Integrating Connext DDS with AUTOSAR

In Episode 44 of The Connext Podcast:

• [0:10] What is AUTOSAR, and why is it important? 
• [1:55] How does AUTOSAR Adaptive integrate with Connext DDS?
• [3:14] How are DDS users benefiting from this integration? 
• [4:34] Where can I learn more about AUTOSAR?
• [5:37] RTI at CES 2020

Related Content:

• [Blog] RTI Connext Drive: Turn Here to Connect All Automotive Ecosystems
• [RTI at CES 2020] Meet with us at CES
• [Whitepaper] The Overarching Challenge for Autonomous Vehicles: Designing for a Future of Unknowns
• [Case + Code] Accelerate Autonomous Car Development
• [Datasheet] RTI in Autonomous Driving

Podcast Transcription 

Steven Onzo: Thank you for coming onto the podcast, Emilio.

Emilio Guijarro: Thanks! Glad to be here.

[0:10] What is AUTOSAR, and why is it important?

Steven Onzo: Well, today we continue our discussion on integrating with automotive platforms as we dive into Connext DDS and how it integrates with the well-known automotive platform AUTOSAR. So in order to kick things off, I'd like to just ask you a high-level question for our audience. What is AUTOSAR? How is it used and why is it important?

Emilio Guijarro: So first things first., AUTOSAR stands for Automotive Open Systems Architecture, and it’s basically a consortium of automotive companies structured in tiers and work groups. That would be about 100 companies that can either be core, premium or development partners. So what these groups do is define - through formal specifications - a comprehensive and massive software architecture for automotive platforms. The main aim of this is basically to foster a healthy market of suppliers that offer interoperable components that companies at the top of the food chain can tap into.

So, as an ending note, I believe we should clarify that AUTOSAR actually hosts two different platforms at this point. The first one, and the oldest one, is the AUTOSAR Classic Platform which has been around for quite some time now. And it is intended to be deployed in network software and very resource- constrained microcontrollers which are communicating over relatively low bandwidth channels. And then there is the other side, which is AUTOSAR Adaptive - also known as the Adaptive Platform - and this is a new development, aiming for the increasingly powerful components involved in assisted and autonomous driving. As well as infotainment and things like that.

[1:55] How does AUTOSAR Adaptive integrate with Connext DDS?

Steven Onzo: From the two you just mentioned, AUTOSAR Adaptive can assist autonomous driving and autonomous systems. How does AUTOSAR Adaptive integrate with DDS?

Emilio Guijarro: So, through participation in the intra-vehicle communications group and working group, RTI and other supported companies have to specify what's called a network binding. This will be within the context of the communications management functional cluster. This makes DDS a first-class citizen in the AUTOSAR Adaptive communications management world.

Now, in the Classic Platform, there is no formal specification of DDS integration so far and there may never be one, but we have customers that are really interested in bridging these two things - AUTOSAR Adaptive and AUTOSAR Classic. So we are developing what's called a CDD. A Complex Device Driver that basically will pack our core libraries and offer the standard DDS APIs to Classic applications and to Classic Platform integrators. Please note that these are normally very limited systems in terms of volatile memory, persistent storage and CPU frequency.

[3:14] How are DDS users benefiting from this integration?

Steven Onzo: I want to take a moment and talk about active AUTOSAR users. People who are currently using this in their autonomous systems. Can you talk about how our customers are benefiting from this integration?

Emilio Guijarro: So DDS and Connext in particular have been present for some time now in the automotive world and in many kinds of vehicles and engineering environments. The challenge now is to bridge that experience and our product features into different AUTOSAR use cases. So before we continue, I think I should clarify that AUTOSAR is in general a very tool-assisted development environment. So, that’s systems that are normally modeled in high-level languages, and with a strong visual component that are fed into code generators that produce buildable source code, generally in C or C++. With this in mind, our roadmap has a strong focus on integration with various commercial AUTOSAR tool sets, making sure that automotive OEMs and Tier 1s can add DDS connectivity to their designs without changing how they work and the tools they use. This applies to both AUTOSAR Adaptive and Classic.

[4:34] Where can I learn more about AUTOSAR?

Steven Onzo: I want to steer the conversation a little and talk about some resources for the listeners that are tuning in, who might be interested in diving a little bit deeper into this subject or want to learn more and where they can get those resources at. On our website, or an AUTOSAR website?

Emilio Guijarro: They are in for quite a ride, I will say. First, I think they should get familiar with AUTOSAR in general through the intro tutorial as you already mentioned, at AUTOSAR.org. Once you understand what the Classic and Adaptive platforms are about and have decided which one fits your needs, you then should proceed to reading their platform specifications, or at least the introductory parts associated with each functional cluster. Then you will be ready to begin reading about specific topics such as the communications management functional cluster. And if you are interested in DDS, then of course the DDS network binding.

[5:37] RTI at CES 2020

Steven Onzo: Well Emilio, I want to thank you very much for the explanation and clarification on AUTOSAR and how it integrates with DDS. Before we go though - RTI is going to have a presence at CES (Jan. 7 - 10, 2020 in Las Vegas) for the first time. Can you talk a little bit about RTI's presence there and what that will look like?

Emilio Guijarro: Yeah, RTI will certainly have a presence there at the automotive hall and we plan to host their panels, meeting, and partners from autonomous driving companies using RTI’s products. And last but not least, an interactive demo that will show how DDS can be the communications backbone of modern vehicles - connecting everything from purpose-specific microcontrollers to high-performance AI power-assisted and autonomous driving computers.

Steven Onzo: That's most definitely something that people wouldn't want to miss.

Emilio Guijarro: Yes, stay tuned for that.

Steven Onzo: Thank you for coming onto the podcast and shedding some insight on this topic, and we hope to have you back soon.

Emilio Guijarro: I'm glad to be here and thank you for having me.

Steven Onzo: Thank you, Emilio.