Robustness analysis of ESC ECU to characteristic variation of vehicle chassis components using HILS technique

The ESC system, since its introduction in the mid 90s, has greatly contributed to prevention of vehicle accidents with its capability of maintaining vehicle stability in severe driving conditions. Due to its significant advantages, many nations are now adopting regulations that mandate installation of the ESC system in all classes of passenger vehicles — from mini to luxury. Accordingly it became important to know whether an ESC ECU can yield good performance on a wide range of vehicle parameter changes. In this paper, robustness analysis was conducted to study how characteristic variation of the main chassis components affect the performance of the ESC ECU. This analysis was carried out using a HILS system built on an actual ESC ECU. The variation range of each chassis component was carefully selected considering the component’s design criteria adopted in automotive industries. Based upon the robustness analysis results, the allowable variation ranges of the chassis components for ensuring sound performance of an ESC ECU were proposed.