Vehicle Control Availability Graphs for Deadlock-Free Safety Functions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for managing the availability of safety-critical components in vehicle control systems face challenges such as complex structures, high susceptibility to errors, and communication delays, particularly in distributed multi-core and multi-processor environments, which can lead to deadlocks and inefficient error handling.
Innovation Solution
A method that divides the system into interdependent subfunctionalities forming graphs, with a function identifier making logical availability statements, allowing distributed availability calculation and automatic adjustment, and eliminating the need for manual programming through automated configuration and test case generation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the system uses a flat structure of function identifiers to manage events and subfunctionalities, then it can cover all possible events, but it results in implementation difficulties and high susceptibility to errors due to the large number of events and subfunctionalities that must be managed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the system into a hierarchical structure with multiple levels: the top level contains the availability manager and function identifiers, while lower levels contain event groups and individual events. This segmentation allows the system to manage hundreds of events without requiring manual configuration of each individual event-subfunctionality relationship, thereby reducing implementation complexity while maintaining comprehensive event coverage and functional safety
2Reliability
If the system propagates monitoring results to all dependent subfunctionalities, then it ensures complete availability management, but it causes communication delays and potential deadlocks in distributed multi-core and multi-processor environments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-calculates and stores the dependency relationships between events and subfunctionalities in data structures during system initialization. When an event occurs, the availability manager directly queries these pre-computed relationships to determine which subfunctionalities are affected, eliminating the need for real-time propagation through multiple communication hops and preventing deadlocks in distributed environments
3Measurement precision
If the system requires manual configuration and documentation of event-subfunctionality relationships, then it ensures thorough analysis, but it increases development effort and error susceptibility
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements automated tools that extract event-subfunctionality relationships directly from the system code and configuration files. The availability manager automatically generates the necessary data structures and dependency graphs without requiring manual documentation, thereby maintaining precise event analysis while significantly reducing development effort and the potential for human errors in configuration
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method for ensuring and/or maintaining the function of a complex, complete safety-critical system, in particular a vehicle control system, in which, when an event occurs in the complete system, the event is analysed and the sub-functionalities affected by the event are determined, and the complete system is divided into sub-functionalities dependent on one another using the event analysis, the sub-functionalities forming graphs, and a logic statement of availability, in particular "available" or "not available" is made by means of a function identifier (FID) on the basis of the event analysis.