Plug and Play Solution for AUTOSAR Software Components - Vector
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1 03/2012 Technical Article Plug and Play Solution for AUTOSAR Software Components The AUTOSAR ECU software is subdivided into three areas: basic software, runtime environment and application (Figure 1). The basic software (BSW) is the basic framework that provides the application with the resources of the microcontroller by means of drivers and abstraction layers. The Runtime Environment (RTE) serves as the interconnecting layer between the application and the basic software. The RTE abstracts the communication between application sections and thereby enables transparent data exchange beyond ECU boundaries as well. For this purpose the RTE provides interfaces to the application and the basic software. In contrast to the BSW, whose static modules can be used unchanged in different ECUs, the RTE is individually generated for each ECU and only supplies the interfaces that are actually needed. The application consists of software components (SWCs), which imple- ment ECU functionality in the form of what are known as Runnables. Distributed software development The modular AUTOSAR architecture makes it easier for software suppliers to specialize in specific applications and components, e.g. basic software, vehicle dynamics, engine management, etc. As a result, it is not unusual for an ECU’s software to consist of mod- ules and components from different suppliers. The individual parts are supplied as either source code or pre-compiled binary files, and they are combined into complete, executable ECU software at the responsible ECU producer during an overall integration. In turn, all SWC suppliers get the resulting software image for their further development steps. However, this method is very time-consuming, and it slows down software development. On the one hand, the ECU producer must perform a tedious overall integration for each new version of an SWC. On the other, the SWC supplier must wait for the The interfaces defined in the AUTOSAR standard enable an easier assembly of the ECU application out of components from different suppliers. However, the process of software development is delayed, because an additional step is required to combine the individual components into the overall software. The use of exchangeable software components reduces the number of these overall integrations, because it is possible to exchange individual software components in flash memory without linking the entire project. This accelerates software development at each of the individual suppliers.
Plug and Play Solution for AUTOSAR Software Components - Vector
