EN 
DE Current status of the open tool platform
Author: Harald Mackamul, Robert Bosch GmbH
Contribution – Embedded Software Engineering Congress 2015
AMALTHEA is an open-source platform for developing embedded multi-core and many-core software systems. The platform enables the creation of a toolchain, for example, for timing simulation and validation, based on a common system description. As an open and free platform already successfully used by Bosch and various partners in the automotive sector, it improves interoperability and facilitates easier data exchange between different organizations. AMALTHEA makes it easier for manufacturers of development tools, suppliers, and service providers to integrate their products into the development process and create specific solutions.
motivation
The ever-increasing number of comfort, driving, and driver assistance systems in modern cars is accompanied by a growing need for computing power in the vehicles. Increasingly complex systems for reducing environmental impact and improving occupant protection also contribute to the further increase in the number of electronic control units (ECUs), sensors, and networking in modern vehicles (see also Figure 1)., PDF).
At the same time, ECUs are expected to become more cost-effective, energy-efficient, and powerful. Since the limits of computing power have been reached in the area of single-core processors, multi-core systems are increasingly being used in control units in the automotive sector. This allows for fewer ECUs in a car, but also requires the adaptation or redevelopment of applications. Appropriate tool support is needed to optimize the utilization of available hardware and ensure compliance with critical requirements.
European funding projects AMALTHEA and AMALTHEA4public
An international research team led by Bosch is currently laying the foundations for the particularly efficient use of modern, high-performance hardware: The project AMALTHEA4public Twenty partners from Germany, Sweden, Spain, and Turkey are collaborating on the project. The German project partners are primarily focusing on the requirements of the automotive industry. AMALTHEA4public was launched in September 2014 and will run until August 2017.
The researchers are building on the previous project. AMALTHEA The consortium, which has already developed and released a software platform for multi-core systems, aims to extend this platform to support many-core systems and allow companies to integrate all their development tools. The researchers are leveraging the results of various publicly funded projects for their work. The platform is based on the open-source development environment Eclipse and is freely available to all users. Furthermore, the consortium plans to establish an Eclipse project and a community that will connect and support developers even after the research project concludes. This will enable the results of AMALTHEA4public to be made accessible to a wider audience and established as a standard for the development of embedded multi-core and many-core systems.
Cooperation between business and science
The German consortium covers almost the entire value chain in the automotive industry. Besides Bosch and Behr-Hella-Thermocontrol (BHTC), the following companies are involved: the tool manufacturers itemis and Timing-Architects, the company TWT, the European subsidiary of the Eclipse Foundation, the OFFIS Institute for Information Technology, the Institute for Automation and Communication (ifak), the Mechatronics Design Engineering project group of the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology (IPT-EM), Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, the Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule (OTH) Regensburg, and the University of Paderborn. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding the work of the German project partners within the Industry 4.0 future project with approximately €3.3 million.
The AMALTHEA system model
To investigate the (temporal) behavior of systems in a multi-/many-core context, a suitably abstracted description of the influencing factors is required. The AMALTHEA system model (see Figure 2, PDFThis combines various sub-models which, taken together, contain all the necessary information for simulating, analyzing, and optimizing the (time-related) behavior of a system. This includes, for example, hardware characteristics, software structure, execution times, and predefined requirements. The description can vary in level of abstraction and detail, depending on the development phase or the objective of the system analysis. Execution times, for instance, can be initially estimated and later replaced by measurements taken in the actual control unit.
The development process for electronic control units (ECUs) utilizes a variety of tools, some offering a specific view of a system, others supporting different development steps. In both cases, information about the system is not only used but also modified and supplemented during development. This modified data then forms the basis for subsequent development steps, creating a chain of tools. Since different tools often use different file formats, a platform is needed that enables a continuous development flow and generates data or models only once. These can then be visualized and edited with the various tools (see Figure 3)., PDF).
The AMALTHEA platform
The project aims to reduce the effort required for data exchange. To this end, the project consortium developed a consistent, open, and extensible platform for embedded multi- and many-core systems. The model-based approach of the AMALTHEA platform not only allows for the modeling of software and hardware but also provides essential tools for visualizing and manipulating these models. The unified data model, which contains all the necessary information for a complete development process, enables centralized data creation and maintenance. This data includes both software and hardware descriptions, enhanced with multi-core-relevant attributes.
A key focus in platform development is on open interfaces to enable the integration of a wide variety of tools – whether open source, commercial, or proprietary. Together with the data model, this creates efficient data exchange, both between cooperating companies and between different tools within a single company. Furthermore, users should be able to assemble their own custom toolchains that meet specific requirements by using appropriate tools. Eclipse was chosen as the basis for the development platform because its plugin mechanism offers a simple way to integrate additional tools (see Figure 4)., PDF).
Open Source
To ensure that AMALTHEA results are freely available, the platform is released under the Eclipse Public License (EPL). This not only makes it freely usable, but also allows access to the source code, enabling software vendors to easily integrate their tools into the AMALTHEA platform.
A first version of the development environment was released as a preview on the Eclipse Automotive Industry Working Group (Eclipse Auto-IWG) homepage in October 2013. The official versions followed and are available on the project's central website.
- Release 1.0.3 in June 2014
- Release 1.1.0 in August 2015
- Release 1.1.1 in October 2015
Complete Eclipse distributions for Windows (32-bit, 64-bit), Linux (64-bit), and Apple OSX (64-bit) are available for download. The only requirement is a Java 8 runtime environment. The platform can be easily evaluated using examples, tutorials, and the descriptions in the integrated Eclipse help.
Professional use is already taking place in the automotive sector. Bosch uses AMALTHEA system descriptions both internally and in exchanges with OEMs. Initial commercial tools already support the AMALTHEA exchange format, with the Timing Architects tool suite currently offering the most comprehensive import and export capabilities (see Figure 5)., PDF).
Current status and next steps
Members of the AMALTHEA4public project proposed an official Eclipse project, "APP4MC" (Application Platform Project for Multi-/Many-Core), which was accepted by the Eclipse Foundation. This project aims to ensure the long-term free availability, further development, and maintenance of the AMALTHEA platform.
The next step is to deploy the platform in the new Eclipse environment. After completion of the technical work and legal reviews, the new release of AMALTHEA will be published as part of the Eclipse project APP4MC.
Background on the Internet
- Website AMALTHEA and AMALTHAE4public
- ITEA2 Project AMALTHEA
- ITEA2 Project AMALTHEA4public
- Eclipse project APP4MC
- Eclipse Automotive Working Group
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