Case study

Challenge

A leading car manufacturer (Tier 1) faced the challenge of making extensive vehicle testing more efficient. To document several 100,000 test hours, test drives had to be extended, and the associated logistics had to be streamlined.

A central element was the vehicle’s data logger, which continuously records measurement data during test drives. A high storage capacity and writing speed were crucial to reliably record the large amounts of data. The greater the storage capacity of the installed SSDs, the longer the test drives could be carried out without interruption. Longer journeys, in turn, meant fewer vehicle changes, less logistical effort and faster achievement of the test objective.

Additionally, transferring the data following each test drive was critical. The recorded information had to be quickly transferred to an ingest station so that the evaluation could start without delay. Therefore, the challenge was to find the optimum balance between high storage capacity and efficient data handling.

Solution

A compact 2U storage extender with a QuickTray®-v3 was developed to optimally meet the customer’s requirements. Designed for use in test environments with high data volumes, the storage unit can be easily integrated into existing vehicle and system infrastructures. A key advantage of the solution is its compatibility with common third-party data loggers. This allows the storage extender to seamlessly integrate into the customer’s existing data logger infrastructure.

The extender provides flexible storage expansion and allows for easy replacement of storage units thanks to the QuickTray®’s hot-plug function. This means the storage unit can be removed immediately after the test drive and transported to the ingest station. With a storage capacity of up to 240 TB* and a maximum write rate of up to 26 GBps*, the QuickTray® guarantees continuous data acquisition, even during long test drives. In addition, the integrated data encryption ensures the security of sensitive test data during storage and transfer.

This solution creates a continuous logging chain from the vehicle via the storage hardware to the ingest station, regardless of the system provider used.

*depending on the SSDs and RAID level used

Results

By leveraging the Storage Extender, the car manufacturer benefits from a substantial enhancement in test execution efficiency. With the extended storage volume of up to 240 TB several days’ worth of test drives can be recorded at once. This greatly increases previous drive times, reducing the total number of necessary drives and the time and personnel required.

The hot-plug function allows the data carrier to be transferred to the ingest station immediately after each drive. The fast availability of data optimizes the evaluation process and minimizes downtime for test vehicles. At the same time, integrated data encryption ensures that sensitive test data remains protected at all times.

The solution is cost-effective as well: existing data loggers do not need to be replaced because the Storage Extender works seamlessly with components from other manufacturers. This creates a uniform technical ecosystem that reduces investment costs and promotes the sustainable use of existing hardware.