VMS ECU

Viking Motorsports (VMS) Engine Control Unit (ECU) is the main control board of a custom made electric race car for Formula SAE. Its development was supported by Beta project and the board was designed, assembled and tested at College of Engineering, Portland State University in 2016. The board runs stock Paparazzi sofware as a base.

ECU beta project poster

ECU installed in the race car

ECU and the race car at Portland State University display

Current status

As of February 2016, the hardware is essentially mature (revision 1.0) and it runs Paparazzi (an example airframe configuration is provided). More software development needs to be done in order to comply with Formula SAE rules.

Features

4 layer PCB board for better EMI
Fully waterproof enclosure (IP-65 rated) and 48-pin Deutsch-TM header
ARM Cortex-M4 168MHz MCU
Intel Edison as a linux companion computer
SD card logging on both MCU and Intel Edison
Wifi & Bluetooth connectivity (Intel Edison)
2x insulated CAN bus
2x RS232
4x Analog input (5V)
2x Analog output (5V)
2x Digital input (Switch-to-Ground)
6x Digital input (Switch-to-Battery)
2x High-Side digital output
4x Low-side digital output
12-24V power input
5V power output
Reverse polarity and overvoltage input protection on all I/O
AspirinIMU with 3-axis gyro, accel and magnetometer and MS5611 barometer
Ublox GPS with external antenna
USB/JTAG for programming/debugging

The board is fully enclosed in a waterproof enclosure, and is intended to be used in harsh and dusty environments, such as automotive racing.

ECU v1.0 PCB
ECU v1.0 assembled PCB
ECU v1.0 during I/O testing

Pinout

Pins Name and Type are specified with respect to the ECU board. Note that the headers are in the order A-C-D-B (left to right, looking at the board from the top - component side). The pinout is designed so the related pins are adjacent in the wiring harness.

ECU v1.0 I/O pinout
ECU v1.0 board top-view

**Deutsch Header A**
Pin #	Name	Type	Description	Color
1	GND	PWR	For analog sensors	Black
2	5V	PWR	For analog sensors	Yellow
3	AIN1	IO	Analog input 5V	Orange
4	GND	PWR	For analog sensors	Black
5	5V	PWR	For analog sensors	Yellow
6	AIN2	IO	Analog input 5V	Orange
7	GND	PWR	For analog sensors	Black
8	5V	PWR	For analog sensors	Yellow
9	AIN3	IO	Analog input 5V	Orange
10	GND	PWR	For analog sensors	Black
11	5V	PWR	For analog sensors	Yellow
12	AIN4	IO	Analog input 5V	Orange

**Deutsch Header C**
Pin #	Name	Type	Description	Color
1	GND	PWR	For digital inputs	Black
2	DIN_STG1	IO	Switch to ground	Magenta
3	GND	PWR	For digital inputs	Black
4	DIN_STG2	IO	Switch to ground	Magenta
5	GND	PWR	For power in	Black
6	VIN	PWR	12-24V power in	Red
7	DIN_STB1	IO	Switch to battery	Pink
8	DIN_STB2	IO	Switch to battery	Pink
9	DIN_STB3	IO	Switch to battery	Pink
10	DIN_STB4	IO	Switch to battery	Pink
11	DIN_STB5	IO	Switch to battery	Pink
12	DIN_STB6	IO	Switch to battery	Pink

**Deutsch Header D**
Pin #	Name	Type	Description	Color
1	GND	PWR	For analog outputs	Black
2	AOUT1	IO	Analog output 5V	Light Tan
3	GND	PWR	For analog outputs	Black
4	AOUT2	IO	Analog output 5V	Light Tan
5	GND	PWR	For high-side drivers	Black
6	VOUT	PWR	12-24V power out (directly connected to VIN) for low-side drivers	Red
7	CAN1_H	IO	CAN high	Blue
8	CAN1_L	IO	CAN low	Cyan
9	GND	PWR	For high-side drivers	Black
10	VOUT	PWR	12-24V power out (directly connected to VIN) for low-side drivers	Red
11	CAN2_H	IO	CAN high	Blue
12	CAN2_L	IO	CAN low	Cyan

**Deutsch Header B**
Pin #	Name	Type	Description	Color
1	GND	PWR	For RS232	Black
2	SERIAL_IN1	IO	RS232 input (12V)	Green
3	SERIAL_OUT1	PWR	RS323 output (12V)	Light Green
4	GND	PWR	For RS232	Black
5	SERIAL_IN2	IO	RS232 input (12V)	Green
6	SERIAL_OUT2	PWR	RS323 output (12V)	Light Green
7	DOUT_LS1	IO	Low-side output	Brown
8	DOUT_LS2	IO	Low-side output	Brown
9	DOUT_LS3	IO	Low-side output	Brown
10	DOUT_LS4	IO	Low-side output	Brown
11	DOUT_HS1	IO	High-side output (12V)	White
11	DOUT_HS2	IO	High-side output (12V)	White