Glossary

A type of electronic control unit that determines the amount of fuel, ignition timing and other parameters an internal combustion engine needs to keep running. It does this by reading values from multidimensional performance maps (so called LUTs), using input values (e.g. engine speed) calculated from signals coming from sensor devices monitoring the engine. Before ECU's, air/fuel mixture, ignition timing, and idle speed were directly controlled by mechanical and pneumatic sensors and actuators. One of the very first attempts to use such a unitized and automated "ECU" device to manage multiple engine control functions simultaneously was created by BMW in 1939, for their BMW 801 14-cylinder aviation engine, and known as the Kommandogerät, operated only by a single throttle lever.