A Distributed Approach for Multi-Domain Simulation of Mechatronic Systems

The ever increasing complexity of electronic products of modern cars - like drive-by-wire systems - means that a very broad range of simulation must be used in the early phases of the development process to predict the product characteristics. Activities in the preparative development departments of leading german car manufactures show the challenges by the development of mechatronic products and the need for simulation of mechatronic systems. For an early validation of vehicle functionalities special simulators are used for specific domains - like mechanics, electronics and software. To provide timely simulation and review for complete mechatronic components, these simulators need first to be coupled with one another, to have an interdisciplinary behavior. The objective of our approach is the development of a distributed framework for cooperative multi-domain simulation, validation and debugging of complex mechatronic system behavior. The feasibility of our approach is shown by a case study of an automotive mechatronic system.