Engine temperature variations of even a few degrees can increase exhaust emissions beyond mandated limits. To develop and calibrate engine management systems that meet standards around the world, automotive engineers need to simulate the precise temperature conditions experienced by an engine. With an engine test bed, they can evaluate control strategies in a repeatable environment and access engine performance across a range of ambient temperatures and driving conditions. Building on years of experience in developing test beds for Formula 1 and NASCAR race cars, engineers at AVL List GmbH developed a control system for a dynamic engine conditioning system. The conditioning system is part of a passenger vehicle test bed that emulates the engine’s operating environment. Using MathWorks tools for Model-Based Design, they completed the project in just six weeks. “We had to choose between modifying an existing steady-state implementation written in C code and starting fresh using MathWorks tools,” notes Michael Hofer, solution engineer at AVL. “We chose to completely redevelop the system using Simulink, Stateflow, and Simulink Coder™. This approach was about twice as fast as hand-coding, which enabled us to complete the project on time.”