institut f¨ur informatik - PST Thesis Management Interface - LMU

3.1. The AUTOSAR standard
whereas a requiring component can invoke the operations. Equivalently, if a sender-receiver
paradigm is used, a providing port generates the data whereas a receiving port consumes it.
Virtual Functional Bus and Runtime Environment
The Virtual Functional Bus (VFB) is a theoretical concept that represents an abstraction of
the connections between AUTOSAR software components of the entire vehicle and between
AUTOSAR software components and the components of the basic software. The VFB enables
AUTOSAR software components to be integrated before the underlying ECU hardware
is available, thereby speeding up the vehicle development process. The AUTOSAR runtime
environment (RTE) functions as a communication center for both inter-ECU and intra-ECU
information exchange that takes place between AUTOSAR software components [AUT10b].
Since these communication requirements depend on the deployment, the RTE needs to be
customized for each ECU. Therefore, it can be seen as a realization of the VFB on a specific
ECU.
Basic software
The basic software provides services to the AUTOSAR software components and is required
to run the application part of the software, but it does not fulfill any functional tasks itself
[Hei04]. The basic software consists of standardized components - such as an operating
system, a communication framework to the vehicle bus systems (CAN, FlexRay etc.), access
to the ECU’s microcontroller and other hardware such as sensors and actuators that are
specific to each individual ECU.
3.1.2. AUTOSAR methodology
The AUTOSAR methodology describes the common technical approach for steps that are
necessary for AUTOSAR system development [AUT11a]. Figure 3.2 shows a broad view of
the design steps from system configuration to generating an ECU executable. The methodology
is formalized as a workflow that defines dependencies between documents containing
information and activities processing that information.
Figure 3.2.: Overview of the AUTOSAR methodology (image adopted from [AUT11a]).
The formal description of the contained information is supported by the AUTOSAR metamodel
(see section 3.1.3). The activities involve complex processing of a large amount of
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