Using a Domain Model to Precisely Describe function-agnostic Electric/Electronic-Architectures

Abstract:
The existing AUTOSAR Layered Software Architecture already points the way towards future automotive e/e-architectures. Functions are separated from the executing hardware by a non-functional runtime environment and the basic software. This allows easy and flexible updating, expansion, and reuse of software components. The functionality of such architectures is therefore not well-defined at the time of development. Instead of functional properties, cross-functional, non-functional properties such as fail-operational characterize the design of such e/e-architectures. This results in new degrees of freedom in design. In this paper, a model is presented that allows a structured, semi-formal description of the entire e/e-architecture, software, hardware, communication and, in particular, energy supply, without the initial definition of the complete functional scope. The idea of the AUTOSAR layered software architecture, a hierarchical description of elements of a software architecture for controllers, is taken up and converted into a SysML-based domain model for describing the entire automotive e/e-architecture. This allows the definition of elements and their links to each other in order to qualitatively discuss the design space and its degrees of freedom.