The CEERF project: improving transport security through simulation

In collaboration with INRETS, GIE PSA/Renault, UTAC and the LRPCA, ATDI is participating in the CEERF project to study the electromagnetic transport environment in France, and to improve transport security.

Paris, February 2002 -

The ever-increasing role of embedded electronics in vehicles cannot be ignored. Vehicle security (ABS, anti-lock brakes, airbags...) and many other functions concerning the vehicle's interior and passenger comfort are now managed by systems that are piloted by electronic control units.

At the same time, the transport infrastructure is being equipped with more and more electronic systems, carrying information on users and road management organisms (vehicle speed, traffic reports, weather...), on user security (emergency numbers, smoke detectors in tunnels), or, much more generally, carrying a variety of information. In the near future, the whole transport system (in-vehicle and infrastructural) will be managed by electronic systems. We will then witness the advent of truly " intelligent transportation ".

Vehicles will be equipped with anti-collision and driving aid systems, and infrastructures will be equipped with systems designed to manage traffic flow, information and surveillance, all of which guarantees user comfort and security. All of these components would work in strict interaction via microwave or wire frame links, which would also be electronically managed.

Faced with the spread of these electronic systems, and taking into account their importance as regards security, it is imperative to guarantee that they are protected from exterior electromagnetic forces. Indeed, when exposed to a strong electromagnetic environment, these systems can become unstable, or can fail, which would represent a serious danger to users.

These worries have been taken into account under the banner of " electromagnetic compatibility " (EMC), and form the subject of a European directive, applicable to all vehicles produced from January 1st 1996. However, guaranteeing a system's electromagnetic compatibility with its environment implies a greater knowledge of this environment, and of the actual electromagnetic pollution levels related to their chances of appearing.

The National Institute for Research into Transport and Transport Security (INRETS), in France, wishes to develop this knowledge via an on-going method that allows evolutions in the electromagnetic environment to be tracked. To do this, it has offered to create a national database, gathering together the main sources of potential problems that a road vehicle could encounter in France.

It is within this framework that ATDI has been asked to intervene. The proposed action is particularly original in so much as it relies on the simulation rather than on the calculations. " If the calculations allow us to take a precise ' snapshot ' of the environment at a given moment, they cannot, on the other hand, be updated regularly. This is where ATDI's expertise in simulating comes in. ", says David Missud, Executive Vice President at ATDI. "

Indeed, thanks to its ICS Telecom software, ATDI will principally be able to simulate:

• the distribution (density and fluctuation) of electromagnetic fields in space;
• the distribution of probability of electromagnetic fields at a fixed frequency;
• the field level related to a certain probability of occurrence, etc.

Through greater knowledge of the source of aggression, the results will allow to optimise the tests of "electromagnetic hardening " of the systems. It will therefore guarantee more harmony between the actual risk and the test levels from the immunity tests.

About ICS telecom...

ICS Telecom is ATDI's leading software for the planning and optimising of analogue and digital microwave networks.