Diagnostic Communication with Road-Vehicles and Non-Road Mobile Machinery

By Peter Subke

Diagnostic Communication with Road-Vehicles and Non-Road Mobile Machinery examines the communication between a diagnostic tester and E/E systems of road-vehicles and non-road mobile machinery such as agricultural machines and construction equipment. The title also contains the description of E/E systems (control units and in-vehicle net

• Language: English
• Publisher: SAE International
• Release date: Mar 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9780768093698

Book preview

Diagnostic Communication with Road-Vehicles and Non-Road Mobile Machinery

CHAPTER 1: Introduction

Print ISBN: 978-0-7680-9367-4

eISBN: 978-0-7680-9369-8

DOI: 10.4271/R-474

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

1.1 Road-Vehicles and Non-Road Mobile Machinery

This book covers the technology of diagnostic communication with both road-vehicles and non-road mobile machinery (NRMM). Figure 1.1 shows a simplified overview of road-vehicle categories. There are passenger cars, commercial vehicles, recreational vehicles, and motorcycles and trikes. As a rule of thumb, passenger cars are built for private transportation of passengers, buses and coaches are built for the commercial transportation of passengers, and trucks for the commercial transportation of goods.

Figure 1.1

FIGURE 1.1 Road-vehicle categories.

Recreational vehicles are made for fun. Examples of recreational road-vehicles include three- or four-wheeled roadster, such as the CanAm Spyder (Figure 1.2) from Bombardier Recreational Products or the Slingshot (Figure 1.3) from Polaris.

Figure 1.2

FIGURE 1.2 CanAm Spyder from Bombardier Recreational Products.

Figure 1.3

FIGURE 1.3 Slingshot from Polaris Industries Inc.

Examples of non-road recreational vehicles include water scooter (jet ski) and snowmobiles, whereas the latter are often also used for the transportation of both passengers and goods. Motorcycles and trikes are something in between a road-vehicle for individual transportation of passengers and for recreational use. In developing countries, such as Thailand, Cambodia, or India, motorcycles and trikes, known as tuk-tuks (Figure 1.4), are used for private and commercial transportation of both people and goods.

Figure 1.4

FIGURE 1.4 Tuk-tuk.

In contrast to road-vehicles, NRMM, in the United States also referred to as off-highway equipment, are usually not street-legal, meaning they are not permitted to be driven on public roads. They are constructed to do work off-highway.

NOTE: To increase the readability, I use the term mobile machine as a replacement for non-road mobile machinery.

Examples of mobile machines include construction, agricultural, and forestry machines. Often, mobile machines are powered by a heavy-duty diesel engine that drives an electro-hydraulic system to perform the work. Some mobile machines are self-propelled, meaning that they are able to move themselves on wheels, chains, or rails. Although the abbreviation NRMM contains the term non-road, there are also roadworthy and street-legal mobile machines, such as mobile cranes (Figure 1.5) or agricultural tractors. These machines can get from one job site to another by driving on regular public roads.

Figure 1.5

FIGURE 1.5 LIEBHERR Mobile Crane LTM 1070—example of a roadworthy, street-legal mobile machine.

Mobile machines that are street-legal can use the powertrain, which is usually a diesel engine, for both the drivetrain and the electro-hydraulic system to perform the work, but there are also machines with two different engines, each optimized for its specific purpose. Not only at road-vehicles but also at mobile machines, diesel engine powertrains are replaced by alternative powertrains, such as hybrids or fully electrical drives. On mobile machines, this is also true for the electro-hydraulic systems.

Compared to the road-vehicle industry, mobile machines have a higher automation grade than road-vehicles. Automated driving is replaced by unmanned operation, not only for military applications but also for agricultural applications, for example, unmanned combine harvesters.

Another use case of heavy-duty diesel engines is a stationary or mobile generator set (Figure 1.6), for example, used as emergency generator in public buildings, in hospitals, on construction sites, or wherever the next power connection is too far away.

Figure 1.6

FIGURE 1.6 Stationary power generator with diesel engine.

Vehicle category legislation classifies road-vehicles and mobile machines for regulatory (e.g., driver licenses) and statutory purposes (e.g., emission control requirements). For more information on vehicle categories, see Section 1.4 (Legislation).

1.2 The History of Automotive Electronics

The history of the automotive industry starts in the 1830s with the development of electrically powered vehicles. In 1899, 90% of New York City’s taxi cabs were electrically powered. Due to technical drawbacks, such as the relatively low range, it led to the final triumph of vehicles with internal-combustion engines. It started in 1885, as the German Carl Friedrich Benz invented the Benz Patent-Motorwagen Number 1 with a one-cylinder internal-combustion engine and an electrical ignition system. His patent with the number DRP 37435 was granted in 1886 and is entitled Vehicle with gas engine operation. The first Benz car for sales was the Motorwagen Number 3 (Figure 1.7) with 1.5 horsepower (PS) and a top speed of 10 mph (16 km/h).

Figure 1.7

FIGURE 1.7 Benz Patent-Motorwagen Number 3.

In 1903, Henry Ford started with the manufacturing of his first car, the Model A. Five years later, the Ford Motor Company started with the mass production of the legendary Model T and introduced the first moving assembly line in 1913.

Until the 1960s, the electrical system of vehicles and mobile machines consisted of electrical components such as wiring, connectors, switches, lamps, distributors, ignition coils, and spark plugs (Figure 1.8). The implementation of electronic components, such as semiconductors and integrated circuits, started in the 1970s.

Figure 1.8

FIGURE 1.8 Until the 1960s, the electrical equipment of vehicles consisted of electrical components such as wiring, ignition coils, and spark plugs.

The first antilock braking system (ABS), a tailored-to-fit solution with integrated circuits, was introduced by BOSCH in 1978, followed by the introduction of microprocessors and microcontrollers, resulting in the improved performance of functions by software.

Today, many functions of road-vehicles and mobile machines are realized by microcontroller-based embedded systems. There are many different notations and abbreviations for this kind of embedded systems. Examples include ECM for engine control module and TCM for transmission control module. On mobile machines, electro-hydraulic functions are controlled by control systems that are often based on Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC). The most generic term for a microcontroller-based embedded module is electronic control unit (ECU), or simply control unit.

NOTE: In the following, we will use the term control unit as a generic term within a textual description, whereas the abbreviations (e.g., ECU, ECM, TCM) are used in figures.

Compared to mechanical or hydraulic control systems, a very important feature of electronic systems is their capability of providing functional monitoring and diagnostics. The first control units of mobile machines were pure supervising systems for the measurement of physical values such as hydraulic pressures, as well as flow rates and oil temperatures in the hydraulic components. Other use cases of electronic systems include the stability control systems (load moment limiter) of mobile cranes or the On-Board Diagnostic (OBD) system that monitors the components of the emission control system of road-vehicles.

In the beginning of the 1980s, manufacturers and suppliers started the development of technologies for digital, serial data communication to interconnect control units. Former isolated, single control units with a specific assigned task were connected to each other, building in-vehicle networks for the purpose of data exchange and the distribution of functions. One advantage of using digital, serial data communication is that complex functions can be distributed within the network. Another advantage is that input signals (e.g., of sensors and switches) need to be measured or calculated once and can be distributed and made available system-wide. The result is a system-wide data consistency, meaning that there is only one valid value for each physical variable in the entire system.

As none of the existing industrial fieldbus systems for data communication, such as the INTERBUS or the PROFIBUS, were convenient for use in vehicles, vehicle manufacturers and suppliers developed proprietary in-vehicle networks. Subject to the use case, costs, data rate, safety relevance, real-time requirements, and determinism, a multitude of serial in-vehicle networks were developed during the years. Examples include but are not limited to:

ISO 9141 (K-Line)

SAE J1850

SAE J1708

Controller Area Network (CAN)

Local Interconnect Network (LIN)

FlexRay

Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST)

SAE J1939

ISOBUS

BroadR-Reach (Ethernet)

Since 1990, control units with gateway functions are used to physically and logically interconnect in-vehicle networks with each other.

New technologies and features are usually first introduced in luxury passenger cars. As a result, the number of control units employed in these vehicles has reached upper double digits. Up to 4000 wires with a total length of over 20,000 ft./3.7 miles (6 km) and a weight of more than 130 lb (60 kg) connect hundreds of electrical and electronic components and transfer thousands of signals. The advancing complexity of functions requires an increase of computing power, and thus the number of control units, sensors, and actuators. A large number of input signals are required by more than one function. For example, the simple input signal which contains the information that the car is in reverse gear is not only used by the transmission controller but also by a control unit to switch on the backup light, by the engine controller, and last but not least by the A/C controller that automatically switches the air condition system to air circulation, which is important to prevent emissions from entering the passenger compartment while driving backward.

Despite the wide range of technological capabilities, the convenience and safety of people shall have the highest priority. A driver that is overburdened by hundreds of telltales, signals, and switches, like they are necessary in a Space Shuttle (see Figure 1.9), poses a safety risk. Any electronic system in a vehicle or a mobile machine shall perform at least one of the following tasks:

Increase of safety

Increase of comfort

Reduction of the fuel consumption

Reduction of emissions (exhaust, noise)

Figure 1.9

FIGURE 1.9 Complexity: control system of the Space Shuttle.

Table 1.1 summarizes some important dates in the development of the electric/electronic (E/E) systems for road-vehicles and mobile machines.

TABLE 1.1 History: summary of some important dates

TABLE 1.1

Without modern E/E systems, many of the functions in today’s road-vehicles and mobile machines are not feasible. With the increasing complexity of E/E systems and functions, control system developers face new challenges. New functions, such as keyless entry and go, tire pressure monitoring, infotainment with Bluetooth and WiFi access, connectivity (V-to-X), and autonomous driving, can be misused by black-hat hackers. To increase automotive cybersecurity, technologies such as firewalls, encryption, authentication, authorization, and digital rights management will be implemented for the protection of the E/E system against viruses, manipulation, and misuse.

1.3 Standardization

1.3.1 The Advantages of Standardization

In the beginning of the electrification and digitalization of vehicles and mobile machines, a considerable amount of time and money has been invested in the development of noncompatible, proprietary technologies.

Coping with the complexity of modern E/E systems poses exceptional challenges for engineers and technicians for the entire life cycle of a vehicle or mobile machine (development, verification and validation, manufacturing/production/assembly, aftersales service, and decommissioning). These challenges can be solved by the employment of standardized technologies.

Today, it is no longer questioned that the industry-wide implementation of standardized control unit software components, in-vehicle networks, diagnostic protocols, tester technologies, data formats, programming sequences, and testing routines are accompanied with significant advantages.

Standardization is the solution for minimizing the expenses and maximizing the quality at the same time. Standardization serves the quality and the maintainability of the end product via scale and training curve effects.

Instead of taking advantage of international standards, some manufacturers maintain their homegrown, proprietary solutions and remain dependent on a small group of experts, which could depart from the company at any given time, or a single tool supplier. In this case, single source is not an advantage.

Engineers need to be creative, but they should not reinvent the wheel over and over again. They should accept what has been developed, tested, improved, approved, and finally standardized. Other efforts are an unworthy waste of time and money.

In many cases, the implementation of standards done by different, competing suppliers is not compliant a priori. A very effective means to solve that problem is conformance testing. Newly released ISO Standards and SAE Recommended Practices come with a specification of a conformance test to avoid interoperability problems.

There are several national and international organizations preparing and publishing standards. Examples are listed in Table 1.2. The most important in the context of data and diagnostic communication are introduced in the following clauses.

TABLE 1.2 Important organizations for standardization

TABLE 1.2

1.3.2 ISO

ISO (Figure 1.10) is short for the International Organization for Standardization. It is an independent, nongovernmental global network of more than 160 members. Examples of such members include the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the German Institute for Standardization (DIN). ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

Figure 1.10

FIGURE 1.10 The logos of the ISO.

ISO currently consists of over 240 technical committees (TCs), numerous subcommittees (SC), and working groups and is coordinated by the Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. ISO develops and publishes international standards. ISO is a nonprofit organization, financing its expenses by selling their standards, for example, via the ISO Store.

ISO/TC 22 is the technical committee that creates standards for road-vehicles, whereas ISO/TC 23 is in charge of standards for mobile machines, namely, tractors and machinery for agricultural and forestry applications.

A TC consists of several SCs, working on designated topics, such as electrical and electronic components (ISO/TC 22/SC 32), data communication (ISO/TC 22/SC 31), electrically propelled vehicles (ISO/TC 22/SC 37), or wireless communication agriculture (ISO/TC 23/SC 19/WG 5).

Before a specification becomes an approved international standard, it is released in several stages as draft versions and must pass voting procedures by the member bodies. Table 1.3 summarizes the stages within the ISO standardization process.

TABLE 1.3 Stages of ISO Standards

TABLE 1.3

ISO Standards are reviewed every 5 years. They are available at the ISO Store (http://www.iso.org/iso/home/store) or at Beuth Standards Collections (http://www.beuth.de/en).

1.3.3 SAE International

SAE International (Figure 1.11) has been established in 1905, initially as Society of Automotive Engineers. One of the founding members was Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company and the inventor of the moving assembly line.

Figure 1.11

FIGURE 1.11 The logo of SAE International.

Today, SAE is a global association of more than 138,000 scientists, engineers, and technical experts in the industry sectors aerospace, automotive, and commercial vehicles. One of the main purposes of SAE International is education. SAE develops standards, named Recommended Practices; publishes technical papers, books, and magazines; and organizes events. More than 700 TCs with 14,000 engineers are part of the SAE Standards development force.

The SAE Vehicle Architecture for Data Communications Standards Committee runs task forces such as the J2561 Bluetooth Task Force or the J2602-1 LIN Task Force and is in charge of the development and revision of several Recommended Practices, such as J1213, Glossary of Automotive Electronic terms, or J1699-3, OBD II Compliance Test Cases. Other examples of SAE Recommended Practices that are under control of other SAE Committees include SAE J2534, Recommended Practice for Pass-Thru Vehicle Programming (for passenger cars), and SAE J1939, Serial Control and Communications Heavy Duty Vehicle Network (for heavy-duty commercial vehicles and mobile machines).

Examples of events are the SAE World Congress (WCX) in Detroit, the SAE On-Board Diagnostics Symposium, and the Commercial Vehicle Engineering Congress (COMVEC). In 2019, COMVEC takes place in Indianapolis. The events are accompanied by technical papers and paper presentations. All papers are available on the Internet at http://www.sae.org.

1.3.4 ASAM

ASAM (Figure 1.12) is short for Association for Standardization of Automation and Measuring Systems. ASAM has been founded in 1998 by German car manufacturers and is a registered association (e.V.). The head office is located in Munich, Germany.

Figure 1.12

FIGURE 1.12 The logo of ASAM.

Under the coordination of ASAM, more than 220 vehicle manufacturers, Tier-1 suppliers, tool vendors, and universities commonly develop and maintain standards for the automotive industry. Examples include but are not limited to standardized interfaces (e.g., D-Server API), protocols (e.g., XCP), and data exchange formats (e.g., ODX, OTX, FIBEX) for measurement and calibration, diagnostics, ECU networks, software development, test automation, data management and anlysis, and simulation. ASAM cooperates with other organizations, such as ISO (Table 1.4), SAE and AUTOSAR.

TABLE 1.4 Examples of ASAM standards and their ISO equivalents

TABLE 1.4

1.3.5 TMC

The Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) of the American Trucking Association (ATA) develops Recommended Engineering and Maintenance Practices and is solely focused on truck technology. In the context of diagnostic communication, the TMC RP1210 (Windows Communication API) is the most important. For more information on the TMC RP1210, see Chapter 7 (External Test Equipment).

1.3.6 AUTOSAR

AUTOSAR is short for AUTomotive Open System ARchitecture. The organization has been founded as a development partnership in 2003 for the purpose of creating and establishing an open and standardized software architecture for automotive ECUs. For more information on the AUTOSAR software architecture, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AUTOSAR.

1.4 Legislation

1.4.1 European Directives and Regulations

The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of currently 28 member states. It has its own flag (Figure 1.13).

NOTE: With the exit (called Brexit) of the United Kingdom, the number of member states will be 27.

Figure 1.13

FIGURE 1.13 The flag of the EU.

The European Parliament (EP) and the Council of the EU decide on regulations (Verordnungen) and directives (Richtlinien). The European Commission (EC) is the executive body of the EU. Regulations and directives have direct or indirect effect on the laws of the EU member states. While EU directives serve as a guideline of an act that has to be implemented somehow, EU regulations are immediately applicable and enforceable by law in all EU states.

The European regulations and directives are publicly available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu.

In the context of this book, the specification of European vehicle categories and the statutory provision of OBD systems are the most important topics.

1.4.1.1 EUROPEAN VEHICLE CATEGORIES

The Directive 2007/46/EC Annex II of the EP and of the Council contains the European definition of vehicle categories. Table 1.5 shows examples of the European vehicle categories.

TABLE 1.5 Examples of EU vehicle categories (Source: Directive 2007/46/EC Annex II)

TABLE 1.5

1.4.2 Cal-EPA and California Code of Regulations (CCR)

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) was established in 1967. California is the only US state with its own environmental regulatory agency, because it is the only state that had such an agency before the passage of the US FCAA at the end of 1970 and the formation of the US federal EPA 1 year later. Today, CARB is a department of the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA). CARB regulations are mandatory laws. They are published as CCR (California Code of Regulations). Other US states may either adopts CARB's regulations or use the federal ones, but not set their own.

In the context of this book, Sections 1968 and 1971 of CCR Title 13 are the most important ones (see Table 1.6) (Figure 1.14).

TABLE 1.6 Sections 1968 and 1971 of CCR Title 13

TABLE 1.6Figure 1.14

FIGURE 1.14 The logo of the CARB.

1.4.2.1 VEHICLE CATEGORIES

The CARB defines vehicle categories according to Emission Factors (EMFAC). Appendix 4 of the EMFAC2014 User’s Guide contains a specification of vehicle categories, such as LDA for passenger cars, T7 for heavy-duty trucks, and SBUS for school buses. Compared to the European vehicle categories, the EMFAC table has a much greater granularity, for example, T6 CAIRP heavy for a Medium-Heavy Duty Diesel CA International Registration Plan Truck with GVWR > 26,000 lb or T7 Ag - DSL for Heavy-Heavy Duty Diesel Agriculture Truck.

1.4.3 US EPA and Federal Code of Regulations (CFR)

The EPA (Figure 1.15) has been established by the US Congress in 1971. The US FCAA is a federal law, revised and expanded in 1990, enacted to control air pollution on national level. Under this Clean Air Act, the federal EPA adopted standards to reduce toxic air emissions from engines installed in road-vehicles, mobile machinery, and stationary machines. US federal regulations are published as Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), whereas CFR Title 40 deals with EPA’s mission of protecting human health and the environment.

Figure 1.15

FIGURE 1.15 The logo of the US EPA.

Federal regulations are published by the US Government Publishing Office (GPO) as Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR),* which is an up-to-date, but unofficial version of the CFR. The GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDSys) provides free access to publications from the US Federal Government.

EPA categorizes road-vehicles according to their gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). A heavy-duty vehicle (HDV) is a vehicle with a GVWR of more than 8,500 lb. Below that value, vehicles are categorized as medium-duty vehicles (MDV) or light-duty vehicles (LDV). Besides that, the Federal Highway Administration defines truck classes, where a Class 8 truck weighs more than 33,000 lb (14,969 kg).

The EPA Office of Criminal Enforcement is a team of more than 350 specialists (2/3 of them are fully authorized federal law enforcement agents) that uncovers and investigates environmental crimes. Whenever an infringement of an environmental law is detected, EPA takes civil or criminal enforcement action against the violator.

INFOBOX: Notice of violation (Examples)

The Clean Diesel Trucks and Buses program, established by the EPA in 2001, resulted in the implementation of advanced emission control systems on trucks and buses. To meet the legislated emission values, heavy-duty diesel engines are equipped with electronically controlled diesel particulate filter (DPF), exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), and/or a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system that employs DEF (diesel exhaust fluid). The main function of SCR is the reduction of unvisible but harmful nitrogen oxide (NOx). This function is performed by the injection of DEF in the catalyst that is part of the exhaust system.

The US FCAA prohibits defeat devices, which are components that bypass, defeat, or render inoperative a required element of the vehicle’s emission control system.†

In 1998, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and EPA announced a one-billion-dollar settlement with seven heavy-duty diesel engine manufacturers for the illegal installation of software that defeats the emission control system. With the defeat device, the NOx emissions met the legal requirements if the engines ran under testing conditions but exceeded the limits under highway driving conditions by three times.

Seventeen years later, by the end of 2015, EPA issued a Notice of Violation (NOV) of the Clean Air Act to a German passenger car manufacturer, alleging the installation of a software-based defeat device on passenger cars with diesel engines—the software was able to detect if the car was under real-driving conditions or undergoing an emission test cycle and adjusted the emission control system accordingly. This time, the emission of NOx exceeded the allowed limit by up to 40 times. The price for the violation: more than 20 billion USD and a massive loss of reputation of the entire German car industry. The quality term Made in Germany got big scratches.

1.4.4 UN Global Technical Regulations (GTR)

UNECE (Figure 1.16) is short for United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. The UNECE is one of the five regional commissions under the administrative direction of the United Nations (UN). It was established to support the economic cooperation among its members, such as countries from Europe and Central Asia, the United States, and Canada. The World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP.29) is a subsidiary body of the UNECE, focusing on regulations covering vehicle safety, energy efficiency, theft resistance, and environmental protection.

Figure 1.16

FIGURE 1.16 The logo of the UNECE.

The UNECE 1998 Global Agreement was negotiated and concluded under the leadership of the European Community, Japan, and the United States. The Agreement establishes a process through which countries from all regions of the world can jointly develop UN Global Technical Regulations (UN GTRs), for example, regarding safety and environmental protection systems. In the context of this book, UN GTR No. 5 (Section 1.5.5) is the most important one.

1.4.5 US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is part of the US Department of Transportation. The mission of NHTSA is to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes, through education, research, safety standards, and enforcement activity (Figure 1.17).*

Figure 1.17

FIGURE 1.17 The logo of the US NHTSA.

1.5 Legislated OBD

1.5.1 Introduction

In 1968, the US state of California mandated regulations for emission-related fault detection to reduce smog, especially in the megacities Los Angeles and San Francisco. Two years later, the US Congress passed the US FCAA and established the EPA. By 1996, the CARB issued requirements for On-Board Diagnostics (OBD), today known as OBD II, a technology to detect and report emission-related malfunctions. The implementation of OBD II was made mandatory for all vehicles to be sold in the United States.

In the year 2001, the EU started to make European OBD (EOBD) mandatory for road-vehicles to be sold in the European market.

For the purpose of protecting the environment and thus human health, legislators mandate the installation of emission control systems on both road-vehicles and mobile machines. Type approval is granted only if the emission of specific limits for carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NOx), hydrocarbons (HC), and particulate matter (PM) is not exceeded. In order to meet the legislative requirements, monitoring the emissions and the components of the emission control system is mandatory