Focusing on safety, too

Interview with Nicola Cesario, APG Power Train & Safety Division Advanced System Application Engineer, Naples, Italy

While we are busy fosusing on reducing the environmental impact of car engines, in APG’s activities, we are also focusing on improving safety.

The idea is to strictly monitor the functioning of the vehicle system by using only the signals coming from the sensors traditionally used. Processing the data coming from these sensors in a smart way, allows us to develop virtual sensors that can detect and also diagnose system faults. The result of this work is a fault-free system architecture.

A concrete example: we have developed and implemented algorithms that are able to track accurately the rotor position of a brushless motor without the need of rotor position data measured by means of an ad-hoc sensor. This algorithm allows customers to use our approach as a rotor position virtual sensor which can identify some malfunctions of the traditional rotor position sensor mounted on the motor.

So, it increases the functional safety of the system without adding any cost.