The safe use of multi-core technology for mobility

Information technologies provide cars and planes with many useful assistance systems. In the future, the necessary computation capacity will be supplied by multi-core processors that will replace the inflexible single-core systems with their limited capacity. As a result, however, programming paradigms will change and safety and reliability will have to be rethought and reviewed for critical applications in particular. 

The ARAMiS project has produced five demonstrators based on multi-core technology for use in the automotive, avionic and railway sectors. In a 1:1 –scaled model of an aircraft cabin, several servers for communication, illumination and displays are combined in a joint cabin management server and new safety concepts are implemented. In addition, a situation awareness radar system is operated with multi-core processors. In a test vehicle, driver information systems, such as a speedometer, the navigation system or entertainment applications, have been integrated successfully in an electronic multi-core processor device. Multi-core technology is also applied in the area of safety-critical real-time applications, such as chassis and engine control. In the railway technology sector, ARAMiS shows how safety-critical applications can be realised by virtualisation on multi-core processors.

In this way, the safety-critical applications can now profit from the higher computation capacity of multi-core systems. In addition, it is possible to reduce weight and the space and energy needed in cars, planes and trains by replacing many control units by a few high-performance multi-core systems. Apart from safety, efficiency and travel comfort are increased. ARAMiS has produced important technical results for the use of multi-core processors in safety-critical systems. Within the framework of future projects, it is now planned to further develop the methods and concepts for wide application by product developers.

“We have to pave the way for future innovations in automotive, avionics and railway technologies that are so important to Germany, and also in industry 4.0,” commented Professor Jürgen Becker, Project Coordinator, KIT. “ARAMiS successfully demonstrates how today’s and future multi-core technologies can and have to be used.”

Professor Heinrich Dämbkes, Industry Coordinator, Airbus, said: “We want our products to continue to be the best in the future. To reach this objective, it is required to transfer latest IT technologies to safe and reliable products for mobility.”