Firefighting equipment needs to perform reliably in often hazardous environments to best support and protect firefighters in their job. Firefighting trucks are specialized municipal vehicles designed for the rigorous demands of emergency response. As they operate in public areas, the vehicles need to comply with a range of automotive safety standards, as well as meeting high functional safety requirements.
Rosenbauer is a family company with a history of more than 150 years. As the world’s leading manufacturer of systems for firefighting and disaster protection and the world's largest firefighting technology provider, the group develops and produces vehicles, fire extinguishing systems, equipment and digital solutions for professional, industrial, plant, and volunteer fire services, and systems for preventive firefighting.
Markus Schachner, Head of Product Development at Rosenbauer Group recently spoke with us about the strategic cooperation with TTControl, which began more than 10 years ago. He explains how the two companies have been working together, shared one of his most memorable moments with TTControl, and gave insights into electrification, challenges, and technical developments in the market.
A decade of successful collaboration
Rosenbauer has been cooperating with TTControl on software development and using TTControl’s electronic control units (ECUs) for safe and functional operation for many years says Markus Schachner: “TTControl is a strategic and reliable partner, also acting globally like we do. They have the right products, a full portfolio, the whole chain – hardware, software, and innovation, which allows us to be competitive. I would say that TTControl’s products are the heart of our product.”
There have been many memorable moments in the partnership, but one that he remembers particularly well is the development of the escape stairs for airports and firefighting trucks. This included the integration of the new electronic control units and software development for this safety-critical application in Brixen. The project was very special, according to Markus Schachner, “TTControl never saw the product in real life, because we did the development together on a digital twin. It was fabulous to see how the product was doing, after we did the installation together.”
Electromobility plays a big role in Rosenbauer’s vision for the future of firefighting, both in terms of reducing emissions as well as in improving functionality and reliability: “Rosenbauer started the journey of electromobility in 2012. It was a time where zero emission wasn’t the purpose of electromobility, but it gave us the chance to design vehicles in an optimized way for firefighting applications,” explains Markus Schachner. “If you look at what is happening due to climate change, I think natural disasters will happen more often, and this will have a huge impact on our product portfolio and our technical solutions – they have to be smarter, more digitalized, and sustainable.”
Electrification and smarter, more autonomous operations are recurring topics in the mobile machinery industry. TTControl provides a range of solutions to support this transition, while also focusing on functional safety, a topic that is particularly relevant for municipal vehicles. This was also one of the reasons that Rosenbauer chose TTControl’s ECUs for the RT firefighting truck.
TTControl: ISO 26262-certified safety controls and software development expertise for special vehicles
Emanuele Sala, Key Account Manager at TTControl, explains why: “Rosenbauer wanted an ISO 26262-certified ECU for its first hybrid firefighting truck, the RT. TTControl’s TTC 500 family of high-end safety controls fulfilled these requirements and is highly configurable. Rosenbauer chose the TTC 580 from the TTC 500 family for the RT, which acts as the vehicle control unit and safety companion for the torque command. Apart from delivering the ECUs, TTControl also supported Rosenbauer with the certification process for the entire vehicle.”
The TTC 580 was the first controller from TTControl’s ECU range to be certified according to ISO 26262. It is a high-end solution for the off-highway industry, with a powerful TMS570 CPU designed for use in demanding safety-critical automotive and transportation applications. The controller has a compact, automotive-style housing and fulfils safety requirements up to SIL 2 (IEC 61508), PL d (EN ISO 13849), AgPL d (ISO 25119) and ASIL C (ISO 26262).
Firefighting trucks and special vehicles from Rosenbauer also use ECUs from the TTC 2300 family. This offers high processing power, high-speed connectivity, and a large memory for advanced electronic architectures. All variants are safety-certified for a set of functional safety standards. Thanks to its modularity, the TTC 2300 family enables Rosenbauer to use one ECU type across products, which simplifies and accelerates development cycles. The TTC 2300 family is part of the TTC 2000 series of ECUs, which offers a set of compatible ECU families with different processing powers that can be scaled for use in advanced and automated off-highway applications. Machine manufacturers enjoy high flexibility thanks to the same modular hardware and software building blocks being used across the TTC 2000 series. The series complies with all relevant functional safety standards for the off-highway industry as well as cybersecurity regulations.
Support of the development phase for the RT and the overhaul of the electronic architecture of Rosenbauer’s airfield rescue stairs came from TTControl’s Application Development Center. The team of experts leverages more than two decades of experience in hardware and software development that allowed for virtual testing on a digital twin, as mentioned by Markus Schachner, which sped up the process and reduced programming effort.
Emanuele Sala looks forward to further exciting projects, “We are happy to count Rosenbauer among our strategic partners and look forward to continuing the development of solutions that address the requirements of modern firefighting and municipal vehicles.”
You can find the full interview with Markus Schachner on TTTECH’s website as part of the #jointimpact initiative.
Find out more
- TTControl’s solutions for the municipal vehicle market
- Rosenbauer selects TTControl as electronics supplier
- Virtual testing improves software and safety for airfield rescue stairs
- The impact of vehicle architecture on maintenance costs for rescue stairs
- Off-highway electronics – increased safety and cost reduction
- Off-highway industry leaders partner on autonomy
