A resource efficient framework to run automotive embedded software on multi-core ECUs

The increasing functionality and complexity of automotive applications requires not only the use of more powerful hardware, e.g., multi-core processors, but also efficient methods and tools to support design decisions. Component-based software engineering proved to be a promising solution for managing software complexity and allowing for reuse. However, there are several challenges inherent in the intersection of resource efficiency and predictability of multi-core processors when it comes to running component-based embedded software. In this paper, we present a software design framework addressing these challenges. The framework includes both mapping of software components onto executable tasks, and the partitioning of the generated task set onto the cores of a multi-core processor. This paper aims at enhancing resource efficiency by optimizing the software design with respect to: 1) the inter-software-components communication cost, 2) the cost of synchronization among dependent transactions of software components, and 3) the interaction of software components with the basic software services. An engine management system, one of the most complex automotive sub-systems, is considered as a use case, and the experimental results show a reduction of up to 11.2% total CPU usage on a quad-core processor, in comparison with the common framework in the literature.