Nexteer Builds a Virtual Validation Workflow for Brake-by-Wire Development
Engineers Established a Model-Control-Validation Workflow for Developing and Testing Brake-by-Wire Technology
“Using MATLAB and Simulink, we established an end-to-end development workflow covering EMB modeling, control system analysis, algorithm development, and HIL validation. The high-fidelity models and standardized processes enabled efficient development and rapid verification of Nexteer’s brake-by-wire EMB system.”
Key Outcomes
- Established an end-to-end virtual validation workflow spanning component modeling, parameter calibration, control design, system identification, and HIL testing
- Achieved greater than 90% correlation between simulation results and bench-test data, enabling the models to be used for control algorithm development and validation
- Verified high-risk, high-cost, and extreme fault scenarios that are difficult or unsafe to reproduce through physical testing alone
As automotive systems evolve toward brake-by-wire architectures, validating safety-critical braking functions can present significant challenges. These challenges include the high cost of physical testing, the limited ability to reproduce extreme fault scenarios, long development cycles, and the need to evaluate a wide range of faults to ensure system robustness. Nexteer Automotive sought to overcome these challenges by establishing a virtual validation workflow for its electromechanical brake (EMB) system.
Using Simscape™, the Nexteer team developed physics-based models of the EMB system, including the motor, gear train, ball screw, and brake caliper, while modeling nonlinear behaviors such as friction, hysteresis, and free travel. The team then used Simulink Design Optimization™ to perform sensitivity analysis and parameter estimation, calibrating the models against bench-test data. Finally, System Identification Toolbox™ enabled engineers to derive transfer functions from measured data and support controller design.
The resulting workflow connects modeling, control development, and validation activities in a single environment, supporting the reliability verification of next-generation brake-by-wire systems.
