Embedded validation hardware
Electron eins
- Demonstration unit
- Readiness: Available for demonstration
- Production unit
- Readiness: In production development
Two units, two states. The demonstration unit is what we can connect and show you now. The production unit is still in development.
A desktop test unit that connects to an electronic control unit (ECU) on your bench, so an engineer can run tests at their own desk.
Testing a control unit usually means booking time on a shared test rack. Work queues behind whoever has the rack, and a test that takes an hour can wait a week for a slot.
Electron eins is small enough to sit on a desk. It connects to your PC on one side and to the control unit under test on the other, and it runs the test suites your team writes in Validative Software Studio.
Electron eins demonstration unit — front view of the enclosure and connector panel
Needsimage — Electron eins demonstration unit — front view of the enclosure and connector panel — from HW leadWhat the hardware enables
Bench testing without a full test rack
A desk unit does not replace a large hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) rig. It removes the wait for one.
Hardware configurations
What exists, what is in development, what is planned
Three things are described on this page and they are not at the same stage. Each one is labelled, so nothing here has to be taken on trust.
Vehicle bus
Two CAN connections to the control unit
CAN, the controller area network, is the bus most vehicle electronics communicate on. Electron eins provides two CAN connections, each on a D-Sub 9 connector.
That is the connection a test uses: send a message to the control unit, then read what the unit sends back.
- 2 × CAN
- D-Sub 9 connectors
- Available on the demonstration unit
CAN FD
Readiness: PlannedCAN FD, the faster version of the same bus, is planned for the next-generation unit. It is not available on the unit described here, and we are not quoting it as though it were.
Input and output
Two input and output connectors
Beside the bus connections, the unit has two D-Sub 15 connectors for input and output (I/O) — the individual signals around a control unit, rather than the messages carried on the bus.
We have deliberately not published a channel count or a list of signal types for these connectors, and we have not stated that analogue input or output is present. Those figures are not verified yet, and a number on a web page is read as a specification.
- 2 × D-Sub 15 connectors
- Available on the demonstration unit
Send us the signals you need to drive and measure, and we will tell you what the unit covers.
Needsverified input/output count and types behind the two D-Sub 15 connectors, and whether analogue input/output is present — from HW lead
Fault injection and current measurement
Faults that cannot safely be created in a vehicle
Readiness: In production developmentA control unit has to behave safely when a wire breaks, a signal line shorts or the supply drops away. On a bench those conditions can be created on purpose and repeated exactly. In a vehicle most of them cannot be created safely at all.
Fault injection and current measurement belong to the production circuit board (PCB), not to the demonstration unit. The board is in development. We will describe what it does — which faults, on which lines, over which ranges — once its function test has passed, and not before.
Needsconfirmation that the fault-injection and current-measurement function test on the production circuit board has passed, and what it covers — from HW lead
Electron eins production circuit board
Needsimage — Electron eins production circuit board — from HW leadConnectivity
USB and Ethernet to the PC
The unit connects to the PC that runs Validative Software Studio over USB and Ethernet. That is the path the test and its results travel on.
The device under test (DUT) — your control unit — is wired to the connectors on the other side, and takes its 12 V supply from the unit so a test can control when it is powered.
- USB to the PC
- Ethernet to the PC
Supported applications
What teams use a desk unit for
Three kinds of work, all of which otherwise wait for a shared bench to come free.
Electron eins on a lab bench with an electronic control unit connected
Needsimage — Electron eins on a lab bench with an electronic control unit connected — from HW leadFor engineers
Technical specifications
Only verified values appear in this table. A row without one is a figure we have asked for internally and not yet had confirmed — it is not an omission for brevity.
The interfaces above are the ones we are willing to put in writing today. Channel counts, electrical ratings and dimensions follow the verified specification sheet.
Unit
- Model tag
- RVU-01
Power
- Supply input
- 12 V
- Supply to the unit under test
- 12 V
Interfaces
- Vehicle bus
- 2 × CAN, on D-Sub 9
- Input and output
- 2 × D-Sub 15 connectors
- To the PC
- USB, Ethernet
Dimensions
Next step
Tell us what you need to test.
Send the control unit, the bus and the signals involved. We will tell you what a desk unit covers today, what the production unit adds, and where a custom test rig is the better answer.