Design and Implementation of a Novel Multi-Domain Management for Automotive Power Nets

Current trends such as autonomous driving and the associated increase in the number of electrical consumers and their power demands pose new challenges for automotive power nets. Due to the raising demands on system availability, a strong increase in complexity is also expected and has to be handled. Current energy management systems are mostly limited to prevent undervoltages by selectively degrading the supplied power of individual electrical loads. However, this approach does not include the management of overall system efficiency and thermals, nor is it able to manage redundant power supply lines or individual intelligent components. This paper presents the design and implementation of a novel multi-domain management system for automotive power nets which addresses all of the above mentioned issues and allows for an efficient operation while enabling fail-safe operation. Furthermore, the associated prediction capability allows the vehicle's electrical system to be preconditioned before the occurance of safety-critical events which could otherwise lead to system failure. As an example, the proposed multi-domain management is applied to a ring structured power net.