Industrial challenges in the composition of embedded systems

Abstract

This paper describes a wide range of challenges faced by system designers in developing embedded and networked embedded systems (today's Cyber Physical Systems - CPS). These challenges derive from the complexity of the environment that the systems will need to operate in, coupled with emerging needs to continually increase system capabilities. Environmental complexities include the operation of systems in System-of-Systems (SoS) environments. System complexities posing challenges in embedded systems composition include the ever-increasing desire for on-board vehicle autonomy, and requirements for multiple safety criticalities co-existing within a software suite embedded in a vehicle. These complexity issues are driving dramatic increases in sizes of embedded real-time vehicle software loads. This brings concomitant increases in software development timelines and difficulty in system composition, verification, validation, and certification. The software engineering challenges are daunting, resulting in software being an ever increasing cost and schedule driver in emerging new system developments. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.