Category Archives: Automotive

ASPICE Compliant Functional Testing of Automotive Warning Light System

About The Customer

Our customer is an automotive Tier-1 supplier of vehicle ECU, lighting, and other automotive parts. We have had a long-standing partnership with the customer for projects involving ISO 26262 compliance, application development and more.

Business Challenge

ASPICE compliant testing of the warning light system was at the core of the business challenge faced by the customer. When it comes to automotive software testing, ASPICE brings in a major change in the approach to testing methodologies and processes.

Our customer wanted to follow the ASPICE process flow while testing the warning light system. ASPICE compliance entails devising a test plan that ensures bi-directional traceability between the test specifications and software requirements. Extensive expertise in tools like IBM Doors, JIRA, and Vector CANoe was also required for which our customer was looking for a suitable technology partner. Since we had a dedicated team of test engineers with expertise in all the required tools and technologies, we got on-board.

Embitel’s Solution

A team comprising automotive test engineers with ASPICE expertise took up the project. The first step was to create a master test plan with complete test strategy compliant to ASPICE standard. It would act as a reference document for all stakeholders involved in the project.

A snapshot of the master test plan (MTP):

• MTP describes the different test levels including software and system tests and static code analysis
• Test strategy for unit, integration, and software qualification tests
• Details of test scope, requirements and methods are explained
• Test outcomes and failure handling approach are clearly explained

According to the master test plan, our test engineers prepared the test cases based on the requirements. 3 conditions for each test case were defined- test steps, expected behavior and test outcome (pass/fail).

Configuration management for the test program was performed using tools like IBM doors and JIRA. Since ASPICE mandates bi-directional traceability between the tests and the requirements, the testing team made use of these tools to ensure this.

With the help of Vector CANoe tool and CAPL scripting, the test cases were executed, and comprehensive test report was generated. The main deliverable for the customer was the review document that contained report for every test case – whether passed or failed.

Embitel’s Impact:

Our customer was able to obtain all work products mandated by ASPICE with respect to the software testing/qualification. Since the testing was performed using specialized tools, the time-to-market as well as the overall cost of the project was optimum.
 

Tools and Technologies:

VT System: VT System is a test system by Vector for automating different types of automotive ECU verification and validation.

Vector CANOe: A software tool for testing ECU software and networks.

IBM Doors: It is a requirement management tool that helps track test modules and manage test definitions.

JIRA: It’s a work management tool that helps manage test requirements to test case management.
 

Functional Safety Delivered: ASIL-D Compliant Electronic Braking System for a Global Automotive Tier-1 Supplier

About the Customer

Our customer is a pioneer in brake system development and manufacturing. Taking a lead in safety critical automotive components development, they are developing an ASIL-D compliant brake system ECU.

Business Challenge

The proposed brake system is ASIL-D compliant and thus entails the most rigorous development and testing measures implemented using ISO 26262 qualified tools.  Our customer required a technology partner that could take care of end-to-end development of an ASIL-D compliant brake ECU including software and hardware development.

The proposed electronic brake ECU would enable the vehicle to replace the manual parking brake lever with a dedicated control unit. There are two variants of this ECU:

Stand Alone: ECU activates the parking brake directly

Integrated: ECU activates the parking brake through commands from Electronic Stability Control system.

An ASIL-D grade solution requires a certain degree of maturity in the understanding and implementation of ISO 26262 standard across the product’s lifecycle. The customer was looking for a technology partner that ticked all these boxes.
 

Embitel Solution

Our Functional Safety team identified the safety activities required for the execution of an ASIL D project. The activities included devising a safety plan, preparing the Development Interface Agreement (DIA) and Data Management Plan (DMP). Since it was an end-to-end project, a cross-functional team comprising hardware and software engineers along with ISO 26262 experts was set up.

Post a few joint workshops with the customer’s team, we were clear with the requirements. Documentation of the system-level requirements were performed while we kick-started the concept and system phase of the safety lifecycle. Here is a snapshot of the steps included:

• Item definition: Based on the information provided by the customer we derived the item definition of the brake system. It paved the way for HARA and helped in development of functional and technical safety requirements.
• Hazard Assessment and Risk Analysis (HARA): We assessed the malfunctions that could possibly lead to E/E system hazards and analyzed the risk associated with them.
• Safety Goals derivation: Safety goals were derived as the output of HARA analysis.
• Development of Functional Safety Requirements (FSR) and Technical Safety Requirements (TSR): We derived the FSR from the safety goals and TSR from functional safety requirements.

Based on the safety goals, TSR and FSR, system architecture were prepared which followed the software and hardware architecture along with BOM creation.
 

Embitel Impact

We provided the customer with complete software and hardware development support as per ASIL D requirements. Being a one-stop destination for both development and ISO 26262 compliance activities, we were able to save a substantial amount of time and cost for the customer. As a result, the time-to-market was expedited by several months.

Tools and Technologies

Codebramer ALM Tool: We used Codebeamer for application lifecycle management

MATLAB from Mathworks: MATLAB was used for software modelling

High-end Telematics Control Unit Development for Commercial Vehicles

About the Customer

Our customer is a trusted Tier-1 supplier of connected vehicle products that are benchmarked against superior quality standards, for commercial vehicles.
 

Business Challenge

The customer desired to develop a high-end telematics control unit that has two devices internally:

• A processor that runs on Linux platform
• A secondary controller that runs on FreeRTOS embedded platform

Embitel’s Unique Value Proposition

Our experience of more than 15 years in connected vehicle product engineering services and illustrious track record compelled the customer to approach us with this challenging project.

We were able to mitigate several striking technology challenges that cropped up during the design/development phase of the project:

1. The processor of the device was based on the latest chipset from NXP, i.e., the i.MX 8M Nano. This project marked the first time we used this specific chipset design and delivered a successful Proof of Concept. This also makes us one of the few product engineering service providers in the market today having experience with this chipset.
2. The project also required the design and development of a SOM board, which is essentially a miniature module within the large circuit. The SOM board also had an irreversible design, i.e., with a child card that serves as an exchangeable component. In addition to the SOM board, the product also included a carrier board. The processor that works on Linux platform is on the SOM board and the microcontroller that runs on FreeRTOS is on the carrier board. These two boards had to communicate with each other through Inter Processor Communication (IPC). This IPC included signal exchange and data exchange. For data exchange it was necessary to have a Hardware Secure Module (HSM) between the processor and the controller.
3. The Hardware Security Module accomplishes Secure Interprocessor Communication, with two configurations for secure boot and secure IPC. The protocols used to communicate with the processor and the controller are also different. Moreover, the encryption-decryption algorithm that was integrated with this module provides it a superior level of IoT security and resilience from hacking.
4. This was also the first project in which we introduced an eSIM.
5. Our design was compatible with the end-to-end IoT architecture that the customer was developing.

Software Features of the Telematics Solution

• The device included a FOTA update module and was connected to the cloud.
• The project also demanded the compliance to AIS 140 standards for commercial vehicles. SOS/emergency button was integrated with the product. On pressing the emergency button, a message will be sent to a preconfigured list of numbers. So, every contact receiving that message will be alerted of the emergency and will also receive the GPS location of the vehicle.
• Communication was established with two other servers through the cloud, as per the business requirement. The communication protocol for one of the servers was MQTT, while HTTP protocol was used to communicate with the second server.

Tools and Technology

• BUSMASTER and PCAN-View to simulate and analyse CAN data.
• Development on Linux OS and FreeRTOS environments

Digital Instrument Cluster and Telematics Gateway Unit Development for Electric Trucks

About the Customer

The customer is a US-based transportation lab developing state-of-the-art electric commercial vehicles. They lay special focus on lowering the operating cost of fleets, while also being environmentally conscious.

Business Challenge

The customer had plans to develop a new line of electric trucks with high-end Digital Instrument Cluster and Telematics Gateway Unit (TGU) for Over the Air (OTA) updates.

Our vast experience and expertise in connected vehicle solution development compelled them to partner with us for this project.

Embitel Solution

We designed and developed a hybrid product, i.e., a combined digital instrument cluster and telematics gateway solution on a single hardware platform.

The level 3 instrument cluster had no analog components and was fitted on the dashboard of the electric truck. The cluster also had high-end graphics on the display unit.

The project scope also included the following components:

1. Common Hardware development for TGU and Digital Instrument Cluster

This includes processor-based hardware design and complete hardware development.

2. Common Firmware development for TGU and Digital Instrument Cluster

This is inclusive of Linux OS porting to the custom hardware, bootloader implementation and development of BSP and device drivers.

3. HMI development for Digital Instrument Cluster

For the digital instrument cluster, two displays were supported – one for the instrument cluster details and the other, a central console that ran applications such as navigation. The second display is designed to support additional features such as multimedia content in the future. Development and integration of HMI components such as soft gauges, maps, tell tales and indicators, AV player, etc. were all part of the project scope.

4. Telematics and OTA application development

We developed the FOTA module, complete with Push Pull mechanism for facilitating ECU updates. We also integrated safety mechanisms within this module.

Hardware Architecture

A powerful 64-bit NXP processor is at the heart of the hardware architecture of the product. The hardware modules can be categorized as:

 
As mentioned above, the same hardware board is used for the TGU as well as the digital instrument cluster. This hardware can be used in the future for integrating multimedia features as well.

The single processor board has 4 cameras attached to it, i.e., 2 cameras on either side. This provides a wide angle view for the driver.

The instrument cluster has a 12.3 inch display and the central console has a 15.6 inch display with touchscreen. These two display units are connected to a single port.

There are some steering wheel controls connected to the main board. The steering wheel controls are used to navigate from one screen to another on the cluster.

Software Architecture

The software architecture consists of the following layers:

 
The application layer consists of the firmware for the telematics and OTA applications. Both these blocks are specific to the telematics gateway unit.

In the Middle layer, there are some components specific to the TGU (FOTA push and pull mechanisms, ECU updates, FOTA safety, OTA download manager, etc.) and some common components (WiFi/LTE services, UDS stack, vehicle communication modules, etc.). This indicates that a single software stack is performing the activities/functionalities of two applications. This combined approach is a highlight of this project.

Kernel and Device drivers are common to the entire product and these include modules such as WiFi, BLE, GPS, etc.

Hypervisor Architecture

The product is currently powered by Linux OS, but in the future, it can co-exist with Android OS. This is accomplished through the use of hypervisor architecture.
 

Embitel Impact

A high-end digital instrument cluster and telematics gateway unit was designed and developed by our team in the most efficient manner. We assisted the customer in integration testing as well.
 

Tools and Technology

• BUSMASTER and PCAN-View to simulate, analyse and evaluate CAN system data.
• D-Bus (Desktop Bus) IPC Interface