Hypervisor Virtual Machine Boot Strategy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle systems face long boot times due to the need to reboot the entire system, which can lead to unsafe operations and increased power consumption, especially when applying suspend-to-RAM mode, as it poses a high risk of unsuccessful boots and memory-related issues.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle system is partitioned such that the second operating system is configured to operate in suspend-to-RAM mode while the first operating system is switched off, allowing safety-critical applications to run on a higher safety standard OS and non-critical applications on a lower standard OS, with a hypervisor managing resource allocation between them, ensuring safe and fast startup.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If the entire vehicle system is put into suspend-to-RAM mode to achieve fast startup, then the boot time is reduced, but the system reliability deteriorates due to unsuccessful boots and memory-related issues
Solution Approach 1:
The vehicle system is segmented into multiple virtual machines (first VM with safety-critical OS, second VM with non-critical OS) that can be independently managed. The hypervisor allows selective suspension and resumption of individual VMs, enabling the non-critical second VM to be suspended for fast startup while the critical first VM remains active or is carefully managed, thus reducing overall boot time without compromising system reliability.
2Reliability
If the entire vehicle system is rebooted to ensure safe operation, then the system reliability is improved, but the boot time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides functionality into separate virtual machines with different safety requirements. Safety-critical applications run in the first VM with a dedicated OS, while non-critical applications run in the second VM. This segmentation allows the critical VM to be rebooted independently to ensure safety, while the non-critical VM can remain suspended or resume quickly, thereby maintaining reliability without requiring a full system reboot.
Solution Approach 2:
The hypervisor acts as an intermediary layer between the hardware and the virtual machines, enabling independent control and management of each VM's lifecycle (startup, suspension, resumption, shutdown). This intermediary allows selective rebooting of only the necessary critical VMs while keeping non-critical VMs in a suspended state, reducing overall boot time while maintaining safety through targeted reboots of critical components.
3Reliability
If safety-critical applications run on a higher safety standard operating system, then the system reliability is improved, but the device complexity increases due to multiple operating systems and virtual machine management
Solution Approach 1:
The hypervisor provides universal resource management functionality, handling CPU scheduling, memory allocation, and device I/O for multiple virtual machines with different safety requirements. This multi-functional intermediary layer allows the system to support both high-safety and low-safety applications on the same hardware platform without requiring separate physical systems, thereby improving reliability for critical applications while managing complexity through a unified virtualization framework.
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle system having: a hardware level, a first operating system, and a virtual machine integrated on the hardware level having a second operating system. A hypervisor operates the virtual machine such that the first and the second operating systems) are operated in parallel on the hardware. A first application is executed on the first operating system and a second application is executed on the second operating system. The first application has a higher safety standard than the second application. The second operating system is configured to be operated in suspend-to-RAM mode while the first operating system is switched off.