EMERGENCY TELEMATICS INTRODUCTION

When members of the main insurance industry body refused to extend cover to a new high-performance vehilce which had just entered series production (thus rendering it unsaleable in its main market of the UK), we took an improved security system from concept feasibility to line production in just 3 weeks.

Having understood the challenge and validated the technical requirements from our customer, the first task was to assemble a power-team – a small group of engineers with complementary expertise and the positive attitude necessary to see the task through. We enthused and enrolled everyone in the team and those on whom we would depend – other engineers from the OEM and suppliers - into achieving the end goal.

From our contacts throughout the industry, we already knew a number of suppliers who could provide key parts of the system and periphery components within the minimal lead-time.

As with all system integration projects, achieving a suitable package in the vehicle from the outset was key to achieving the technical requirements for the feature, as well meeting general good-practice requirements of design-for-manufacture, design-for-service and design-for-cost.

For this unprecedented challenge, the job of housing all the components: ECU, GPRS and GPS antennae and overlay harness was made all the more difficult by the fact that the vehicle was already in production, a tiny budget and short lead times leaving no time for new fixings or changes to be made to brackets already in the supply-chain.

The solution would have to;

- Be tamper-proof to potential thieves.

- Provide a 90 degree upward view of the sky for the GPS antenna.

- Provide a good GPRS signal with no adverse RFI impact.

- Be able to access key signals from the electrical architecture

By thinking laterally and considering parts we could change quickly and at minimal cost, we identified an ECU packaging location on the bulkhead of the vehicle, accessible via a minor change to the NVH material, which also provided a fixing and positive location solution. Not only was the location ideal for final assembly, key electrical connections were available nearby (allowing the overlay harness to be kept to a minimum size), suitable radio signal reception was possible through the windscreen and all components would be protected from tamper following fitment of the IP.

Because each NVH pad was cut using a high-pressure water jet, no physical tooling change was required, other than a minor change to the waterjet cutting programme, which could be turned round very quickly and at minimum cost.

This fast identification of a package allowed an electrical harness to be quickly designed, prototyped, tested and sent for costing.

Bureaucratic delays were removed by ‘walking’ Engineering Change Requests, Manufacturing Process Changes and Purchase Requests through their internal processes.

The feature was introduced to series production in time for the deadline following functional tests and cursory durability tests to prove the package resistance to vibration and temperature Further long-term testing.

Additional engineering changes were made to achieve a more robust and integrated solution (such as including the electrical connections in the main electrical harness) for the longer term.

Having met the challenging goals of this project, the board of directors of the OEM expressed their thanks to us…