Connectivity of a modular electric vehicle by the use of a mobile device

Abstract

This work presents results from the project EvTec, which focus on the design, construction, and testing of an electric vehicle with special features such as modular design, multimotor, power source, digital control, autonomy, and connectivity. The proposed architecture explores the use of the Android-based Control Ecosystem, which integrates the Operating System Android, as part of the open-source control of the vehicle. The objective of this work is to design a platform that enables connectivity with the cloud for monitoring and remote controlling purposes. Results are reported about the feasibility of sending and storing information and in general interacting with a remote server. Vehicle control signals and sensor data were shared remotely at a rate of 200 ms per cycle. The data sent for storage in the cloud reconstructed very well the signals, with no data loss, proving its potential for monitoring purposes. This work also presents a brief discussion about the weakness and strengths of the concept, and the future work toward the potential impact and integration with autonomous driving.