Enabling Cloud-to-Vehicle Edge Parity with VIRTIO

OpenSynergy’s VIRTIO-based automotive platform paves the way for cloud-native development

Berlin, January 31, 2023 /PR Newswire/ — OpenSynergy is the company’s automotive virtualization platform, the COQOS Hypervisor SDK, Enable seamless deployment A complex software system containing multiple virtual machines running different operating systems From the cloud to the automotive edge.thanks to the abundance of devices Based on the open standard VIRTIO included in the virtual platform, Software developed in the cloud can run at the edge of the car without modification. It will be on display at the embedded world demonstrator.The fair will be held from March 14-16 Nuremberg (Germany). Details of the exhibition will be announced at a later date.

Traditionally, OEMs and their suppliers developed software on hard-to-procure vehicle-specific computing hardware in the early stages of development, then moved to expensive prototype vehicles as SoP approached. . Making that hardware and vehicles available to globally distributed software teams is nearly impossible. The current chip shortage only exacerbates the problem.

Cloud development is an effective solution for the automotive industry. Especially when supported by his VIRTIO, an open standard. As an active member of his OASIS Open consortium that maintains this standard, OpenSynergy has worked to expand the reach of open standards in the automotive sector. Due to the lack of his automotive-specific VIRTIO devices, OpenSynergy is working within his OASIS consortium to fill the gap.

Through this effort, OpenSynergy will provide an automotive virtual platform containing a large number of devices compliant with the latest version of the VIRTIO specification. OpenSynergy thus opens up the possibility of coherently transferring complex software systems to the cloud, where the entire system can be developed and configured. Even the integration of various software components (that is, both the operating system and the applications that run within it), with widely varying requirements for safety and real-time operation, can be integrated into the cloud without the risk of components interfering. can be updated individually. They may lose each other or their functional safety properties.

For the first time, OEMs and Tier-1s have the freedom to develop on multiple OSes simultaneously, far beyond typical application development services in the cloud. Even operating systems not specifically ported to run virtualized in the cloud.

For example, with OpenSynergy’s solution, a cockpit controller can be fully integrated into the cloud, consisting of an instrument cluster running a Linux operating system in one virtual machine and an infotainment system running in another virtual machine. increase. OpenSynergy’s VIRTIO devices enable integrators to seamlessly migrate entire systems from the cloud to the edge, rather than individual parts specially ported to run in the cloud.

A key factor for developing software in the cloud is the equivalence of the cloud-based development environment and the vehicle environment. Virtualization based on open standards such as VIRTIO makes it easy to port any software system from the cloud to the edge. Here, the operating system uses standardized virtual drivers and is thus independent of the hypervisor and underlying hardware (which may be a cloud server).

Isaac Treffes, product manager for COQOS HV SDK at OpenSynergy, said: We believe that the implementation of trusted industry-leading VIRTIO devices will have efficiencies and cost savings potential that will resonate throughout the automotive industry. ”

The operating system you deploy must support the VIRTIO standard, which is widely used in the enterprise computing domain and supported by many operating systems, including all operating systems that use the Linux kernel. There is no need to have an additional “cloud” port for each operating system used in the system, just for development purposes. The exact same VIRTIO-based operating system that you use at the edge of your car can easily be used in the cloud.

Manufacturers developing automotive software products in the cloud benefit from access to nearly unlimited computing power. This enables large-scale testing and validation with an almost infinite number of “virtual targets”. This is why cloud development powers Software Defined Architecture (SDA). This makes the software and features the starting point for development. First, the developer designs an architecture that includes all the functionality required for the system without considering hardware constraints or portability. Effort. Only after the software design is created does the manufacturer decide which hardware to use. A Software Defined Architecture approach offers freedom of choice for hardware and software components. Cloud development, already used in data centers, will transfer this approach to the automotive industry.

About Open Synergy

OpenSynergy provides embedded software products for next generation vehicles. Its hypervisors and communications products pave the way for an integrated driving experience.

The COQOS Hypervisor SDK for automotive virtualization platform integrates a combination of real-time applications and open source solutions into a powerful domain controller. Supports a large bundle of features for the virtualization standard VIRTIO for maximum flexibility. It can be reused in different system-on-chips with a guest operating system.

The automotive industry-leading Bluetooth® stack Blue SDK is one of OpenSynergy’s communication platforms. This is the reference Bluetooth® implementation for many OEMs around the world.

OpenSynergy also provides free automotive-grade software components tuned for Android.^TMs An open source project (AOSP) to accelerate Android adoption in the automotive sector.

OpenSynergy also offers engineering services to support product customization.

Learn more at www.opensynergy.com

Source OpenSynergy GmbH