Fault-tolerant design for increasing the reliability of an autonomous driving gear shifting system

Abstract

The reliability of technical systems can be greatly reduced if possible faults cannot be accommodated but lead to system shut-down with sometimes catastrophic consequences. The algorithms and systems of fault-tolerant control were developed in the last years into a powerful tool to accommodate such faults. Additionally, it became obvious that the design of a technical system can ease or hinder the application of these tools and can also lead to the accommodation of faults be itself. This kind of design – fault-tolerant design – and its components are presented in this paper on the example of a shifting system for the gear box an autonomous driving race car. This race car competes in the well-known formula student driverless competition; in such competitions the reliability of the car and the capability to accommodate not avoidable faults is of paramount importance. The different elements of fault-tolerance incorporated in the design of the gear shifting system are explained on the basis of an established model of product concretization.