Delphi Automotive, a leading global automotive supplier, and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) of the University of Luxembourg have signed a four-year agreement to cooperate on a joint research program involving electronic control systems for automotive applications. This is the first cooperation between Delphi and the SnT. The program, entitled ‘Cost-Effective Automated Testing of ECU-Software,’ initially includes two research projects. One is on embedded software testing (model-based testing of Electronic Control Modules software) and the second focuses on embedded software safety (early verification of performance and timing properties of automotive software systems).
“We are pleased to partner with the University of Luxembourg in these research projects that will enable us to improve the reliability of vehicles in the future,” said Steve Kiefer, president, Delphi Powertrain Systems. “The goal of this joint program is to speed up development of more reliable ECU software systems for the automotive industry” he added.
“Electronic Control Units (ECUs) are among the most complex embedded systems being developed. Ensuring the safety and proper performance of ECUs is a major scientific and engineering endeavor. Delphi is a high-tech, global company that develops highly dependable systems and I look forward to many years of collaboration and technical advances,” said Prof. Lionel Briand, program director, SnT.
Project intended to develop effective and efficient automated verification and validation technologies for ECU software systems.
Modern vehicles are increasingly characterized by electronic control systems. The amount and the complexity of software used in the Electronic Control Units (ECUs) of today’s vehicles is rapidly increasing. As an example, today’s premium cars feature not less than 70 ECUs connected by more than five different bus systems. Driving forces of this growth are the new legislations on exhaust gas emission, the demand for reduced fuel consumption and faster time-to-market, and the rising customer expectations regarding comfort, dependability, and variety. To overcome some of these challenges, the automobile and ECU manufacturers have to rely on cost-effective techniques for verification and validation of their software systems. The research program led by Delphi and the SnT is intended to develop an effective and efficient automated verification and validation technologies for ECU software systems.
With the signing of this agreement, Delphi becomes the 15th member to join the SnT Partnership Program. This program enables SnT and its corporate partners to develop research collaborations and new technologies. Research is conducted jointly in partnered projects where SnT and partners contribute know-how and resources to achieve common goals. Partners contribute to SnT at all levels: from a representation on the governing board, to operational support through the industrial advisory board, as well as by contributing resources to projects.
