dSPACE has launched two new variants of its rapid control prototyping platform, MicroAutoBox II. The two latest additions to the family have powerful I/O interfaces, and one of the two also has an FPGA board for extra extension options. As of the end of 2010, all the variants of MicroAutoBox II will support live data recording (with a flight recorder) via USB mass storage devices.
Integrated FPGA Board for Extensions
The FPGA board integrated into MicroAutoBox II variant 1401/1511/1512 gives users a flexibly extendable platform that they can easily adapt for their projects. dSPACE will very soon be offering extension modules that can be mounted on the FPGA board to provide I/O interfaces for current application fields such as controlling electric motors. It is already possible to implement customer-specific extensions via the dSPACE Engineering Service.
More Powerful I/O Interfaces
The I/O interfaces of the new MicroAutoBox II variants are now more powerful, making it easier to develop applications such as cylinder pressure-based motor controls. For example, the analog interfaces have 16-bit resolution and a sampling rate of 1 MSample/s for the precise capture of dynamic cylinder pressure signals. There is a new bus controller for greatly enhanced performance in applications with a high volume of CAN, LIN and FlexRay bus traffic.
MicroAutoBox II is the new generation of a compact real-time system for fast function prototyping in fullpass and bypass scenarios. MicroAutoBox II can be used for numerous rapid control prototyping applications such as driver assistance systems, body control, powertrains (with conventional, hybrid or electric drives), x-by-wire applications, and aerospace applications. The MATLAB/Simulink/Stateflow modeling tools are seamlessly integrated into the dSPACE prototyping environment. Developers can quickly implement their Simulink models on the MicroAutoBox II automatically with dSPACE's Real-Time Interface (RTI) software, the connection between dSPACE hardware and the modeling tool.