SEA:ME Project - Integrated Digital Cockpit

• SEA:ME Project - Integrated Digital Cockpit
  • Introduction
  • Background Information
  • Project Goals and Objectives
  • System Architecture
  • Project Timeline
  • Submission
  • References

Introduction

Recent vehicles are making efforts to adopt Zonal Architecture rather than the conventional ECU placement that focused on functionalities. In this context, secure isolation between different system domains is essential for a single controller to meet diverse safety requirements of multiple systems. To achieve this, there have been continuous efforts to introduce hypervisor—commonly used in servers—into vehicles, aiming to accomplish safe data transfer between different domains while minimizing performance degradation. This project aims to integrate the Cluster, Head Unit Qt application and the PDC-System into a Mixed Criticality System (MCS). Both systems, developed in the previous projects, will be separated into different domains on a single RPi using a hypervisor, and will exchange data through inter-domain communication.

Background Information

The meta-virtualization layer provided by the Yocto project supplies virtualization technologies such as Xen, KVM, Libvirt, and others, along with the necessary packages for building virtualized systems. Participants can implement a basic virtualization platform using several recipes from the meta-virtualization layer, and port the systems implemented in the previous projects to MCS.

Project Goals and Objectives

The goals and objectives of the project are as follows:

1. Execute the Cluster, Head Unit application and the PDC-System in separate Linux virtual domains using a hypervisor.
2. Transfer ultrasonic sensor data and control results to the Cluster application using an inter-domain communication protocol.
3. Optimize the system to minimize the overhead and performance degradation caused by hardware virtualization.

System Architecture

The architecture below is an example of a virtualized system architecture that uses the Xen hypervisor. It has three domains: Dom 0, a privileged domain that manages hardware resources and controls virtual machines with the help of Xen, and two Dom U, unprivileged guest virtual machines isolated from Dom 0. In this example architecture, Dom 0 runs the PDC-System and collects data from sensors. Data and control results are transferred to the Cluster and Head Unit applications running on Dom U via an inter-domain communication such as Xen vchan or VsomeIp. The Cluster and Head Unit applications are launched using the VNC plugin provided by Qt, and Dom 0 displays applications on the monitor.

This architecture is provided as an example scenario, and participants are free to configure the system as they see fit.

Project Timeline

The following is a sample project timeline:

1. Week 1: Study virtualization and analyze the technical requirements of the project.
2. Week 2: Build a basic Linux image that runs on a hypervisor, rather than on the hardware itself and configure the system environment settings.
3. Week 3: Integrate your Cluster application into the MCS and run the application using various Qt plugins (vnc, linuxfb, etc.).
4. Week 4: Integrate your Head Unit into the another guest domain and segregate the PDC from the Head Unit to Dom 0.
5. Week 5: Implement an inter-domain communication between Cluster and PDC-System, and output sensor data and control results to the cluster.
6. Week 6-7: Analyze and optimize system performance from various perspectives, including responsiveness, stability, and safety.
7. Week 8: Final preparation and submission. Participants should use this time to finalize their project reports, document their code, and prepare their submissions. The final project submissions are due at the end of week 12.

Submission

Upon completion of the project, participants should submit a GitHub repository that includes the following components:

1. Software Code: Participants should provide the source code for their systems, including the system configurations and applications. The code should be well-documented, with clear explanations of the overall system architecture concept.
2. Performance Results: Participants should provide a comparison of the overall performance measurement results with the previous system. This may include screenshots or videos in action, as well as metrics and statistics that measure the performance.
3. Project Report: Participants should provide a project report that describes their experience with the project, including any challenges faced and how they were overcome. The report should also include a discussion of the system architecture and techniques used, as well as the results and conclusions of the project.

By providing these components, the participants will demonstrate their understanding of the concepts and techniques involved in the project, and will provide evidence of their ability to implement a virtualization system. The GitHub repository will serve as a portfolio of the participants' work, and will provide a record of their achievements and contributions to the field of embedded systems.

References

• Yocto Project. (2021). Yocto Project. https://www.yoctoproject.org/
• Qt Project. (2021). Qt Project. https://www.qt.io/
• Raspberry Pi Foundation. (2021). Raspberry Pi. https://www.raspberrypi.org/
• CAN specification documents: These documents provide detailed information on the CAN (Controller Area Network) protocol and its implementation.
• VsomIp/Autosar documents: These documents provide information on the Inter-Process Communication (IPC) frameworks VsomIp and Autosar and their implementation in the automotive industry.
• meta-virtualization: This layer provides support for virtualization. meta-virtualization