A development framework for ultra-dependable automotive systems based on a time-triggered architecture

Today by-wire systems are well-known and utilised in the area of aircraft construction. In the last few years there has been an endeavour in the automotive industry to realise by-wire applications without mechanical or hydraulic backup systems in vehicles. The required electronic systems must be highly reliable and cost-effective due to the constraints of mass production. A time-triggered architecture is a new approach that satisfies these requirements. The backbone of communication in this architecture is the fault-tolerant Time-Triggered Protocol (TTP), developed by the Vienna University of Technology and the Daimler-Benz Research. The TTP protocol has been designed due to the class C SAE classification for safety critical control applications, like brake-by-wire or steer-by-wire. For time-triggered architectures a new development process is required to handle the complexity of the systems, accelerate the development and increase the reliability. In this paper we present an approach for the development of distributed fault-tolerant systems based on TTP. The present approach is evaluated by a brake-by-wire case study.