1. Overview
Road Side Units (RSUs) and On-Board Units (OBUs) are important components of intelligent transportation systems. An RSU is a device installed on the roadside in an ETC system, using short-range communication technology to communicate with an OBU; an OBU is a small device installed in a vehicle, recording basic vehicle information and interacting with the RSU to achieve non-stop automatic charging. To ensure the stable operation and high efficiency of the ETC system, professional testing solutions are required for RSU and OBU products. This article introduces a testing solution provided by Beijing Doewe Technologies Co., Ltd., which consists of core control software ETC Runsys and hardware devices, meeting relevant testing requirements for RSUs and OBUs.
2. System Introduction
The RSU & OBU automated testing system is a professional testing system composed of main control software ETC Runsys and hardware testing devices.
All core devices in the system can be remotely and automatically controlled via ETC Runsys software. The software realizes visualization of the DUT (Device Under Test) testing process and data analysis results for easy viewing; the system testing framework features a clear and reasonable process, simplifying logical judgment in the testing flow. The system supports efficient testing of RSUs and OBUs in accordance with the national standard GB/T 20851.5-2019.
The hardware testing devices mainly use domestic instruments, including spectrum analyzers, vector signal analyzers, oscilloscopes, vector signal generators, interference signal generators, power meters, and servers, supporting Chinese operation interfaces for convenient function debugging and application testing. The hardware in the system can also be flexibly configured based on customers' existing devices.
2.1 System Framework
As shown in the system framework diagram above, a PC installed with core control software ETC Runsys connects to the hardware devices in the system via a switch. The software configures the devices in the system and controls signal transmission/reception to perform automated testing on RSUs and OBUs.
2.2 Core Testing Indicators
Testing is divided into RSU testing and OBU testing, each further categorized into signal transmission testing and signal reception testing. By coordinating the use of testing devices in the system, multiple indicators can be tested. The signal transmission testing items for RSUs and OBUs are the same, while OBU signal reception testing has two additional items: wake-up sensitivity and wake-up time. The specific testing indicators are as follows:
2.3 System Advantages
Testing RSUs and OBUs often requires multiple instruments, and testers need to spend much time setting up each device individually. The testing system based on ETC Runsys simplifies this process and offers many other advantages:
- Fully compliant with GB/T 20851.5-2019 (device selection can be fine-tuned per customer requirements)；
- Supports separate testing for RSUs and OBUs, as well as gantry testing (including transaction process analysis)；
- Designed for individual testing items, supporting custom selection of testing items；
- Automatically displaying testable items after selecting typical testing devices, simplifying testing logic judgment；
- Striving to simplify the testing process, fully automated except for scenarios requiring manual cooperation；
- Following a modular design concept to ensure convenient and efficient maintenance；
- With high expandability to meet future testing application extensions；
- Enabling direct invocation of predefined testing item settings for efficient repeated testing；
- Allowing real-time viewing of test records to save labor and time costs；
- Visualizing testing processes and data analysis results for easy demonstration and learning；
- Core devices and software supporting Chinese for convenient testing operations；
- Featuring a clear system testing framework and reasonable process for easy testing management.
3. Introduction to ETC Runsys Software
ETC Runsys completes testing by controlling devices in the system. It can remotely manage and control reference measuring instruments in the system, achieving semi-automated testing, automatic reading, analysis, and output of test results. For each functional test, it provides prompts on how to operate RSUs and OBUs, enabling various predefined automatic tests for RSUs and OBUs. The following introduces some functions of ETC Runsys software:
Parameter Settings
The parameter settings function allows configuring different testing devices and their corresponding models. After configuration, enter the IP of the corresponding device to connect and control it. After connecting testing devices, calibration data of testing instruments can be imported as needed to ensure the accuracy of subsequent test results.
Testing and Test Results
On the testing task interface, new testing tasks can be added according to the type of DUT, and the physical link can be checked for correct connection based on the DUT connection diagram.
On the testing interface, testing indicators can be selected for different DUTs. The software automatically sets default upper and lower thresholds according to GB/T 20851.1 based on device information; custom testing thresholds can also be set for different indicators as needed. After starting the test, the software prompts whether the test results pass according to the testing thresholds.
Test results can be saved as test reports, exporting information including the serial number of test status and values, task items, lower limits, values, upper limits, units, test status, and the test task name and DUT type of the testing task.
Historical Tasks
The historical interface allows viewing stored data results of past tests. When there are many historical testing tasks, a specific historical task can be found via search functions by DUT type or keywords. In this interface, past testing tasks can also be deleted and managed.
The RSU & OBU testing system combined with ETC Runsys and hardware devices realizes testing of RSU and OBU products with its complete testing process and rich testing functions. Its flexibility also makes the entire system easier to upgrade and maintain, providing a reliable solution for RSU and OBU testing.