Dependable communication synthesis for distributed embedded systems

Embedded control applications such as drive-by-wire in cars require dependable interaction between various sensors, processors, and actuators. This paper addresses the design of low-cost communication networks guaranteeing to meet both the performance and fault-tolerance requirements of such distributed applications. We develop a fault-tolerant allocation and scheduling method, which maps messages onto a low-cost multiple-bus system to ensure predictable inter-processor communication. The proposed method targets time-division multiple access (TDMA) communication protocols, and is applicable to protocols such as FlexRay and TTP which have recently emerged as possible networking standards for embedded systems such as automobile controllers. Finally, we present a case study involving some advanced automotive control applications to show that our approach uses the available network bandwidth efficiently to guarantee message deadlines.