Domain Control Unit Memory Allocation for Autonomous Driving
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Solution Overview
Problem
As the amount of data for autonomous driving control increases, existing systems face challenges in efficiently managing and storing this data across multiple electronic control units (ECUs) within vehicles, leading to issues with memory capacity and availability, which can result in data overflow and loss of important information.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a domain control unit (DCU) that communicates with ECUs and an external device to select and manage the storage of new data based on available memory capacity and importance, allowing data to be dynamically allocated and prioritized across ECUs, ensuring that new data is stored in available memory while deleting less important data if necessary.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If data is stored in a single ECU's memory, then storage simplicity is maintained, but memory capacity is limited and data overflow occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the vehicle's electronic control architecture into multiple ECUs, each with its own memory. The DCU coordinates data storage across these segmented memory units, allowing the system to store large amounts of data by distributing it across multiple ECUs rather than relying on a single large memory unit.
Solution Approach 2:
The DCU acts as an intermediary between the external device and multiple ECUs. It receives data from the external device, determines which ECU's memory should store the data based on availability and importance, and manages the storage process. This intermediary role simplifies the overall management complexity by centralizing decision-making while distributing storage.
2Quantity of substance
If memory is fully utilized for data storage, then storage efficiency is improved, but data loss occurs when memory becomes full
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically changes the parameter of memory availability by monitoring the available level of each ECU's memory. When memory usage reaches certain thresholds, the system identifies alternative ECUs with available capacity, thereby preventing data loss while maintaining high storage efficiency through dynamic parameter adjustment.
3Productivity
If new data is always stored in the first available ECU, then storage speed is improved, but important data may be lost when that ECU's memory is full
Solution Approach 1:
Before storing new data, the DCU performs preliminary actions by checking the available level and remaining capacity of the target ECU's memory. If the first ECU is unavailable, the system proactively searches for alternative ECUs with sufficient capacity, ensuring that data storage can proceed without loss while maintaining speed through pre-validation of storage locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the DCU continuously monitors the storage status of multiple ECUs. Based on this feedback information about memory availability and data importance, the DCU dynamically adjusts the storage location selection, ensuring both speed and reliability by choosing the most appropriate ECU for each data storage operation.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle includes electronic control units (ECUs) to control devices and functions of the vehicle, domain control units (DCUs) to group the ECUs by domain and manage the groups of the ECUs by domain, and a connectivity control unit (CCU) to communicate with the DCUs and an external device. Each of the ECUs includes a memory to store data and software and a processor to generate a control signal to control a device or a function based on the data and software. The DCU determines whether an ECU is available to store new data based on at least one of a remaining capacity and an available level of a memory of the ECU, and when the ECU is unavailable to store the new data, the DCU selects other memory of the ECUs managed by other DCU as an alternative memory, and store the new data in the alternative memory.