Architecture for electronic control unit tasks in automotive engine control

A hierarchical structure for the tasks of the electronic control units devoted to automotive engine control is proposed. The architecture, at its highest level of abstraction, is divided into three parts: the driver interpreter, the engine controller, and the actuator controller. The lower hierarchical structure of the actuator controller block is detailed and applied to the case of an equivalent single cylinder engine. The implementation of the proposed architecture is shown to be compliant with the function block approach of the proposed IEC 1499 international standard