Practice experience for RWTH Aachen students
As part of the long-standing cooperation with the Institute of Software Engineering at RWTH Aachen University in February DSA welcomed students to a practice workshop again. The workshop provides the practical part of the lecture "The digital lifecycle of vehicles as part of the Internet of Things (IoT)" and could be held on site at DSA again this year. In two thematic sessions of 1.5 days each, the students had the opportunity to put the knowledge they had gained in the lecture into practice.
In the first part of the workshop, the task was to implement a diagnosis, based on the unified diagnostic service UDS using the Python programming language. For this purpose, a vehicle from the DSA fleet was available, which could be addressed by DSA Vehicle Connectivity Gateways VCG-2. For the initial queries to be performed manually, the students had to work out the required structure of the ODX data exchange. Another task was to query the steering and pedal positions at a cyclic rate and to visualize them in a graphical form. The second thematic unit dealt with service-oriented vehicle diagnostics (SOVD). Here, the task was to implement a SOVD service for the VCG-2 that could request various system variables. At the end of the thematic blocks, each working group presented its results and responded to a discussion.
This year's workshop was another opportunity to provide students with insights into software development for vehicles, in order to complement the teaching with practical knowledge. After the many online events, all participants enjoyed being able to participate in or hold a live event again. The on-site exchange at DSA also helps students to establish initial contacts with a software company in the industry. In the past, such initial contacts have often resulted in work experience appointments or even later career prospects.