Ingenieurbüro Markus Löffler

Various Mods and Tech Demos for an Automotive Headunit, involving:

• Building and Flashing the HMI onto the headunit
• Modifying the HMI in order to display special content for tech demos
• Implementing advanced 3D graphics and animations running on the headunit

• Implementation of Cloud-based sync and other Cloud services
• Development under iOS and Android

• Utilization of the Alexa Auto SDK under a Linux-based headunit

Implementing an Android App for the demonstration of the BMW i Interaction EASE concept shown at the CES 2020 in Las Vegas.

Click here for a video of the BMW i Interaction Ease Demonstration at the CES 2020 (starts at 6:40)

Integrated the Alexa Voice Control for the BMW Connected App such that Alexa can be used in BMW vehicles.

Development of a framework that allows music apps like Spotify or Amazon Music to interface with the BMW headunit such that the app can be operated through the car's main display.

Click here for a video of Spotify connected to the BMW entertainment system

User interface development and audio handling in the entertainment area of the BMW iDrive system, which is the central infotainment/multimedia system in all current BMW vehicles.

Click here for a video demonstrating the iDrive HMI

A set of Python scripts for a fully automated download and analysis of traces for error analysis.

Setup of a low-power server for file acess, backup, and media. The server was created to improve the knowledge of the Linux operating system. It provides:

• Samba file server
• Remote VNC access
• Web server for remote administration
• WOL (Wake-on-LAN) for remote startup
• Automated daily incremental backup
• XBMC media center to play audio and video straight from the harddrive

An HMI framework for a Daimler instrument cluster.

Project management, architecture and development for a multibus data logger. The blue PiraT is a data logger for the bus systems/interfaces CAN, MOST, LIN, FlexRay, etc. It contains power management, a harddrive for recording, and a client software running on a PC for download and further processing of the data.

Click here to see the blue PiraT product video

An application running on a Windows PC that allows logging and display data from the serial port. It provides additional features to analyse and format the data while it arrives, and to record user error descriptions.

The Robotic Platform is an object-oriented robot programming system. All components (i.e., graphical user interface, 3D simulation, servo control, trajectory generation, task programming, and sensor integration) are integrated in one homogeneous class design. All components run on a single PC, on a single operating system, the QNX Real-Time Platform. The system allows for generic programming (e.g., manipulator independent programming). Extensions integrate seamlessly into the graphical user interface and the 3D simulator. The 3D simulator dynamically adapts to the robot control program, using Open Inventor and VRML 3D model files.

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Windows software that animates robot manipulators along trajectories streamed from robot control programs. With the same robot control program, either the simulator can be run or the real robot manipulator.

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The QMotor Robotic Toolkit is set of libraries, programs, and utilities specifically targeted for robotic applications that utilize the QMotor control environment. The toolkit contains a GUI based teachpendant, a trajectory generator, and control programs for the Puma 560 and the Barrett Whole Arm Manipulator (WAM).

The Robotic Platform, QMotor, and QRobot require graphical user interfaces on the QNX operating system, using Photon, the QNX windows manager. Photon programming by using the Photon API is extensive and leads to long programs that are not easy to read. Using PhAB, the GUI builder for Photon simplifies the development but is limited: It is not possible to use object oriented programming techniques (e.g. to re-use GUI components), and it is not straightforward to dynamically create GUI components. To overcome these problems, QWidgets++ was developed.

Product Logo

Class Hierarchy Excerpt

QRobot is a PC-based system for telerobotic decontamination and decommissioning. The system integrates hardware interfacing, real-time joint level control, sensors, control of tools, networking and task level programming (ARCL) as well as operator interfaces using video and virtual reality. The system demonstrates that the PC, a cost effective and widely used platform, is well suited to the integration of real-time control tasks and advanced user interfaces. In the first stage of the project, the joint level control was implement on a QNX 4 PC and a network interface to the robot control library RCCL was developed. In the second stage, RCCL was replaced by ARCL, running on the same QNX 4 PC. QRobot is part of the Virtual Reality Based Telerobotic Decontamination and Decommissioning Project.

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QMotor is a framework for advanced control implementation. QMotor allows the user to easily implement complex control algorithms on a QNX PC, tune the control and plot variables in multiple plot windows.

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Product Video

A system that controls and does measurements on a golf ball shooting device.

This project was a collaboration with the textile department. The Unwinding Analyzer is a PC-based measurement system for high-speed yarn unwinding. It measures the tension in the yarn and takes snapshots of the yarn path. The yarn path is then determined by image processing, and the yarn tension and the path can be compared with theoretical calculations.

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Simplified error analysis of the telephone system EWSD by Siemens.

A control system for slide projectors and CD players. The system allowed to program transition times for public slide shows and synchronisation with music parts.