Digitization is one of the most important factors for efficient process management not only in industrial manufacturing - it has now also become a standard for analyzing complex structures, for example in vehicles such as cars, trucks or rail transport. Specially designed for the automotive sector Durabook is meant to provide the responsible technicians with a useful and robust tool to analyze the current situation in such cases. The laptop from U.S. manufacturer AE Tools Solutions is part of a new generation of tools that offers a powerful, flexible and robust industrial PC for mobile use in different environments such as workshops, production facilities or logistics. Due to its innovative, flexible and reliable design, the Durabook has established itself in automotive tasks such as maintenance, repair or failure analysis of vehicles and for many users it represents one of the most important tools to detect problems and potential weaknesses at an early stage and thus prevent major damage from occurring.
Maintenance and monitoring gain in importance
Use of modern composite materials and numerous sensors for detecting and diagnosing potential sources of faults forms the basis for durable maintenance and allows the durability of complex systems such as cars to be significantly increased. In 2022, a study by the renowned IHS Automotive institute concluded that the average age of cars in the U.S. that year was 11.5 years - higher than at any time before. The majority of fault analysis is now carried out by integrated embedded computers and decentrally installed microprocessors that control local processes and transmit their function and measured values to a central vehicle PC. The interpretation of this data is difficult or even impossible without a suitable interface - the Durabook for the automotive sector is a solution to this problem. The device was designed specifically for this task and equipped with appropriate I/O to serve as an interface.
Reliable, robust and versatile in practical use
The Durabook, specially designed for the automotive sector, is a rugged laptop with a diagonal of 14'' that is capable of measuring the estimated 10 million lines of programming code of an automobile and the results of the sensors. Modern vehicles now contain up to 100 engine control units (ECUs) that interact with each other and with a central embedded transport PC. The embedded PC forms the most important interface between the on-board electronics and external devices - for example, the Durabook system that reads out the automotive hardware and interprets the stored information. To withstand practical use in harsh conditions, it has a semi-rugged design with a modular structure. The internal interfaces allow the Durabook to be upgraded to automotive standards and support various protocols such as CAN Bus or the legacy Tech 2 and Vetronix/Bosch MasterTech 3100 formats without having to resort to the error-prone RS232/422/485 serial port for communication.
