Research Report on Deep Development and Development Trends of LabVIEW in the Automotive Field-CSDN博客

Research Report on Deep Development and Development Trends of LabVIEW in the Automotive Field

Introduction

As the automotive industry accelerates its transformation towards electrification, intelligence, connectivity, and sharing (the "New Four Modernizations"), automotive electronic and electrical (E/E) architectures are becoming increasingly complex, and the proportion of software in vehicle functions is growing significantly. This not only poses unprecedented challenges to traditional automotive R&D, testing, and production processes but also creates a demand for efficient, flexible, and scalable engineering tools. In this context, LabVIEW, as a graphical system design platform, is playing an increasingly important role in deep development and test validation in the automotive field, thanks to its intuitive programming environment, powerful hardware integration capabilities, and rich toolkits. The growing complexity of automotive systems, particularly the tight coupling of software and hardware, makes the need for integrated, high-performance test solutions especially urgent.

This report aims to delve into the specific application areas of LabVIEW in the automotive field, key technologies for deep development, current and future development trends, and analyze its synergy and comparison with other mainstream toolchains, with a particular focus on application practices in the Chinese and global markets. The scope of research covers key areas such as Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing, manufacturing, ADAS validation, Battery Management Systems (BMS), and in-vehicle infotainment systems. It also provides an in-depth analysis of deep development topics such as low-level driver development, advanced applications of specific toolkits (e.g., VeriStand, TestStand), performance optimization, real-time requirements, and FPGA programming. Simultaneously, the report will address cutting-edge trends such as integration with AI/ML, functional safety certification (ISO 26262), applications in the context of Software-Defined Vehicles (SDV), and integration with other platforms (e.g., ROS, AUTOSAR, cloud connectivity). By providing an in-depth analysis of these aspects, the report aims to offer valuable insights for engineers and decision-makers in the automotive industry.

Key Application Areas of LabVIEW in the Automotive Field

LabVIEW is widely applied throughout the automotive lifecycle, from R&D and testing to manufacturing. Its flexibility and modular characteristics enable it to adapt to the testing needs of different stages and systems.

Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) Testing

HIL testing is a critical part of automotive electronic system development and validation, especially for ECUs (Electronic Control Units). It involves comprehensively testing the software and hardware of an ECU in a laboratory setting by simulating its real environment. LabVIEW plays a core role in HIL testing, providing the foundational platform for building high-performance, high-fidelity HIL systems:

Environment Simulation and Signal Generation: LabVIEW can accurately simulate various sensor signals from the actual vehicle environment (such as speed, throttle, temperature, pressure, etc.) and input these signals into the ECU under test. Its high precision and real-time capabilities ensure the authenticity and synchronization of simulated signals, allowing for accurate testing of the ECU's response under different operating conditions. This includes simulating various analog, digital, PWM, and complex bus signals.
Real-time Requirements and Implementation: Automotive HIL testing has extremely high real-time requirements, often demanding nanosecond-level or even finer synchronization and timing control. LabVIEW, combined with its Real-Time (RT) module and high-performance PXI hardware platform, can meet these stringent real-time demands. For example, NI PXI modular hardware can generate over-the-air radar signals, camera signals, in-vehicle bus signals, and general I/O signals, while also featuring hardware and software fault handling capabilities and nanosecond-level synchronization and timing control. This deterministic real-time execution capability is crucial for successful HIL testing.
Model Integration: LabVIEW can integrate with various third-party environment simulation tools, such as IPG CarMaker, Ansys VRXPERIENCE, Vires VTD, Siemens Simcenter Prescan, or monoDrive, to synchronously generate I/O signals and connect ADAS controllers. Vehicle dynamics and controller models can typically run on real-time controllers, while motor and power electronics models often must run on FPGAs to achieve sufficiently high simulation fidelity. LabVIEW can connect models running on real-time controllers with models running on FPGAs and synchronize them with I/O to perform hardware-in-the-loop testing. This open model interface greatly enhances system flexibility.
Fault Injection Testing: LabVIEW supports fault injection, which involves intentionally introducing errors or fault signals during testing (such as sensor signal anomalies, communication interruptions, etc.) to verify the ECU's behavior under extreme or abnormal conditions. This is critical for functional safety. By precisely controlling the type, timing, and duration of faults, the robustness of the ECU can be comprehensively evaluated.
Automated Testing: LabVIEW, combined with tools like TestStand, can build highly automated HIL test systems, enabling automatic execution of test cases, data acquisition, analysis, and report generation, significantly improving testing efficiency and repeatability. Automation not only reduces manual intervention but also ensures consistency in the testing process. Compared to traditional real-vehicle testing, HIL testing based on the LabVIEW platform can significantly reduce testing costs and shorten development cycles.

Manufacturing Test

In the automotive manufacturing process, LabVIEW is primarily used for End-of-Line (EOL) testing and component functional testing to ensure the quality and performance of vehicles and components coming off the production line. High throughput, high reliability, and ease of maintenance are core requirements for production test systems.

EOL Functional Testing: LabVIEW can be used for EOL functional testing in areas such as automotive electronics, consumer electronics, industrial electronics, and medical devices. Successful comprehensive functional test systems, particularly production line final inspection tests in automotive electronics manufacturing, need to be able to simulate, measure, and verify the functionality of automotive ECUs, electronic components, mechanical parts, and complete systems. Key metrics include high test throughput, test completeness, and lower system setup and upgrade costs. LabVIEW's parallel testing capabilities and rapid instrument control make it highly suitable for high-throughput requirements.
Component Functional Testing: LabVIEW can be used to test various automotive components, such as engine controllers, body controllers, digital instrument clusters, and steering systems. For example, the China Automotive Technology and Research Center designed a LabVIEW-based automotive digital instrument cluster test and control system; Lianchuang Automotive developed a body controller functional test system. These cases demonstrate LabVIEW's ability to flexibly adapt to the testing needs of different components.
High Throughput and High Reliability: Production line testing demands extremely high test speed and system reliability. LabVIEW, combined with high-performance hardware and optimized software architecture, can meet high-throughput requirements. Its stability and reliability have also been widely validated, enabling stable operation in harsh industrial environments for extended periods.
Integration with MES/ERP Systems: LabVIEW test systems can integrate with Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems through various communication protocols (such as TCP/IP, Modbus, etc.) or database connections (such as ODBC, SQL) to achieve test data upload, traceability, and management, supporting interaction with local databases (such as MySQL, SQLite) and cloud databases. This integration is crucial for achieving digitalization and intelligence in the production process.
Test Data Management and Analysis: LabVIEW's powerful data acquisition and analysis capabilities, combined with data management software like Diadem, enable effective management, analysis, and mining of massive production test data for process monitoring, quality improvement, and fault diagnosis. In-depth analysis of test data helps identify bottlenecks and potential issues in the production process, leading to continuous improvement in product quality.

ADAS Validation

The rapid development of Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) poses new challenges for test validation, particularly in multi-sensor fusion, complex scenario simulation, and functional safety validation. LabVIEW provides flexible and scalable solutions for ADAS validation, capable of addressing these complexities.

Multi-Sensor Fusion Testing: ADAS systems typically fuse information from multiple sensors such as radar, cameras, ultrasonic sensors, and LiDAR. LabVIEW HIL solutions can simulate the entire sensor system used by automotive ADAS functions at the electronic and physical interfaces of the HIL system. Sensors can be elect