Microservice Architectures for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems: A Case-Study

The technological advancements of recent years have steadily increased the complexity of vehicle-internal software systems, and the ongoing development towards autonomous driving will further aggravate this situation. This is leading to a level of complexity that is pushing the limits of existing vehicle software architectures and system designs. By changing the software structure to a service-based architecture, companies in other domains successfully managed the rising complexity and created a more agile and future-oriented development process. This paper presents a case-study investigating the feasibility and possible effects of changing the software architecture for a complex driver assistance function to a microservice architecture. The complete procedure is described, starting with the description of the software-environment and the corresponding requirements, followed by the implementation, and the final testing. In addition, this paper provides a high-level evaluation of the microservice architecture for the automotive use-case. The results show that microservice architectures can reduce complexity and time-consuming process steps and makes the automotive software systems prepared for upcoming challenges as long as the principles of microservice architectures are carefully followed

A framework and methods for on-board network level fault diagnostics in automobiles

A significant number of electronic control units (ECUs) are nowadays networked in automotive vehicles to help achieve advanced vehicle control and eliminate bulky electrical wiring. This, however, inevitably leads to increased complexity in vehicle fault diagnostics. Traditional off-board fault diagnostics and repair at service centres, by using only diagnostic trouble codes logged by conventional onboard diagnostics, can become unwieldy especially when dealing with intermittent faults in complex networked electronic systems. This can result in inaccurate and time consuming diagnostics due to lack of real-time fault information of the interaction among ECUs in the network-wide perspective. This thesis proposes a new framework for on-board knowledge-based diagnostics focusing on network level faults, and presents an implementation of a real-time in-vehicle network diagnostic system, using case-based reasoning. A newly developed fault detection technique and the results from several practical experiments with the diagnostic system using a network simulation tool, a hardware- in-the- loop simulator, a disturbance simulator, simulated ECUs and real ECUs networked on a test rig are also presented. The results show that the new vehicle diagnostics scheme, based on the proposed new framework, can provide more real-time network level diagnostic data, and more detailed and self-explanatory diagnostic outcomes. This new system can provide increased diagnostic capability when compared with conventional diagnostic methods in terms of detecting message communication faults. In particular, the underlying incipient network problems that are ignored by the conventional on-board diagnostics are picked up for thorough fault diagnostics and prognostics which can be carried out by a whole-vehicle fault management system, contributing to the further development of intelligent and fault-tolerant vehicles

Memory Protection in a Real-Time Operating System

During the last years the number of Electrical Control Units (ECU) in vehicles have increased rapidly with the effect of increasing costs. To meet this trend and reduce costs, applications have to be centralized into more powerful ECUs. This gives rise to new problems such as data and temporal integrity. The thesis gives an introduction to these new problems and a solution based on static time-triggered scheduling combined with memory protection. Memory protection mechanisms and hardware are evaluated, resulting in the recommendation of a platform. The thesis also propose modification and extensions to a real-time operating system used today within the Volvo Group. The work has been conducted at Volvo Technology (VTEC) in Gothenburg. VTEC is a combined research and consulting company within the Volvo Grou

Rear ECU driverless car

Formula Student es una competencia mundial en la que los estudiantes fabrican autos de carreras fórmula. El año pasado, el equipo Driverless UPC, formado por estudiantes de ETSEIB y ETSETB, adaptó los sistemas electrónicos de un clásico automóvil fórmula eléctrico, para transformarlo en un automóvil autónomo. Esto resultó una mezcla de la parte autónoma y la vieja electrónica del automóvil causando una fiabilidad electrónica significativamente baja. Por esta razón, el objetivo para este año era unir toda la electrónica en una única y robusta unidad electrónica. Esta tesis se centra en el desarrollo y diseño de la Rear ECU y los reguladores DC-DC implementados en todas las ECUs. Los resultados son una ECU trasera compacta y funcional, y reguladores DC-DC de alta eficiencia y sobrecalentamiento bajo. Esto lleva a la conclusión de que unir varias funcionalidades dentro de una ECU y el diseño de un regulador de voltaje propio es altamente recomendable para una electrónica confiable y eficiente.Formula Student és una competició mundial on els estudiants fabriquen cotxes estil fórmula. L’any passat, l’equip Driverless UPC, format per estudiants ETSEIB i ETSETB, va adaptar tots els sistemes electrònics d’un cotxe de fórmula elèctrica clàssica, per transformar-lo en un cotxe autònom. El resultat va ser una barreja de la part autònoma i l’antiga electrònica del cotxe elèctric provocant que la fiabilitat de l’electrònica fos significativament baixa. Per aquest motiu, l’objectiu d’aquest any era unir tota la electrònica en una única i robusta unitat electrònica. Aquesta tesi està enfocada al desenvolupament i el disseny de la Rear ECU i els reguladors DC-DC implementats a totes les ECU. Els resultats són una Rear ECU compacta i funcional, i uns reguladors de tensió d’alta eficiència i sobreescalfament baix. Això porta a la conclusió que unir diverses funcionalitats dins d’una ECU i dissenyar un regulador de tensió propi és altament recomanable per a una electrònica fiable i eficaç.Formula Student is a worldwide competition where students manufacture formula race cars. Last year, the Driverless UPC team, formed by ETSEIB and ETSETB students, adapted all the electronic systems of a classic electric formula car, to transform it in an autonomous car. The result was a mix of the autonomous part and the old electrical car electronics causing the reliability of the electronics was significantly low. For this reason, the aim for this year was to join all electronics and manufacture a robust single electronic package. This thesis is focused in the development and designing of the Rear ECU and DC-DC regulators implemented in all ECUs. The results are a compact and functional Rear ECU, and high-efficient with low overheating DC-DC regulators. This leap to the conclusion that joins various functionalities inside an ECU and designing your own voltage regulator is highly recommended for a reliable and efficient electronics

A software architecture for electro-mobility services: a milestone for sustainable remote vehicle capabilities

To face the tough competition, changing markets and technologies in automotive industry, automakers have to be highly innovative. In the previous decades, innovations were electronics and IT-driven, which increased exponentially the complexity of vehicle’s internal network. Furthermore, the growing expectations and preferences of customers oblige these manufacturers to adapt their business models and to also propose mobility-based services. One other hand, there is also an increasing pressure from regulators to significantly reduce the environmental footprint in transportation and mobility, down to zero in the foreseeable future. This dissertation investigates an architecture for communication and data exchange within a complex and heterogeneous ecosystem. This communication takes place between various third-party entities on one side, and between these entities and the infrastructure on the other. The proposed solution reduces considerably the complexity of vehicle communication and within the parties involved in the ODX life cycle. In such an heterogeneous environment, a particular attention is paid to the protection of confidential and private data. Confidential data here refers to the OEM’s know-how which is enclosed in vehicle projects. The data delivered by a car during a vehicle communication session might contain private data from customers. Our solution ensures that every entity of this ecosystem has access only to data it has the right to. We designed our solution to be non-technological-coupling so that it can be implemented in any platform to benefit from the best environment suited for each task. We also proposed a data model for vehicle projects, which improves query time during a vehicle diagnostic session. The scalability and the backwards compatibility were also taken into account during the design phase of our solution. We proposed the necessary algorithms and the workflow to perform an efficient vehicle diagnostic with considerably lower latency and substantially better complexity time and space than current solutions. To prove the practicality of our design, we presented a prototypical implementation of our design. Then, we analyzed the results of a series of tests we performed on several vehicle models and projects. We also evaluated the prototype against quality attributes in software engineering

A Systematic Literature Review on Automotive Digital Forensics: Challenges, Technical Solutions and Data Collection

A modern vehicle has a complex internal architecture and is wirelessly connected to the Internet, other vehicles, and the infrastructure. The risk of cyber attacks and other criminal incidents along with recent road accidents caused by autonomous vehicles calls for more research on automotive digital forensics. Failures in automated driving functions can be caused by hardware and software failures and cyber security issues. Thus, it is imperative to be able to determine and investigate the cause of these failures, something which requires trustable data. However, automotive digital forensics is a relatively new field for the automotive where most existing self-monitoring and diagnostic systems in vehicles only monitor safety-related events. To the best of our knowledge, our work is the first systematic literature review on the current research within this field. We identify and assess over 300 papers published between 2006 - 2021 and further map the relevant papers to different categories based on identified focus areas to give a comprehensive overview of the forensics field and the related research activities. Moreover, we identify forensically relevant data from the literature, link the data to categories, and further map them to required security properties and potential stakeholders. Our categorization makes it easy for practitioners and researchers to quickly find relevant work within a particular sub-field of digital forensics. We believe our contributions can guide digital forensic investigations in automotive and similar areas, such as cyber-physical systems and smart cities, facilitate further research, and serve as a guideline for engineers implementing forensics mechanisms

An Overview of CAN-BUS Development, Utilization, and Future Potential in Serial Network Messaging for Off-Road Mobile Equipment

A Controller Area Network (CAN) is a serial network information technology that facilitates the passing of information between Electronic Control Units (ECUs, also known as nodes). Developed by BOSCH in 1986 to circumvent challenges in harness-connected systems and provide improved message handling in automobiles, the CAN interface allows broadcast communication between all connected ECUs within a vehicle’s integrated electronic system through distributed control and decentralized measuring equipment. Since the early uses of CAN in car engine management, improvements in bitrate, bandwidth, and standardization protocols (such as ISO 11898 and SAE J1939) have led to CAN utilization in various industry applications, such as factory automation, aviation, off-highway vehicles, and telematics. Alternative wired and wireless technologies have been used to connect and network with CAN-BUS (such as Ethernet, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, etc.), further expanding the diversity of applications in which the serial network is employed. In this chapter, the past, present, and prospective future developments of CAN technology, with focused attention on applications in the agricultural and off-road sectors are broadly examined. CAN technology fundamentals, standards creation, modern day uses, and potential functionalities and challenges specific to CAN in the wake of precision agriculture and smart farming are discussed in detail

Investigation of Real-Time Operating Systems: OSEK/VDX and Rubus

The aim of this work was to investigate the possibilities and consequences for Haldex Traction of starting to use the OSEK/VDX standard for realtime operating systems. This report contains a summary of the realtime operating system documents produced by OSEK/VDX. OSEK/VDX is a committee that produces standards for realtime operating systems in the European vehicle industry. The report also contains a market evaluation of different OSEK/VDX realtime operating systems. The main differences between OSEK/VDX OS and a realtime operating system named Rubus OS are also discussed. There is a design suggestion of how to change an application that runs under Rubus OS to make it work with an OSEK/VDX OS. Finally a test of changing a small test application's realtime operating system from Rubus OS to the OSEK OS osCAN is presented

Enhancing the Automotive E/E Architecture Utilising Container-Based Electronic Control Units

Over the past 40 years, with the advent of computing technology and embedded systems, such as Electronic Control Units (ECUs), cars have moved from solely mechanical control to predominantly digital control. Whilst improvements have been realised in terms of passenger safety and vehicle efficiency, there are several issues currently facing the automotive industry as a result of the rising number of ECUs. These include greater demands placed on power, increased vehicle weight, complexities of hardware and software, dependency on software, software life expectancy, ad-hoc methods concerning automotive software updates, and rising costs for the vehicle manufacturer and consumer. As the modern-day motor car enters the autonomous age, these issues are predicted to increase because there will be an even greater reliance on computing hardware and software technology to support these new driving functions. To address the issues highlighted above, a number of solutions that aid hardware consolidation and promote software reusability have been proposed. However, these depend on bespoke embedded hardware and there remains a lack of clearly defined mechanisms through which to update ECU software. This research moves away from these current practices and identifies many similarities between the datacentre and the automotive Electronic and Electrical (E/E) architecture, demonstrating that virtualisation technologies, which have provided many benefits to the datacentre, can be replicated within an automotive context. Specifically, the research presents a comprehensive study of the Central Processor Unit (CPU) and memory resources required and consumed to support a container-based ECU automotive function. The research reveals that lightweight container virtualisation offers many advantages. A container-based ECU can promote consolidation and enhance the automotive E/E architecture through power, weight and cost savings, as well as enabling a robust mechanism to facilitate future software updates throughout the lifetime of a vehicle. Furthermore, this research demonstrates there are opportunities to adopt this new research methodology within both the automotive industry and industries that utilise embedded systems, more broadly

Design of in-vehicle networked control system architectures through the use of new design to cost and weight processes : innovation report

Over the last forty years, the use of electronic controls within the automotive industry has grown considerably. In-vehicle network technologies such as the Controller Area Network (CAN) and Local Interconnect Network (LIN) are used to connect Electronic Control Units (ECU) together, mainly to reduce the amount of wiring that would be required if hardwired integration were used. Modern passenger cars contain many networks, which means that for the architecture designer, there is an almost overwhelming number of choices on how to design/partition the system depending on factors such as cost, weight, availability of ECUs, safety, Electro-Magnetic Compatibility (EMC) etc. Despite the increasing role played by in-vehicle networks in automotive electrical architectures, its design could currently be described as a “black art”. Not only is there an almost overwhelming number of choices facing the designer, but there is currently a lack of a quantifiable process to aid decision making and there is a dearth of published literature available. NetGen is a software tool used to design CAN/J1939, LIN and FlexRay networks. For the product to remain competitive, it is desirable to have novel features over the competition. This report describes a body of work, the aim of which was to research in-vehicle network design processes, and to provide an improvement to such processes. The opportunities of customer projects and availability of customer information resulted in the scope of the research focusing on the adoption of LIN technology and whether the adoption of it could reduce the cost and weight of the target architecture. The research can therefore be seen to address two issues: firstly the general problem of network designers needing to design in-vehicle network based architectures balancing the needs of many design targets such as cost, weight etc, and secondly the commercial motivation to find novel features for the design tool, NetGen. The outcome of the research described in this report was the development of design processes that can be used for the selection of low cost and weight automotive electrical architectures using coarse information, such as that which would be easily available at the very beginning of a vehicle design programme. The key benefit of this is that a number of candidate networked architectures can be easily assessed for their ability to reduce cost and weight of the electrical architecture