehicles featuring state-of-the-art technology) in all of these markets. It also employs a strategic approach that is tailored to the respective countries. Daimler Trucks operates “as globally as possible and as locally as necessary,” and can also make good use of the opportunities offered by its global presence. As a result, customers are always offered the optimal product portfolio for their applications.

In India, the Group’s wholly owned subsidiary Daimler India Commercial Vehicles mainly manufactures BharatBenz trucks for the modern domestic segment. The Group also sells Mercedes-Benz trucks to premium segment customers in the construction industry, for example.

Daimler’s joint venture with Foton in China and the Group’s strategic partnership with Kamaz in Russia allow Daimler Trucks to serve the modern domestic segment in both markets, even as its business with premium Mercedes-Benz trucks continues to expand in both countries. Fuso trucks for the light-duty segment are also now being successfully marketed in the two countries.

Trucking into new marketsMarkets outside of traditional truck sales regions are becoming more important for Mercedes-Benz. The Chinese market, for example, is playing an ever greater role for sales of the brand’s trucks from Wörth. Back in 2007, China was ranked 17th on the list of the top sales markets for Mercedes-Benz trucks – but by 2012 the country had moved up to fifth place. China has thus firmly established itself as one of the core markets for Mercedes-Benz trucks.

Mercedes-Benz B-Class, B 200 Natural Gas Drive emits 16% less CO2 emissions, significantly cleaner

exhaust gases than petrol or diesel fuel and around 50% lower fuel costs than a comparable petrol model.

AI

AI


innovation

In current and future vehicles, driver assistance functions will complete and extend the feature set of traditional info-tainment systems. Along with information features such as navigation systems, traffic information, and function warn-ings, the number of vehicles with driver assistance func-tions like camera systems, distance controls, or lane de-parture warnings will rapidly increase.

As Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) become an integral part of the car, they will interface with numerous different clusters of electric/electronic systems in the vehicle. Typical emerging driver assistance applications such as Collision Warning, Traffic Sign Monitor, Lane Departure Warning, Advanced Lane Guidance, Pedestrian Warning, Night Vision, Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), or Pre-Crash Warning all involve the driver as the supervisor. The driver is in the outer loop of each cascaded control structure. Consequently, the most limited and valuable resource - the driver’s attention - needs to be shared by these applications in addition to the normal duties of driving. This will lead to many usability challenges in the future and have a great impact on the automotive infrastructure level. When driver assistance and infotainment systems need to cooperate and become one seamless system, special requirements at the network

and packet data through one network. These services are easily synchronized, if necessary, in a highly deterministic way. The third generation of the MOST Specification introduces MOST with 150 Mbit/s. MOST150 enables IP data communication, providing the automotive-ready Ethernet channel according to IEEE 802.3 with freely configurable bandwidth from 0 to nearly 150 Mbit/s. This means MOST is open to a broad variety of IP protocol based applications, including the seamless integration of wireless mobile devices or car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure communication. The MOST Framework, with its function block concept, comprises a clear application programming interface. It is able to standardize both infotainment interfaces and sensor interfaces such as cameras in driver assistance applications. Synchronicity with High Bandwidth

MOST has been designed as a synchronous network system solution with high bandwidth at almost no overhead for administrative communication. The management of synchronous and isochronous streaming connections allows for an appropriate

allocation of resources and thus provides access to quality of service (QoS) communication. QoS IP

communication is provided as well. Bandwidth requirements are always increasing. In

addition to USB 3.0 and display link applications in driver assistance, there might also be a need for uncompressed video transmission and sensor fusion. MOST Technology is open to future extensions such as high bandwidth: the next generation of MOST will enhance the bandwidth into the Gigabit range. This seems promising for both optical

link and coax links, which are both used in today’s telecom standards.

Physical Layer Variety and Flexible TopologyThe flexibility of the MOST network has already

been proven: differing topologies such as star, chain and tree are equally possible, as are diverse physical layers:

polymer optical fiber (POF), coax based electric physical layers and shielded or unshielded twisted copper cables (STP/UTP). The MOST150 Specification Rev. 1.0 for the electric physical layer for MOST150 via coax cable has recently been released. This standard extends the existing optical physical layer for MOST150 in the infotainment domain and opens up new possibilities into driver assistance vehicle domains, allowing bi-directional communication and power supply across a single cable. All physical layers are fully compatible.Tough Requirements: Real-Time and Low Latency

Driver assistance systems in a hierarchical approach with sensor fusion applications lead to hard real-time and low latency

Infotainment and Driver Assistance Networks Require Seamless Integration By: Dr Wolfgang Bott

Wolfgang Bott, Technical Coordinator of the MOST Cooperation.

level have to be met. These are characterized by high integration of a multi-channel network; hard real-time, determinism and low latency; flexible topology; high bandwidth; safety aspects; as well as robustness and maturity. Consequently, a multi-channel network approach with inherent synchronicity will be the first choice. Further advantages such as maturity, cost efficiency and flexible topology are additional arguments for MOST Technology, as it fits best from a system solution perspective. Multi-Channel Network MOST

In order to manage the complexity of sensor data, a hierarchical approach with different abstraction levels and timing constraints is chosen. On the lower level there is a large amount of raw data, where high bandwidth and coherent, fast transmission are required. On the medium level, objects and attributes must be transported. Finally, on the highest level, interpretation data flows. A multi-channel network is best suited since it allows the parallel usage of all services for control data, streaming data

Taking the Right Turnwith Safe and Modular Solutions for Different Vehicle Applications

www.tttech-automotive.com

Safety Platforms for Electric PowertrainTTTech Automotive enables safe communicationand networking for systems with different safetyrequirements according to IEC 61508 andISO 26262. Our product range includes modularhardware and software solutions based oncertifi ed safety modules, as well as effectivesystem solutions for electric and other niche vehicles.

• Modular Safety ECUs Compliant toSIL 2/3 and ASIL C/D

• AUTOSAR Safety Software up to ASIL D• Reliable Testing Tools• Safe Networking of Distributed

Electronic Architectures


requirements. Severe jitter restrictions need to be met over an automotive environment temperature range from -40 to 95°C (or even 105°C). For this purpose, the MOST system concept is based on inherent synchronicity on the physical layer level. The specification limits are testable and can be checked during compliance verification.Safety Considerations

In driver assistance systems, safety aspects have to be examined based on the grade of safety relevance. To meet safety requirements, an adequate safety software layer concept can be added. The counter measures include cyclic redundancy check (CRC), sequence counter, message length, and timeout detection. The feasibility of this concept has already been proven by corresponding studies in cooperation with the German TÜV. MOST150 already fulfills the requirements to the greatest possible extent. For the application there is no difference between a communication partner in the same control unit and one connected across the network. In addition, the network can be combined with “regular” network nodes without a safety layer.

Henry Muyshondt, Technical Liaison of the MOST Cooperation, will guide the 2013 program. Presentations by POF Application Center, Sumitomo, TE Connectivity, Avago Technologies, Hamamatsu Photonics, and Relnetyx will introduce solutions and scenarios for the future MOST physical layer. During the lunch and networking break all attendees and speakers are welcome to visit the exhibition area to learn about available MOST solutions and realizations in brand new vehicle models.

The afternoon events will begin with a section on MOST

Compliance and Quality presented by Ruetz System Solutions and Tektronix. This section will be followed by a deeper look into MOST network and system architecture by K2L and Analog Devices. Following the afternoon discussion and exhibition break, the Research Center for Information Technology (FZI), Daimler and SMSC will round up the conference program with further presentations on aspects of network and systems architecture such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and IP architecture, as well as an outlook into the MOST future.

Planning for the futureThe fifth MOST Forum on April 23, 2013 in Stuttgart/Esslingen (Germany) will give insight into the next generation of MOST Technology.

Robustness and MaturityMOST Technology is confirmed as robust in over 115 car

models on the road today. For the third MOST generation, reference implementations have been realized and MOST150 is rolling out now. The inherent synchronicity on the network level depresses the component level desires and saves resources. The standardization of MOST is based on the reuse of the function blocks, which are sets of standardized commands that allow for synchronized message and event flow. MOST provides an intellectual property pool with royalty-free cross-licensing among the members of the MOST Cooperation. This model and the technology are attractive for both premium and volume carmakers. Established compliance processes with accredited MOST Compliance Test Houses according to ISO 17025 generate pre-tested components. Furthermore, the compliance verification program concludes the design feedback loop and therefore helps to continuously improve the standard.About the author:

Dr Wolfgang Bott is Technical Coordinator of the MOST Cooperation. He also acts as the MOST Compliance Administrator.

Evolution of E/E Architecture.

MOST Data Transport Mechanisms.

Fig.3: An example of the safety layer concept.

AI

AI

Automotive-Industries-Advert-Print.indd 1 08/01/2013 15:42


innovation

The trend by automotive manufacturers towards replacing traditional materials with lightweight options such as plastics is good news for companies such as Polyscope Polymers, a major producer of styrene maleic anhydride (SMA) copolymers and compounds.

The company’s XIRAN® brand of SMA/ABS compounds is being used in growing volumes by many of the world’s major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). XIRAN® is being used by the automotive community due to its functionality and low shrinkage/warpage. It can withstand high temperatures, retains its shape, and is easy to use.

“Our compounds can be found in dozens of models produced by most of the major OEMs around the world. This percentage is likely to grow as the size of plastic components gets bigger – and this is where SMA-based compounds have the winning advantage,” said Peter Tackx, Director Sales and Business Development, Polyscope Polymers in an earlier interview with AI.

“The use of our plastics is an opportunity to design components with lower glass content and thin walls without losing any of the finished part properties. Less glass means a lower density and therefore a direct weight saving, less wear and tear for tooling and machinery and thus less system costs. The extreme adhesion performance allows foaming and painting without surface pretreatments,” says a company statement.

“OEMs have begun differentiating between material costs and system costs. In the constant drive to reduce costs, the industry

has realized that the lowest cost materials are not necessarily the cheapest to use. Take the savings in glass reinforcing by replacing traditional plastics with XIRAN® compounds. That gives an immediate weight saving, while reducing wear on tooling and machinery. Or the fact that foam and paint can be applied directly onto SMA compounds. That saves on the system costs in terms of time, energy and materials required to prepare other materials, such as plastics and metals,” explained Tackx.

Until recently, XIRAN® compounds had the downside of creating a poor visual impact in the finished part – which has restricted their use to hidden areas. Polyscope says, however, that it has “made a major breakthrough in glass-filled XIRAN® systems by developing a solution without a major cost impact that makes the material suitable for visual areas as well.”

XIRAN® SG is the company’s glass reinforced engineering plastic for injection molding applications with high heat resistance, and is particularly suited for painted or foamed parts. Typical glass fiber reinforcement loads range from 10 to 40%. The interaction between the functional maleic anhydride groups and glass fibers produces an unmatched property profile and has heat resistance of up to 125°C or higher.

The extra rigid grades are mainly used for injection molding dashboards and also other automotive applications such as painted mirror housings, windscreen demisters, front end carriers, air intake grilles, underbody shields and sunroof frames - basically all applications where one would need good heat resistance combined with an acceptable impact profile.

XIRAN® compounds

for eco-friendly and system cost-efficient

part production By: Lenny Case

Windscreen demister panel (low warpage and low creep result in excellent fit and finish).


Muezers: XIRAN® is a functional and amorphous copolymer that can be used in many different compounds. The amorphous nature of the material results in very low shrinkage and very low warpage. Tool design is very straight forward, and injection molders can skip the prototype phase due to the highly predictable molding process. The functional groups secure a good adhesive bonding with glues and other materials (like PUR foam in an instrument panel). Also, painting and plating of XIRAN® parts is very cost-effective. There is no need for flame treatment or the use of expensive, time consuming and eco-unfriendly primers.

Automotive Industries (AI) asked Patrick Muezers, Managing Director, Polyscope Polymers, to tell us how the company’s motto – “Fresh Thinking. Great Products” is reflected in its research and product development.

Muezers: As a young and dynamic company, we are constantly looking to produce innovative materials for new applications. We are thinking out of our comfort zone into new and exciting materials. We recently used SMA in combination with PP to check its possibilities and the first commercial injection molding trial (on an instrument panel) with this SMA modified short glass PP compound was a big success (from processing, dimensions and aspect point of view).We are not only fresh thinkers when it comes to new materials, but also when it comes to new concepts, like the use of recycled ABS and SMA in our core applications.

AI: What makes your products unique in terms of automotive applications?

AI

Door panel carrier (low warpage and excellent foam adhesion result in eco-friendly and cost efficient production).

Patrick Muezers, Managing Director, Polyscope Polymers (right) and Peter Tackx, director Sales and Business

Development, Polyscope Polymers.

Sunroof frame (low warpage and shrinkage assures redictable and easy tool design and production with excellent fit and finish).

AI: Please tell us how your company has worked on the challenges thrown up by XIRAN® (such as visual impact) and how have you overcome these shortcomings?

Muezers: Polyscope is always keen to develop new products and processes together with the experts in the field. In the case of visual appearance, we are working closely together with different companies that are active in rapid heat-cool mold devices.

AI: Do you see XIRAN® being used for more visible applications? Please give examples.

Muezers: We are seeing progress but, as always, automotive developments take a long time to materialize into actual commercial success. The need to closely work together with innovative OEM producers is also very important in this respect.

AI: What are some of the new automotive applications for XIRAN® that you can share with us?

Muezers: The newest automotive applications can be seen in large parts that require a low warpage, like big open

sunroof frames or retainer rings. Also, foamed and skinned door panels are now being developed in XIRAN®. In these applications we see the added value of our XIRAN® products used at its full potential.

AI: How has Polyscope expanded its scope of business recently across different geographical regions?

Muezers: Polyscope is actively present in three key geographical regions: Europe, the Americas and Asia. We follow the Tier 1s and OEMs into the region where they want us to be present (like South Africa).


innovation

Vienna-based high-tech company TTTech Computertechnik AG, is a top supplier of networking solutions based on time-triggered technology and modular safety platforms. It boasts companies like AUDI AG, Boeing and NASA as customers.

“The fact that leading global companies in the automotive, aerospace and commercial vehicle industries use our products in production projects confirms our top position in the technology sector and the high quality standards of our team,” explains Stefan Poledna, member of the Executive Board of TTTech. Current projects include modern automotive driver

TTTech’s three core product lines include the TTX-DataLogger, TTEthernet® switches and products, and safety ECUs.

On-board automotive electronic architecture has become more and more complex due to an increased demand on the functionality of driver assistance systems or vehicle dynamics functions. Due to the ever-increasing complexity in the interactions of these systems,

a reliable tool for logging and analysis is needed in order to record all data while providing smart on-

line analysis. TTTech’s TTX-DataLogger helps meet these challenges.

Loss of data due broken cables, loose connectors or a malfunctioning test device leads to increased costs for the OEM. TTX-DataLogger offers special robust and lockable connectors for the link to the vehicle bus systems, as well as two mounting brackets which allow for a stable fastening in the car.

TTTech also offers TTEthernet® switches and related products for

deterministic networking and the design of modular control platforms. The

company’s TTEthernet® (SAE AS6802) is a scalable, open real-time Ethernet platform

used for safety-related applications primarily in transportation industries and industrial automation. It has

been designed for safe, real-time applications, cyber-physical systems and unified networking.

TTTech’s safety ECUs enable the rapid design of system architecture and the efficient use of various CPUs in the development environment. All hardware components meet the highest quality and reliability standards, and are particularly suitable for use in safety-related applications. The entire range of hardware products can be expanded and adapted to customer requirements.

Automotive Industries (AI) spoke to Marc Lang, Director Business Development and Sales, TTTech Automotive and asked him to describe TTEthernet®’s automotive applica-

TTTech brings networking scalability and flexibility to automotive customers By: Lenny Case

assistance systems, wind turbines and innovative fly-by-wire applications in aircraft.

During the first three quarters of 2012, TTTech achieved more than average growth. This has been a trend since 2011 when the company’s revenues rose by 40%. The company currently employs around 280 personnel, including more than 200 in Vienna. In the year 2012, 65 new employees joined the company, and a similar staff increase is planned for this year.

Since the company’s inception in 1998, TTTech has been heavily involved in research. Together with ten other top Austrian companies and the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (bmvit), TTTech signed the Innovationsland Österreich declaration in 2011. Through this, the company has agreed to increase research spending by at least 20% by 2015. “Between 2011 and 2012 alone, TTTech increased its R&D expenditure by 25% in order to bolster its technology position,” says Poledna.

Marc Lang, DirectorBusiness Development and

Sales, TTTech Automotive


tions, and some of the unique features of the company’s Ethernet solutions.

Lang: In a nutshell, TTEthernet® combines deterministic behavior and high bandwidth and therefore fits into applications requiring safety and high data transmission. Automotive projects use TTTech prior technology as an intra-ECU network as well as a powerful network between different domain ECUs. Due to its ability to combine data traffic of different criticality on a single network, TTEthernet® is destined to be used as a transport protocol for in-vehicle backbone networks.

AI: How important is scalability and flexibility to automotive customers, and how do TTTech’s products help meet these requirements?

Lang: Meeting the cost targets of automotive OEMs means developing scalable platforms and enabling the reuse of standardized components in different programs or projects. TTTech started investing in different hardware and software platforms at a very early stage. The result of this development is a modular building block called TTSafety which combines several modules like CPU-cores, watchdogs, safe drivers or middleware and includes safety manuals and certification packages. This approach has enabled us to deliver samples of complex, customer-specific safety ECUs in less than four months.

AI: What makes your test tools such as TTX-Disturbance Node and TTX-Connexion the best in class? Tell us a little about how your testing and verification solutions meet the rugged requirements of automotive manufacturers.

Lang: TTTech has been offering ruggedized testing tools for use in harsh environments like airplanes or off-highway-machinery for many years. Automotive testing tools like the TTX-DataLogger or TTX-Connexion fulfill almost the same requirements. Our test tools provide vast configuration options, and above all, an open platform concept allowing our customers to add user-specific enhancements and ensure seamless integration into their existing testing environments.

AI: What are some of the features of your safety ECUs?Lang: TTTech has a long history of developing ECUs

dedicated for use in safety relevant applications. Starting with

different off-highway applications like steer-by-wire or hydraulic pumps, TTTech learned a lot about how to apply safety norms, and therefore has been among the first companies to deliver an ECU developed according to the ISO 26262.

This Inverter Safety Unit secures the safe behavior of the Volvo C30 electric vehicle in case of any failure of the electric powertrain. Furthermore, TTTech’s safety ECUs control different vehicle dynamic systems and will be used as a platform ECU for next generation driver assistance systems.

AI: What are some of the challenges TTTech faces in designing products like the IEC 61508?

Lang: Safety norms require accurate adherence to specific development processes, a lot of review work and extensive testing. From the very beginning, TTTech has been active in high-end safety systems for the aerospace-, off-highway- and automotive industries and has established and perfected its development processes for software and hardware. Today’s test databases contain a large number of sophisticated test cases and are well established.

AI: What are some of the safety features of the inverter safety unit or ISU, what makes it unique?

Lang: The idea of TTTech’s ISU is based on the concept of decomposition – meaning that it is possible to fulfill the highest safety targets by adding an ISU as a separate control unit to an electric inverter. The ISU ensures that all safety relevant failure scenarios will be discovered within milliseconds. Providing a reaction according the safety goal agreed on by the the OEM (for instance shutting the inverter down) is a big challenge, especially when it comes to recognizing vehicle motion at a very low speed (close to 0 km/h).

AI: Tell us a little about the HY-TTC 200 and 90 family of control units.

Lang: It pays to use powerful but standardized off-the-shelf ECUs like our HY-TTC 200 and 90 especially at small volumes. Both are flagship models of different type series offering 16 or 32 bit CPU and a wide number of I/Os. Automotive-qualified housing and connectors as well as easy-to-use configuration tools prove that our ECUs fit into standard networks and are easy to integrate. AI

TTEthernet® switches support the dynamic sharing of transmission rates, thus enabling efficient usage. That portion of the transmission rate which is not used for time-triggered communication can be used asynchronously.


AI: How has the CBI’s role evolved or changed to take into account the changing economic situations in the EU?

Dieleman: Competition has increased, leading to higher demands on companies but also on organizations that support and contribute to the development of the sector. We are now looking at the value chain as a whole, and the roles of the individual players. By analyzing the value chain we can identify where the support is needed and which roles should be performed better. We try to get the players to work together.

AI: How are small and medium exporters from Asian countries responding to changing global

requirements, and what role has CBI played in helping these exporters?

Dieleman: Depending on the country and sector, some are grabbing the opportunities that the local and regional market is offering. Others are trying to survive by providing information and advice to individual participants, and organizing training in the areas of process control. For the coming years, our focus will be on Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines,

South Africa, Tunisia and Vietnam.AI: Tell us a little about how CBI helps

automotive parts makers enter the EU market – from identifying markets to meeting

legal requirements.Dieleman: We help the parts makers by giving them

information about the requirements of the European market and evaluating whether they meet these requirements. During company visits we identify strong and weak points, set an activity plan, and coach companies throughout the implementation phase. Companies have to go for certification themselves if required, but our consultants can guide them to some extent to ensure proper procedures are followed. India has now reached a certain level where we will end our support.

AI: What are some of the training programs you conduct? Dieleman: The training sessions we organize are aimed

at improved production, marketing and management. It is very concise and practical training. Process control is one of the modules, market research, website promotion, participation in trade fairs, costing and pricing are others. They are the essentials to making a company a reliable and interesting partner to enter into a business relationship.

The Netherlands-based Center for the Promotion of Im-ports from developing countries (CBI), helps boost exports from developing countries to the European Union – particu-larly small and medium enterprises.

“Over the last 40 years, we have opened the doors of European trade to thousands of exporters in developing countries. We offer a needs-driven approach to exporters as well as their business support organizations (BSOs) and governmental authorities. We focus on the link between producing exporters and European buyers. We contribute to strengthening the competitive position of exporters sustainably, assisting them in trading on the European markets,” says a CBI statement.

The CBI conducts a range of training programs for exporters as well as business support

innovation

CBI - Promoting exports from developing countries By: James Hilton

Cor Dieleman, Senior Programme Manager, Asia &

Eastern Europe at CBI.

organizations. For exporters, the training programs cover issues such as market access requirements, effective trade fair participation, corporate social responsibility training, e-Business, website promotion, market research, costing and pricing, internal and external customer orientation and product development. For BSOs, training modules cover topics such as export marketing training, market intelligence and collective trade fair participation.

Automotive Industries (AI) asked Cor Dieleman, Senior Programme Manager, Asia & Eastern Europe at CBI what trends the organization has identified in automotive exports from developing countries.

Dieleman: There has been a 56% increase in exports from developing countries over the period 2007 – 2011, excluding Brazil and China. Some major companies started production in countries like Moldova. Trade shows like Automechanika and IAA for commercial vehicles have remained positive for our participants. In India, growth figures have come down a bit making the cash-flow situation of companies, especially the SMEs, more complicated.

“There has been a 56% increase in exports from developing countries over the period 2007 – 2011, excluding Brazil and China.”

AI


Innovation

continuously, leading to a viable fuel production system. A leader in this field is Joule Unlimited based in Hobbs, N. Mexico. Joule’s first full-scale, privately funded production plant, built by the Fluor construction company is now up and running.

Also vying for position as a sustainable, environmentally friendly bio-fuel is the bio-oil produced by KiOR in Columbus, Mississippi. KiOR has based its technology on supplies of Southern Yellow Pine which is abundantly available due to a decline in the Southern paper industry.

While oil fracking may promise an increase in the U.S. petroleum supply with related U.S. energy security and economic advantages, it comes with costly environmental baggage. By comparison, bio-oil derived from microorganisms and available resources has insignificant environmental negatives and provides a use for excess CO2.

According to a study by the Environment America Research & Policy Center Frontier Group (Boston), oil from fracking may become less than an optimum route to clean energy. The study found that: “A growing body of data indicates that fracking is an environmental and pubic health disaster in the making.”

While petroleum oil may indeed take on a new position along with natural gas in the overall energy picture thanks to fracking technology, it must be considered that the latest developments in bio-based liquid energy are also making competitive gains untroubled by fracking difficulties.

If one researches problems associated with fracking, it is clear why many analysts say, “not so fast”. Limitations on fracking include the large amounts of valuable water and chemicals needed to release trapped oil. As a result of complaints about the contamination of water supplies, petroleum oil fracking companies are under heavy pressure to find solutions to the method’s environmental negatives.

The use of large quantities of water for fracking coincides with declining reserves of ground water for agricultural and municipal use. Similar problems are associated with food crops used to make fuel, and the indirect land-use concerns of some bio-fuels.

A possible solution to this issue may be a new bio-fuel made with abundant salt water, solar energy, nutrients, limited land use, and no biomass. Microorganisms fed with waste CO2 secrete fuel

AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRIES and Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, have put together a digital library of back issues of AI from the early 1900’s (high res and low res) of approximately 230,000 images of the print publication. This archive, which documents the birth of the auto industry to the present, is available to AI subscribers. Go to AI’s homepage www.ai.com and click on the “AI Library” link or visit www.ai-online.com/100YearLibrary

A recent front page story in the Wall Street Journal states that a “shale-oil boom will help

the U.S. overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer by 2020.” The source for

this information is the International Energy Agency which has kicked off worldwide interest

in the recovery of petroleum via fracking.

“According to a study by the Environment America Research & Policy Center Frontier Group (Boston), oil from fracking may become less than an optimum route to clean energy.”

AI

Will advanced bio-fuels outperform oil from fracking?By: Bob Brooks


rently holds 11 registered patents (as of 2011) and has another 25 patents pending. Aktaş Holding Transportation Group comprises of 13 companies which have a total of 43 000 square meters of

factory space with a total capacity of 2.5 million units of suspension springs and a 2011 turnover of 116 million

Euros (US$151 million). Automotive Industries (AI) spoke to Şahap

Aktaş Chairman of the Board, Aktaş Holding.AI: Tell us about your strategy to grow

Aktaş’ revenues in 2012 – how successful were you in achieving this goal?

Aktaş: Despite the economic recession, Aktas achieved its objectives fully in 2012. By contributing to

alternative markets and increasing our marketing efforts in developing markets we captured our sales target.

AI: What makes the Aktaş Newtone air suspension systems superior to other products?

Aktaş: Aktaş Newtone is more durable and lighter than all other existing air springs in the world, and it is 60% more durable. Due to optimum material usage, the product is more environmentally friendly. It is also light and flexible, easy to transport and to install.

Aktaş Newtone incorporates TwicePower technology, which is a technological revolution in the industry. It is the world’s first colored air spring. Due to all these features, Aktas Newtone is in the premium segment, and is in demand in all markets.

AI: Tell us about the investment your company makes in R&D, and describe some examples of product innovations that have been driven by this.

Aktaş: Aktas chose R&D as a point of differentiation in the market. We focus on R&D to increase our competitiveness with high value-added products on an international scale.

We will apply for 19 patents this year and our aim is to increase this 200% next year. We will also expand our product range in 2013, and we are investing 3% of our turnover into R&D.

Companies will be able to feature their corporate branding colors, and individuals will be able to display the colors of their favorite sports teams or national flags.

“Our colored air suspension systems are a further step towards developing our product range, and supporting our aim to become the largest air spring producer worldwide,” explains Kurt Burhan, CEO of Aktaş Holding.

innovation

The new Aktaş“spring collection” offerscolor customization By: Rob White

Şahap Aktaş Chairmanof the Board, Aktaş Holding

The company says that the system is sturdier and lighter than all other suspension systems as well as having a 60% longer lifespan.

Aktaş Newtone incorporates TwicePower technology which ensures a longer lifespan for the entire system. The new product boasts a duration of 5,769,000 cycles compared to 2,000,000 cycles in a standard Aktaş product. This is almost three times longer than any of the current systems on the market.

TwicePower technology also makes the new suspension system more eco-friendly through lower waste and energy consumption. “At the launch of the product, our aim was to reach 10% of the total Turkish market share through the sale of 45,000 units. We have surpassed this goal with 70,000 units sold, reaching our goal in half the predicted time,” says Aktaş.

Founded in 1938 by Sait Aktaş, Aktaş Holding is the leading manufacturer of air suspension systems in Turkey, and the third largest air spring producer in the world with a market share of 17% in 2011. The company offers one of the world’s broadest product ranges in the independent spare parts category.

It operates production facilities in Turkey, Bulgaria, China and subsidiary companies in 13 countries for assembly, logistics and marketing. Among these are Brazil, Germany and North America.

Aktaş’ commitment to R&D has paid off as the company cur-

Automechanika Frankfurt 2012 saw the launch of a new “customizable” air suspension system by Turkish company, Aktaş Newtone. They are the first systems available in any color that the customer chooses. “These products open up new possibilities for the automotive supply industry,” says Şahap Aktaş, Chairman of the Board of Aktaş Holding.


According to TAYSAD data, Aktaş is was ranked 3rd with its 15 national patent applications in 2011.

Previous product innovations include the development of air suspension systems for light commercial vehicles, where we have done our best to improve comfort.

We have also developed the secondary suspension system on trains which is between bogie and railway wagons. With this product, train passengers are now able to travel more comfortably.

AI: Where do you see Aktaş Holding Transportation Group’s growth coming from over the next few years?

Aktaş: Aktaş is spread across six continents, and sells products in more than 80 countries. The company is the epitome of reliability and quality brands. People from many nationalities and cultures around the world work in Aktaş facilities.

In 2023, Aktaş aims to become the world leader in the industry. For this reason, we have set our goals until 2023. We will reach our goal by increasing our market share every year.

AI: What are some of the new technologies we can expect from your company in the near future?

Aktaş: In the future, our company is planning significant investments in the field of green energy. In addition, new solutions for the rail systems will come. We are also aiming at using our expertise in rubber-based products in new areas.

Automotive Industries also spoke to Burhan Kurt, CEO, Aktaş Holding.

AI: What gives Aktaş Holding an edge over other manufacturers of vehicle parts? Would you say it is your R&D or your geographical reach?

Kurt: In fact, both of the issues are important. Our high quality products developed through R&D sell successfully because we have world-wide distribution.

AI: Give us an idea of how your production facilities in 13 locations coordinate changing technologies and products – do they operate as separate companies?

Kurt: Aktaş does not manufacture in all locations. At present, it has manufacturing plants in Turkey, Bulgaria and China. Other locations are distribution centres. We have made a significant technological investment in order to access all of these locations easily. We are able to track all the flows easily from our headquarters.

In addition, there are well equipped managers in all the countries who report directly to the CEO.

AI: Tell us about how Aktaş Newtone suspension systems have been received by the market.

Kurt: Aktas Newtone sold seven times more than predicted, in a very short space of time. This shows that

we put the right product on the market.

The Aktaş Newtone suspension system

Burhan Kurt,CEO, Aktaş Holding

AI: Tell us about the different brands in your portfolio and what role each plays in different

segments of the market. Kurt: The company manufactures three major brands of

suspension springs including Aktaş, Airtech and Aircomfort. Aktaş is the premium brand providing high quality through

innovative technology and a three year warranty. Airtech is the quality brand for air suspension systems. These systems operate on any road surface, in varied climate conditions (from -40°C up to +70°C degrees). The Aircomfort brand is competitively priced and was developed to meet more general air spring needs in a price-sensitive segment. AI


as well as highly adapted to the needs of the APM project. The platform uses a Freescale i.MX35, which enables the visual displays and racing function features to be maxed out to the limit. The system is connected to, and communicates with the vehicle exclusively via SPI over the CAN Bus. This elegant solution makes the system very portable and reliable since the CAN connection must meet the automotive industry’s high safety standards.

Together with Continental AG, Noser Engineering co-developed a range of Android-based dashboard instrumentation providing telemetry data for the new microMAX ‘car-to-go-with-the-app’ concept from Rinspeed. The range of configurable digital instruments supports CAN, touchscreen, USB and Bluetooth and also features

optical alerts while offering variable screen resolution. The microMAX will be showcased from 7 to 17 March 2013 at the 83rd Geneva International Motor

Show. microMAX is a new class of vehicle for urban, short distance transport. The all-electric vehicle is 3.6 meters in length, 2.2 meters in height and boasts comfortable seating for a driver plus three passengers. The vehicle is extremely roomy and has a lounge character with a coffee maker, a refrigerator and unlimited

connectivity for entertainment or work. “microMAX aims to encourage potential

passengers to make use of the vehicle due to its simplicity and convenience. For every passenger

in a vehicle, CO2 emissions and costs decrease. Even the number of traffic jams falls. Modern ride-share centers are

web-based or Smartphone-based. They operate in real time, so for example, if you need to go to work or want to go somewhere immediately, you can use the smartphone app to find a microMax driver nearby who will give you a ride. microMAX is the perfect vehicle for short distance transfers,” explains its creator Frank M Rinderknecht, boss of Rinspeed, who set out to revolutionize short-distance transport.

Recently, Noser Engineering launched a solution that securely connects automobiles and industrial devices to mobile devices, apps and cloud services.

For example, German luxury sports car manufacturer Mercedes-AMG recently commissioned Noser Engineering to develop AMG Performance Media or APM, an Android™ based system as an extension of the existing head unit, which is present in all models. The APM is seamlessly integrated into the existing systems and required no modifications to the vehicles. Thanks to the openness of Android, AMG now has a flexible software system that can be easily extended with new functions and adapted to other vehicle models.

“The whole project took less than two years, from the first evaluation of an early generation of hardware to the stamp of approval by Daimler‘s quality assurance,” says Daniel Bruengger, Head of Automotive, Noser Engineering. “In close cooperation, the project was conducted in an agile way by progressively implementing the system based on customer feedback and requirements. This made it possible for AMG

innovation

Opensource technologies merge communication and transportation By: James Hilton

Daniel Bruennger,Head of Automotive, Noser

Engineering AG.

to influence the course of the project significantly, without causing delay.”

The APM is the world’s first production-ready Android-based automotive infotainment system. APM provides the driver and passengers with multimedia, internet and telematics data on display. The racing feature allows the driver, while driving around a race track, to measure lap and sector times as well as record vehicle data for later evaluation. The analysis allows for the precise correlation of the position of the vehicle on the track with steering angle, throttle position, brake pressure, and longitudinal and lateral acceleration. This helps the driver maximize the driving pleasure with the AMG.

Android was ported to the Universal Media Interface of Peiker

Swiss firm Noser Engineering AG, is a leading provider of information technology - the company’s expertise is focused on

four major areas of activity – consulting, solutions, projects and brain sourcing. The company’s automotive division helps

customers to stay at the forefront of innovation while adapting to change. Noser’s in-depth Android and Linux embedded

expertise, helps automotive OEMs to create the solutions that customers are looking for.


Noser Engineering’s mobile teams joined forces to develop a highly flexible, cost-effective and customizable solution which enables Mobile ICS (Industrial Control Systems) and Mobile SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) for industrial and field service operations, and provides the automotive sector with leading-edge mobile services. This allows for the sector to offer added value to its customers across the globe.

Noser Engineering’s solution allows existing mobile devices to connect to target hardware over a new or existing wireless network. The simple, intelligent design allows for a secure, cost-effective interface of multiple devices across multiple software platforms.

“Noser Engineering’s mobile solution can be customized to connect securely to machines, vehicles, sensors, controls, motors, vents, scanners, gates, locks, and appliances - basically anything with an integrated circuit,” said Dr. Michael Eisenring, Head of Embedded Systems, Noser Engineering AG in a press statement. “Noser Engineering’s Mobile, Embedded and Industry team tapped into decades of experience through its customers across the automotive industry, machine industry, building technology, and healthcare sectors in order to engineer this solution.”

Noser’s DROIDcontrol, is another product aimed at the automotive sector. DROIDcontrol is the new generation real-time Android based ICA solution. It is customizable on Calyx™ or the client’s hardware of choice, and can be delivered in a matter of weeks. It is also the first control system enabling Android royalty-free application development with reliable realtime control and touchscreen Graphical User Interface (GUI).

DROIDcontrol delivers the next generation, high quality customization for Instrumentation, Control and Automation (ICA). Embedded mobility and connectivity are expected to expand dramatically over the next five years across industrial applications, healthcare, energy and automotive.

“Android is well-suited for industrial grade embedded systems because the development platform is complete, stable, powerful and royalty-free,” said Daniel Bruengger, Head of Automotive, Noser Engineering in an earlier press statement. “DROIDcontrol is showing promise in the automotive, telemetry, building technology and healthcare sectors by significantly reducing

development time and providing a high quality ICA solution within as little as four weeks.”

Noser Engineering accelerates projects to market by delivering high quality software engineering solutions and expertise to OEMs and ODMs, Operators, Application Developers, the automotive sector, the manufacturing sector, the Semiconductor sector and Embedded industries. With multi-disciplinary expertise across Android, Windows Phone® 7/8, iOS and System Testing, Noser Engineering provides software engineering for both embedded and mobile solutions,” says the company.

Photo credits Daimler AG: German luxury sports car manufacturer Mercedes-AMG commissioned Swiss-based Noser Engineering AG to develop AMG Performance Media or APM, the world’s first production-ready Android based automotive infotainment system. APM provides the driver and passengers with multimedia, internet and telematics data on display. The racing feature allows the driver, while driving around a race track, to measure lap and sector times as well as record vehicle data for later evaluation. The analysis allows the precise correlation of steering angle, throttle position, brake pressure, longitudinal and lateral acceleration etc. with the position of the vehicle on the track, and thus helps the driver maximize the driving pleasure with the AMG.

Photo credits Rinspeed: Swiss car visionary Rinspeed in-tends to revolutionize urban traffic with the new microMAX car premiering at the 2013 Geneva Motor Show. Noser Engi-neering co-developed, with Continental, a range of Android-based dashboard instrumentation providing telemetry data for the new microMAX ‘car-to-go-with-the-app’ concept from Rinspeed.

AI

Short installation time, user exchangeable modulesOnline overview of the whole test situation via 3d displayReal-time calculation and analysis for immediate results

www.dewetron.com/auto

Evaluation of ADAS systems SYNC-CLOCK™ for synchronized analog, CAN/FlexRay™, GPS/INS and Video inputs

NHTSA recommended FCW test system

xcp CAN

GPS/INS

Analog

Video

OBD2

Documents

Q4 2012 pdf