Vehicle ECU Classification and Software Architectural Implications

Abstract

Modern vehicle integrates a large amount of electronic devices to improve the driving safety and comfort. This growing number of electronic control units (ECU) with sophisticated software escalates the vehicle system design complexity. In this article, we propose a classification scheme for vehicle ECUs into five categories; namely the emission related control, non-emission related control, telematic, infotainment and off-board ECU. We describe specific attributes for each class and address the software architectural implication under this classification. We present a baseline software architectural model for each ECU category. This classification scheme, with associated software architectural model, will help in identifying the focus of interest for this demanding automotive embedded system application domain. This classification scheme and the baseline software architectural models will also assist in exploring the chance for software reuse in automotive ECU software development domain.