Algorithmic approaches for optimizing electronic control unit time using multi-rate sampling

With the emerging migration of automotive and other distributed control platforms from federated to integrated architectures, the need for optimal utilization of ECU (electronic control unit) bandwidth will become a key requirement in the implementation of embedded control features. This paper advocates the partitioning of the operating space of the plant and the use of minimal sampling rates in each partition without compromising the overall quality of control. At the heart of the proposed methodology are our algorithms that enable the choice of the partitions and the sampling rate for each partition. We demonstrate the efficacy of our methods on two case studies, namely an anti-lock braking system and a lane departure warning system. We also study the use of a supervisory controller that controls the switching among sampling rates for a combination of the two features.