A Software Integration Approach for Designing and Assessing Dependable Embedded Systems

Embedded systems increasingly entail complex issues of HardWare - SoftWare (HW - SW) co-design. As the number and range of SW functional components typically exceed the finite HW resources, a common approach is that of resource sharing (i.e., the deployment of diverse SW functionalities onto the same HW-resources). Consequently, to result in a meaningful co-design solution, one needs to factor the issues of processing capability, power, communication bandwidth, precedence relations, real-time deadlines, space, and cost. As SW functions of diverse criticality (e.g., brake control and infotainment functions) get integrated, an explicit integration requirement need is to carefully plan resource sharing such that faults in low-criticality functions do not affect higher-criticality functions.