Generic Serial Interface DCI-GSI1

ECU calibration, measurement and function bypassing

• Direct connection to host PC via USB for ECU calibra¬tion and measurement
  
• Low latency bypass interface to dSPACE prototyping systems
  
• Various debug interfaces and connectors supported off-the-shelf
  
• Fast ECU flash programming
  

Application Areas
For modern automotive microcontrollers, the current trend is higher levels of system integration, faster clock rates, increased on-chip RAM and flash memory and more com­prehensive I/O functionality.
In this context, on-chip debug interfaces are becoming much more important for ECU software development.
dSPACE provides a generic serial interface (GSI) which sup­ports various types of on-chip debug ports for ECU calibra­tion, measurement, ECU flash programming and function bypassing. The broad range of available connector adapters lets the user adapt the DCI-GSI1 to individual electronic control units (ECUs).

Operation Modes
For measurement, the DCI-GSI1 supports two strategies: with ECU service (data aquisition is triggered by a small piece of code included in the ECU software) and without ECU service (data aquisition is triggered by an ECU event). For example, data capturing can be triggered via digitial I/O pins of the microcontroller or by the GSI, which is capable of detecting write accesses to specific ECU memory addresses. In addition, it is also possible to perform measurements according to the GSI‘s on-board timer. To calibrate ECU parameters, the DCI-GSI1 supports both overlay units that are provided by the ECU´s microcontroller and an external RAM for the calibration data. During bypassing, the DCI-GSI1 performs the data transfer and triggers the bypass system, which calculates the controller function outside the ECU. If bypass, calibration, or measurement accesses to the ECU are requested at exactly the same time, the GSI gives bypass access the highest priority. This way, minimal latencies in communication between the ECU and theprototyping system are always guaranteed without compromising the measurement bandwidth.