Effective Cooperation of System Level and ECU Centric Tools within the AUTOSAR Tool Chain

The AUTOSAR methodology does not only specify XML file formats but defines a software development workflow for electronic control units (ECUs). This waterfall-like workflow does not cover the real process between car manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers or even within these companies. Therefore productive AUTOSAR tools have to actively support these processes e. g. by providing an iterative workflow instead of a waterfall-like. One of the major topics within the processes is the coupling of system level design and ECU centric design. This paper evaluates the different use-cases between system level design and ECU centric design and presents the tool requirements which are necessary for productive work. The use cases are grouped into two major categories. First top-down, start with system design so that the system model defines requirements and interfaces of the ECUs’ basic software. Second bottom-up, the design of the ECUs with the I/O and basic services is fixed early, i.e. the basic software drives the design and interfaces of the system model.