Towards a Platform for Widespread Embedded Intelligence - ERCIM

SPECIAL THEME: Embedded Intelligence
Autonomous Systems - Safety Critical
Embedded Systems and Intelligence
by Erwin Schoitsch and Wilfried Kubinger
Embedded systems are everywhere today and will be even more prevalent in the
future. Most of them perform simple control and support tasks on command in
a pre-programmed manner, but that's not the end of the line. Increasingly, they
are designed to carry out autonomous tasks including 'intelligence' (smart
systems). They are also designed to be able to decide, based on complex inputs
and situation awareness, what to do under circumstances defined by an unreliable
environment. Autonomous vehicles are the next step in this direction.
Basic characteristics of embedded systems
are that distributed, networked
electronic control units (ECUs) are integrated
into their technical or natural
environment, linked to sensors and actuators
with properties like cognition and
situation awareness and controlled by
robust algorithms which implies some
'intelligence' (smart systems).
Applications are to be found in many
domains: safety-critical applications
include aerospace, railways, automotive
applications, machinery and medical
systems, as well as entertainment.
Challenges relate to the dependability
(safety, reliability and security) of hardware,
software and systems design, communication
technologies, sensors, actors,
materials etc. The Integrated Project
DECOS is carrying out research into the
design and development of holistic
dependable systems, providing the fundamental
architecture and services in a
16 ERCIM News No. 67, October 2006
domain and platform independent
manner.
The next step on from a collection of
'intelligent embedded functions' is the
development of autonomous systems.
These are able to perform complex missions
in an autonomous manner, coping
with unexpected incidents and interactions
from the environment. They need
to meet two basic criteria in the range of
their activity, especially in case of interaction
with people:
• a dependable, robust infrastructure as
a basis of the system (as developed, for
example, by DECOS)
• robust and reliable algorithms, sensors
and actuators, situation awareness and
cognition.
The next step would be co-operative systems
consisting of an ad hoc set of
autonomous systems (eg autonomous
platooning of cars on a highway, control-
Figure 1: RASCAL on track at DARPA Grand Challenge '05 (with stereo vision sensor).
ling the traffic-flow by car-to-car communication).
ARC Seibersdorf research is doing
research in the area of autonomous systems,
especially in the area of automotive
and other mobile transportation systems,
providing vision systems (optical
and laser light systems), advanced driver
assistance systems, recognition/identification
of, for example, traffic signs,
demonstrations of platooning systems
(model cars) and with robots (partner in
the recently accepted robots@home proposal,
a STREP of FP6).
DARPA Grand Challenge,
Automotive Applications
A significant milestone in the development
of autonomous vehicles was the
DARPA Grand Challenge (Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency,
USA). The driverless vehicles had to
complete a course over 132 miles
(212 km), through desert land with offroad
type terrain in the Mojave Desert,
without any external support.
Figure 1 shows SciAutonics/Auburn
Engineering's autonomous vehicle,
RASCAL (Robust Autonomous Sensor
Controlled All-Terrain Land Vehicle).
They invited ARC Seibersdorf
research's Smart-Systems team to provide
their embedded stereo vision
module SMART EYE SVS (including
all the algorithms for detection and identification
of obstacles, lanes, tracks,
etc.). The vision system performed
beyond expectations: RASCAL was one
of the fastest vehicles in the qualification
event, where only 23 out of 40 (of more
than 160 that applied) qualified for the
final race. RASCAL came 16th in the
end, because of a failing communication
hub.
The 2007 DARPA Grand Challenge will
take place in an urban environment. This
means that if the mission cannot be fulfilled
because of a closed lane, the
vehicle has to turn and autonomously