ASIL B Compliant Base Software (BSW) & Secure Bootloader Development for Automotive Lighting System

About the Customer

Our customer is a leading electronics engineering service provider in the automotive domain. The company caters to several OEMs across the globe.
 

Business Challenge

The customer required expert guidance and support in the development of Base Software (BSW) and Flash Bootloader Modules for a project on Automotive Lighting Systems.

Since our customer’s in-house team was focussed on core hardware design and development activities, the need for an experienced Product Engineering Services partner was felt. As the system was intended to be ASIL B compliant, the customer was looking for a partner proficient in implementation of ISO 26262 compliant practices of software development.

After an end-to-end audit of our embedded software development and ISO 26262 capabilities, the customer found that:

• We have the expertise in development of ISO 26262 compliant low-level device drivers and Base Software for various microcontroller platforms that are deployed in different automotive applications.
• We could deliver a UDS based secure Bootloader which conforms to ASIL B.
• Our production-grade UDS Protocol Stack (ISO 14229 compliant) and proprietary reprogramming tool would expedite their product development process and reduce time-to-market.

This paved the way for our successful and long-term partnership with this customer.
 

Embitel Solution

We developed all the software components required by the LED driver to control the headlamps, as per the customer’s requirement.

The solution included:

• Low-level device drivers, BSW and UDS Protocol Stack (ISO 14229 compliant).
• A UDS based secure flash bootloader equipped with Digital Signature powered with SHA algorithm and AES encryption.
• A PC tool for UDS-based reprogramming . This tool has been developed in-house, as part of our R&D and Innovation strategy.

Our UDS Protocol based reprogramming tool is compatible with various third-party simulation tools such as Vector CAN Analyser, PCAN & others, and helps in debugging, validation and testing of the communication between the software modules and the in-vehicle network (in a simulated environment). The use of this reprogramming tool reduced the project delivery timeline by a significant amount.

 
To ensure our Base Software was working as intended, we also developed a Test Application that proved the BSW.

As the customer had already performed HARA, they provided us with the Technical Safety Requirement (TSR). Our ISO 26262 team worked closely with Base Software Development team to ensure that all guidelines for ASIL B compliance is followed.

Here is a snapshot of the solution development roadmap for this project:

• We developed the software module following the steps highlighted below:
  • Design of the software module
  • Unit testing of the module – This includes boundary testing (positive and negative testing) using TESSY tool
  • Review processes based on CMM Level 3 guidelines
  • Static analysis through MISRA C guidelines
• After the module development was completed, all BSW modules were integrated and tested.
• We delivered all the documentation associated with this product development for a lighting control system to the customer.
• Integration and Functional Testing was performed as per the ISO 26262 guidelines for ASIL B compliance.

Embitel Impact

• We developed a robust solution based on all the requirements provided by the customer.
• It usually takes 6-8 months to develop and implement specific UDS Protocol (ISO 14229 compliant) services. With the help of our production-grade UDS Protocol Stack and reprogramming tool, we were able to reduce the development time by 50%.

Tools and Technologies

• 32 Bit Microcontroller Unit from ATMEL
• ATMEL Studio: It is an IDE and compiler to write the C code
• PolySpace: It was used for MISRA C compliance
• Tessy Tool: We used Tessy Tool for Unit Testing of the software
• ATMEL ICE: It was used to debug the MCU
• Vector CANoe: For Functional Testing of the Project