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📚 OVERVIEW

🚗 System Design and Integration in Automotive Industry

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🔍 What is System Design and Integration?

System Design in automotive refers to the structured process of defining, modeling, and organizing the architecture of vehicle systems — including electrical, electronic, software, and mechanical components.

System Integration is the process of bringing together these subsystems (ECUs, sensors, software modules) into a single, functioning system, ensuring they work together seamlessly and fulfill the overall vehicle requirements.

❓Why is it Important in Automotive?

Modern vehicles are no longer just mechanical machines. They're complex, software-driven systems with: - 100+ ECUs - Multiple communication buses (CAN, LIN, FlexRay, Ethernet) - Sophisticated driver assistance & safety features - Connected services (OTA, infotainment)

Without proper system design, this complexity becomes unmanageable. Without integration, even well-designed modules won’t function properly when assembled.

📌 Where & When is it Used?

✅ Where:

  • In OEMs (like BMW, Toyota) and Tier-1s (like Bosch, Continental) during vehicle platform development
  • Across functional domains: Body, Powertrain, ADAS, Infotainment, Chassis
  • In EE architecture, wiring harness, function modeling, and software development

🕒 When:

  • Starts in early concept and architecture phases (concept vehicle stage)
  • Continues throughout the development cycle, especially during:
  • System Requirements definition
  • Architecture Design
  • Signal Mapping & Network Planning
  • Software Integration & Testing

⚙️ How is it Done?

  1. Define system requirements
    (e.g., “door should lock above 15 km/h”)

  2. Design logical architecture
    – Break down the system into functions/modules

  3. Model functional behavior using SysML/UML
    – Define how components interact (MagicDraw)

  4. Map functions to ECUs and zones
    – Assign where each logic/function runs (Zonal Architecture)

  5. Signal routing and communication design
    – Use tools like Prevision to handle wiring and data flow

  6. Integrate components (HW+SW)
    – Perform unit testing, integration testing (Model-in-the-loop, HIL, etc.)

  7. Validate as a full system

🌟 Benefits of Proper System Design & Integration

  • ✅ Early error detection through modeling and simulation
  • ✅ Improved collaboration between domains (hardware, software, networks)
  • ✅ Scalability for vehicle platforms and variants
  • ✅ Reduced rework and cost
  • ✅ Enables modular, reusable architecture (critical for zonal systems)
  • ✅ Better compliance with standards (AUTOSAR, ISO 26262)

🔗 How Prevision, Zonal Architecture, and MagicDraw are Connected

These three are not just independent tools/concepts — they are part of a seamless digital thread that supports end-to-end system design, from requirements modeling to physical implementation, especially in the era of Zonal Architectures.

1. 🧠 MagicDraw → Functional & Logical System Design (MBSE)

  • What it does:
    MagicDraw (with SysML/UML) is used at the early concept and architectural design phase to:
  • Capture system requirements
  • Model functional behavior
  • Define logical components and interfaces

  • Trace requirements to functions and components

  • In the context of Zonal Architecture:
    MagicDraw helps model functions agnostic to hardware — you define what needs to be done, without yet deciding where it happens.

2. 🌐 Zonal Architecture → Structural & Physical Design Paradigm

  • What it is:
    A new way of organizing vehicle architecture, grouping ECUs, sensors, and actuators based on physical zones (e.g., front-left, rear-right), not functions (e.g., body control, infotainment).

  • How it connects:
    Once logical functions are defined (via MagicDraw), you need to map them to physical zones. This allocation step is where Zonal Architecture becomes essential — it determines where in the vehicle these functions will reside.

3. 🧰 Prevision → E/E Architecture, Signal Routing & Harness Design

  • What it does:
    Prevision is used in the detailed physical design phase, once you know:
  • Which zone hosts which function

  • Which ECUs and components are involved

  • How it connects:
    Prevision takes the outputs from:

  • MagicDraw (logical models, interfaces)
  • Zonal Architecture decisions (zone mapping)

And helps: - Assign functions/signals to physical components - Design communication buses and harnesses - Ensure signal integrity and connectivity

🧭 End-to-End Connection Flow

[MagicDraw (SysML Models)]
         ↓
  Define functions, behaviors, requirements
         ↓
[Zonal Architecture]
         ↓
  Map logical functions to physical zones/ECUs
         ↓
[Prevision]
         ↓
  Allocate signals, wire harness design, signal routing

🎯 Why is This Integration Important?

  • Traceability – From requirements (MagicDraw) to physical wiring (Prevision)
  • Consistency – Any change in logic can be mapped downstream in harness and signals
  • Efficiency – Zonal architecture simplifies hardware and Prevision supports modular harness reuse
  • Compliance & Safety – Easier to perform impact analysis and trace safety requirements (ISO 26262)

💡 Example Workflow with All 3

  1. MagicDraw – Model the car's door locking logic, trace requirements, define use cases and system interactions.
  2. Zonal Architecture – Decide that this function resides in the front-left zone and communicates with a central compute unit.
  3. Prevision – Allocate signals, define wiring from the front-left ECU to the central unit, and plan the harness structure accordingly.