MPSoC-Based Platform for Fail-Operational Control of an Automated Research Vehicle

Abstract:

In the project UNICARagil， an ECU was developed that is part of the novel UNICARagil brain architecture［1］. The so-called brainstem was dedicated for safety-critical real-time control of a fully automated vehicle via a service-oriented architecture. This paper describes the hardware and basic software architecture of the device and points out some of the safety measures. The focus is on the MPSoC and OS configuration， the update process of the ECU， and the boot process. A system of fallback instances protects the ECU against critical errors in the bootloader， kernel or root file system， as well during the development process as in the field. Finally， this paper points out the functionality of the device in the vehicle context. In numerous publications in science and on social media， it presents the vehicle going over the proving ground with the brainstem as a central component.

Key words:MPSoC;fail-operational;embedded real-time system;automotive;UNICARagil;PetaLinux