James Robert Mason

Manufacturing Virtual Sensors at Caterpillar, Inc.

Embedded software allows manufacturers to meet technological demands on their products more efficiently. The complexity of onboard electronic systems has grown to the point where embedded software is being used to replace or back up physical sensors in order to meet the engineering and system reliability requirements of Caterpillar and other manufacturers of large industrial equipment. This paper describes a process that allows Caterpillar to develop virtual sensors in a standard, repeatable manner that improves on conventional processes which are often inconsistent, inefficient, or both.