Flash Iveco dash
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• Iveco has developed the dashboard of the future, based on a single cathode ray tube system and due to be in production by 1992.
According to Pier Luigi Degli Esposti, Iveco's manager of advanced engineering projects, the new cathode ray tube (CRT) dash has been designed to help the driver by replacing the 40 or 50 conventional dial displays used on current models with a small television screen. There will be no loss of information, he says.
The CRT system used on Iveco's research and development truck uses nine different coloured zones on the screen. The electronic data which is fed to the high-resolution CRT display comes from a cabmounted central data processing unit (CDPU) which receives and processes signals from sensors and electronic control units strategically placed all over the truck. Esposti says that the CDPU is programmed to give the driver the minimum of information via the screen while everything is functioning normally: "If something goes wrong the driver needs not only to be warned of this, but also how critical is the fault. The CDPU and CRT will do that," he says.
One of the most serious problems facing vehicle manufacturers intending to increase their use of on-board electronic systems is electro-magnetic compatibility (EMC) — the ability of each electronic system or component to be unaffected by spurious signals or signals from other systems.
By using fibre-optics to carry signals to electronic components, a filament carrying a light signal or command can be isolated from electronic signals and electric currents.
This system was displayed at the Autotech exhibition in the NEC last week, with a cab-mounted passive optical star coupler (POC).
The POC converts the light signals it receives into electronic signals which the CDPU can unscramble. The system seems impressive — but it will not be cheap. Iveco has a cheaper alternative to the fibre-optic system: an electronic signalling system which uses specially insulated, twisted wires to connect the electronic control units and sensors with the CDPU. A truck fitted with this system is to be tested at the Orbassano Fiat research centre next spring.
The Iveco truck fitted with the advanced driver information and communication system has a conventional wiring loom separate from the signal and command wiring. The peripheral electronic control units monitor and control all of the vehicle's electrical loads and functions and each component's electrical load is checked every 30 seconds. The dashboard switches fitted in the development truck use a touchsensitive rubber membrane.
Iveco Ford says it has plans to fit these systems to its entire truck range, including the Cargo models, by 1992,