Page 15 - Understanding Automotive Electronics

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1 AUTOMOTIVE FUNDAMENTALS

you approach the city limits, the car speed is automatically reduced to the
legal limit of 55 mph. The voice message system speaks again: “Leave the
highway at exit 203, which is one-half mile away. Proceed along Austin Road
to the second intersection, which is Meyer Road. Turn right and proceed 0.1
mile. Your destination is on the right-hand side of the road. Don’t forget to
refuel.’’
This scenario is not as farfetched as it sounds. All of the events
described are technically possible. Some have even been tested experimentally.
The electronic technology required to develop a car with the features
described exists today. The actual implementation of such electronic features
will depend on the cost of the equipment and the market acceptance of the
features.
USE OF ELECTRONICS IN THE AUTOMOBILE

Microelectronics will Electronics have been relatively slow in coming to the automobile
provide many exciting primarily because of the relationship between the added cost and the benefits.
new features for auto- Historically, the first electronics (other than radio) were introduced into the
mobiles. commercial automobile during the late 1950s and early 1960s. However, these
features were not well received by customers, so they were discontinued from
production automobiles.
Environmental regula- Two major events occurred during the 1970s that started the trend
tions and an increased toward the use of modern electronics in the automobile: (1) the introduction of
need for economy have government regulations for exhaust emissions and fuel economy, which
resulted in electronics required better control of the engine than was possible with the methods being
being used within a used; and (2) the development of relatively low cost per function solid-state
number of automotive digital electronics that could be used for engine control.
systems. Electronics are being used now in the automobile and probably will be
used even more in the future. Some of the present and potential applications
for electronics are
1. Electronic engine control for minimizing exhaust emissions and maximiz-
ing fuel economy
2. Instrumentation for measuring vehicle performance parameters and for
diagnosis of on-board system malfunctions
3. Driveline control
4. Vehicle motion control
5. Safety and convenience
6. Entertainment/communication/navigation
Many of these applications of electronics will be discussed in this book.

CHAPTER OVERVIEW
This chapter will give the reader a general overview of the automobile
with emphasis on the basic operation of the engine, thus providing the reader
with the background to see how electronic controls have been and will be

2 UNDERSTANDING AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS