Fail-Safe Cluster System with QoS Switch Fallback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cluster systems, particularly digital instrument clusters used in vehicles, face issues with crashes due to high-level operating system failures, leading to frozen displays and lack of a reliable fallback mechanism, posing safety hazards and requiring system reboots.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a fail-safe system with a GPU cluster subsystem and a GPU-less fallback cluster subsystem that execute concurrently, using a QoS monitor to switch between them based on availability and load thresholds, ensuring seamless data rendering and minimal latency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a high-level operating system (HLOS) is used to manage the GPU for rendering digital instrument clusters, then the system gain flexibility and reconfigurability, but the system becomes vulnerable to crashes and freezes
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into two independent subsystems: a primary GPU-based subsystem running HLOS for flexible rendering, and a secondary GPU-less subsystem running RTOS for reliable fallback. Each subsystem operates independently with its own operating system and rendering pipeline, allowing the primary system to provide adaptability while the secondary system ensures reliability through isolation.
Solution Approach 2:
The secondary subsystem is pre-configured and runs concurrently in the background, ready to take over immediately if the primary subsystem fails. The RTOS-based fallback system maintains its own parameter data and rendering capabilities in advance, so no reboot or recovery time is needed when switching occurs.
2Illumination intensity
If a GPU-based HLOS system is used for rendering, then visual quality and customization are improved, but system crashes cause display freezing and safety hazards
Solution Approach 1:
A QoS (Quality of Service) switch acts as an intermediary between the primary GPU subsystem and the secondary RTOS subsystem, and between them and the display. The QoS monitor continuously evaluates the health and performance of the primary system, and when degradation is detected, the switch seamlessly redirects the display output to the fallback subsystem without user-perceptible interruption.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a safety buffer by running the secondary RTOS-based rendering subsystem concurrently in the background, prepared in advance to compensate for primary system failures. This cushioning mechanism ensures that if the HLOS/GPU system crashes, the display continues to show parameter data without freezing, maintaining safety and usability.
3Reliability
If a fallback mechanism is implemented to prevent crashes, then system reliability is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges two different architectural approaches (GPU-based HLOS and GPU-less RTOS) into a single unified instrument cluster system. Both subsystems share the same physical display and are coordinated through a QoS switch, combining the visual quality of GPU rendering with the reliability of RTOS operation without requiring separate display hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The secondary RTOS subsystem serves multiple functions: it acts as a fallback when the primary system fails, provides a simplified rendering path when GPU resources are constrained, and maintains system operation during transitions. The QoS switch also performs multiple roles including health monitoring, performance evaluation, and display routing.
Data Source
AI summary
A fail-safe system for a cluster application is disclosed. The system includes a first subsystem comprising a graphic processing unit (GPU) that executes a high-level operating system renders a first set of parameter data, and a second subsystem that executes a real-time operating system and renders a second set of parameter data. The system also includes a controller area network connected to a parameter data source input and to the first subsystem and the second subsystem. The system further includes a quality of service (QoS) switch executing a QoS monitor module that decides to display the first set of parameter data being rendered by the first subsystem or the second set of parameter data being rendered by the second subsystem depending on an availability and load of the first subsystem as determined by a lag and a stability threshold. The system further includes a display connected to the QoS switch.