Automotive Packet Switch Pipeline Diversity for Functional Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current automotive communication systems lack sufficient functional safety mechanisms to meet the increasing demands of next-generation Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving, particularly in packet data switches, which are critical for vehicle network architecture.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a packet data switch with pipeline diversity, utilizing multiple independent packet processing pipelines with diverse memory types and redundant configurations, along with a safety module to select consistent actions and generate error flags for inconsistent determinations, enhancing functional safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple independent packet processing pipelines are implemented, then functional safety and reliability are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The packet data switch is divided into multiple independent packet processing pipelines (first pipeline, second pipeline, third pipeline) that can independently inspect and determine actions for data packets. This segmentation allows parallel processing while maintaining functional safety through independence, directly resolving the contradiction by improving reliability without excessive complexity increase.
Solution Approach 2:
Different pipelines are configured with diverse memory types (e.g., first memory, second memory, third memory) and may use different inspection methods or algorithms. This local quality diversity ensures that a failure or error in one pipeline does not affect others, improving functional safety while keeping each pipeline's complexity manageable.
2Reliability
If diverse memory types are used in packet processing pipelines, then common cause failures are reduced, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs asymmetric memory configuration where different pipelines use different memory types (e.g., volatile memory in one pipeline, non-volatile memory in another). This asymmetry prevents common cause failures that would affect identical memory types uniformly, while the modular pipeline design keeps manufacturing complexity manageable through standardized interface designs.
3Reliability
If a safety module with majority voting is implemented, then action consistency is ensured, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The packet processing pipelines perform preliminary independent inspections and action determinations before the safety module consolidates results. This preliminary action allows the majority voting mechanism to work with pre-prepared data, reducing the time penalty of consistency checking while ensuring reliable action selection.
Data Source
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AI summary
Embodiments of a method and device are disclosed. In an embodiment, an invehicle network interface device includes a data port to send and receive data packets, a plurality of packet processing pipelines coupled to the data port, each to inspect a single data packet to determine an action to perform on the single data packet, and a safety module to receive the determined action from each packet processing pipeline and to select one of the determined actions to perform on the single data packet and to cause a selected one of the packet processing pipelines to perform the selected action.