Vehicle Control System Design Environment

Model-based environment for developing real-time automotive control systems on a unified DriveOS platform

Drako Design Environment (DDE) enables automotive engineers to design and deploy high-performance control systems directly from Simulink models. This model to deployment workflow eliminates embedded coding, cross-compilation, and manual OS-level integration work.

Engineers define behavior visually, while DDE automates scheduling, domain mapping, communication, and deployment. To further accelerate programs, teams can leverage Drako’s production-ready hardware and software reference implementations as reusable starting points.

This combination dramatically reduces development effort, allowing engineers to focus on control functionality and vehicle performance instead of low-level infrastructure.

Model-Based Design Without Embedded Coding

Vehicle Control System design - using Simulink

Drako Design Environment (DDE) enables automotive OEMs to develop control systems entirely within Simulink — without writing embedded C code, configuring hardware interfaces, or managing real-time OS details. DDE automatically implements the infrastructure, integration, and deployment pipeline, allowing engineers to focus purely on system behavior using functional blocks and signal flows. This reduces development complexity and accelerates control system design.

DDE automates the process of translating Simulink models into executable code — handling domain-specific code generation, thread scheduling, and cross-domain runtime configuration.

Each model becomes a self-contained, timing-aware component ready for deployment across the DriveOS operating system. No manual integration or cross-compilation is required.

Visual Thread Scheduling Automatically Deployed Across DriveOS

Engineers can define thread scheduling parameters, such as period, runtime budget, and deadline, directly within Simulink, using simple visual scheduling blocks. They can explicitly model each control task with its timing behavior, eliminating the need for separate configuration files or manual OS-level tuning

DDE then automatically converts these timing models into real-time thread configurations during code generation and deployment, providing system-wide coordination and reliable execution under DriveOS.

It manages scheduling both within each application, such as a powertrain, and across all control domains running on the vehicle’s compute platform, including thermal systems, battery management, and more.

Seamless Communication Between Control Modules

Vehicle Control System - seamless control module communication

In modular control systems, communication between components is a core part of system design. In DriveOS, different control modules may run in isolated sandboxed domains to preserve fault containment. DDE simplifies coordination between these modules with graphical modeling of real-time data exchange, whether engineers need guaranteed delivery or just the latest value.

These connections are backed by secure, real-time shared-memory channels between domains.

DDE automatically maps and configures the underlying data pathways during deployment — eliminating the need to write serialization code, manage message buffers, or set up memory protection manually. Communication timing and behavior are defined in the model and preserved in execution.

Real-Time CAN I/O, Unified Over USB

The platform enables the vehicle control system to interface with a wide range of existing hardware — including supplier ECUs, test equipment, and legacy modules — without custom firmware, intermediate gateways, or one-off interface code.

Drako Design Environment provides native graphical building blocks for working with CAN buses.

These elements allow engineers to model control systems that read from and write to DriveOS’ unified, real-time USB communication backbone via standard USB CAN interfaces.

Engineers can configure baud rates, message IDs, and signal mappings directly within their model — eliminating the need for low-level driver development or OS-specific I/O handling. Because these CAN elements are fully integrated with the rest of the control logic, they ensure deterministic message handling and timing alignment across the entire system.

System-Scale Deployment with End-to-End Timing Guarantees

Once a control system implementation is complete, Drako Design Environment automatically packages all components — including RTOS and Linux domain logic — into a single, versioned binary for deployment across the vehicle platform.

This unified deployment maintains strict domain isolation, streamlines integration testing, and supports rapid iteration while preserving timing and integration guarantees.

The runtime loader automatically places each task in its assigned domain, with no need for scripting or manual setup.

DDE also supports end-to-end timing analysis across multi-task control chains. Engineers can model delay expectations using conservative or optimistic bounds to validate system response times, so they can confirm requirements are met before hardware testing. This timing transparency spans from simulation to deployment, making test results predictive of real-world performance.

Hardware & Software Reference Portfolio

Drako offers a portfolio of hardware and software reference implementations that accelerate vehicle control system development by providing proven, reusable designs. Each example applies best practices for modeling, scheduling, and I/O configuration using DDE.

OEMs can adapt these assets directly into production programs or use them as structured templates when developing new control system components.

Hardware Reference Implementations

Drako provides several control system reference implementations that are ready to run under DriveOS with real-time behavior, scheduling, and I/O mappings already configured for immediate evaluation.

Engineers can use these modules as drop-in starting points for production programs, adjusting them to match specific architectures, signals, or actuators.

The implementations include:

CAN & LIN
Dash
Pump driver
Front & rear body controllers
Door module
Seat controller
High power driver
USB switch
USB hub with power control
PD hub

Each implementation includes a complete set of DDE elements for scheduling, communication, and I/O — packaged as robust, timing-aware control modules with stable, well-defined interfaces.

The implementations connect to real hardware through DriveOS’ unified I/O stack, such as USB CAN, enabling validation of system-level behavior under deterministic execution.

Software Reference Implementations

Drako’s software references extend DDE’s core control system workflow with tools for protocol translation, system abstraction, diagnostics, and interactive developer tooling.

The implementations include:

Protocol adapter – Encodes and decodes custom or standard message formats over USB or socket interfaces.
Firmware controller – Simulink‑modeled logic for coordinating with external MCUs that communicate with DriveOS.
Socket gateway – Bridges TCP/UDP traffic into DriveOS domains for remote access, logging, or test integration.
Configuration app – Supports runtime parameter tuning without modifying Simulink models, so engineers can iterate on behavior without rebuilding control logic.
User interface app – Provides dashboards for visualization, monitoring, and command control during development or validation.

Each implementation includes ready-to-use Simulink modeled logic or DriveOS integrated components that can be deployed and tested directly alongside control modules.

They run within DriveOS’ unified I/O and scheduling framework, ensuring that interactions with other system elements inherit the same deterministic timing guarantees as the control modules.