CAN-Based Integrated Control Strategy for the Drivetrain of Commercial Vehicles Equipped with Automated Manual Transmission

In traditional control strategy for the drivetrain of commercial vehicles equipped with automated manual transmission (AMT), no information exchanges between the transmission control unit (TCU) and the engine control unit (ECU). Such independent operations of these two parts of drivetrain inevitably reduce operational safety as well as starting and shifting performance of vehicles. To overcome the shortcoming of independent operations, an integrated control strategy based on controller area network (CAN) for the drivetrain of vehicles during the starting and shifting processes of AMT was put forward. In this paper, we summarize the communication protocol and characteristics of CAN bus at first, and then define the communication information specification between TCU and ECU, which are classified into instructive and shared information according to their different functionalities. Based on that, a CAN-based integrated control strategy is put forward, which is proven to be practicable through the tests of an AMT prototype vehicle.