Automotive electronics

Abstract

This chapter will give a brief introduction to the application area of automotive electronics, which was selected as an application example to evaluate current solutions to the problem of replica non-determinism. Automotive electronics has been chosen because of its demanding requirements for real-time performance and dependability which have to be met in the presence of very limited resources. Furthermore, automotive applications are becoming one of the largest application areas of fault-tolerant real-time systems, with respect to the number of units in service. Functions ranging from anti-lock braking, engine control, active suspension to vehicle dynamics control are handled by these computer systems. Failures of these systems can cause loss of control over a vehicle with severe consequences to property, environment, or even a human life. Besides safety requirements there are also obvious reliability and availability requirements. Development trends indicate that future road vehicles will be equipped with distributed fault-tolerant computer systems, e.g. (xcGL91) and that up to 30% of the total cost will be allocated to electronic systems.