EFFICIENT APPLICATION OF MULTI-CORE PROCESSORS AS SUBSTITUTE OF
THE E-GAS (ETC) MONITORING CONCEPT
1Großmann Manfred*, 1Hirz Mario, 1Fabian Jürgen
1Institute of Automotive Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Austria
KEYWORDS – multi-core microcontroller, functional safety, E-Gas, monitoring-concept, ISO 26262
Research and/or Engineering Questions/Objective
Complexity and electrification of automobiles increases steadily, which requires an enhancement of
safety-requirements of applied E/E-components, controllers and their connection and interaction in
between. As a fundamental safety-relevant standard, the E-Gas monitoring concept has been introduced
in the ‘90s. Recently, a new version of this E-Gas monitoring concept has been published [1], which
includes the application of multi-core processors. In this context, the paper includes an analysis and
evaluation of modern multi-core architectures in automotive applications and discusses requirements,
benefits and potentials for integrated safety mechanisms.
Methodology
Previous versions of the standardized E-Gas monitoring concept were relying on relatively simple singlecore microcontroller architectures without any integrated safety-mechanisms [2]. All monitoring functions
and self-tests had to be implemented in software. The newly published version includes integrated safetymechanisms by use of multi-core processors, but the standard does not provide detailed descriptions of
them. In the present work, the safety-requirements of both versions of the E-Gas monitoring concept are
analyzed and compared to integrated safety-mechanisms of modern safety-certified multi-core
microcontrollers. Furthermore, the requirements are checked against the standard ISO 26262 [3], and an
evaluation of both versions points to the potentials of modern multi-core architectures, not only for E-Gas,
but also for a wide range of applications in automotive industry.
Results
In the paper the requirements of the E-Gas monitoring concept are described and compared against the
standard ISO 26262. Especially, newly introduced integrated safety-mechanisms are analyzed in detail
based on a specific multi-core microcontroller type [4]. As side-effect of the evaluation, additional features
to the previous safety concept version allow derivation of possible future automotive applications, e.g. for
automated driving related functionalities. In this context, a possible new application of multi-core
architectures is introduced, discussed and evaluated.
Limitations of this study
Due to the very short term revision of the E-Gas concept standard in autumn 2015, there are just limited
sources available in literature. In addition, manufacturer of multi-core processors do not share information
about their products because of confidential reasons. In this way, the present study has been carried out
based on one specific processor type, as general representative for multi-core architectures [4]. This
represents a certain limitation in view of possible additional functionalities and features in case of higher
sophisticated products, but the findings of the study provide general statements about the investigated
technology.
What does the paper offer that is new in the field including in comparison to other work by the
authors?
The standard-revision of E-Gas monitoring concepts for multi-core processor architectures has just been
published some weeks ago, so there are no other works available yet. Besides an objective evaluation of
the new concept, the paper includes a focused and detailed description of integrated safety-mechanisms
of multi-core microcontroller and a comparison with the (old) E-Gas monitoring concept.
Conclusions:
Modern safety-certified multi-core microcontrollers come with a package of integrated safety-mechanisms.
The latest E-Gas monitoring concept standard provides an implementation-guideline to broad area of
future achieve functional safety concepts.
Literature
[1] EGAS Workgroup, "Standardized E-Gas Monitoring Concept for Gasoline and Diesel Engine Control
Units," Version 6.0, https://www.iav.com/publikationen/technische-veroeffentlichungen/e-gasmonitoring-concepts, 2015.
[2] EGAS Workgroup, "Standardized E-Gas Monitoring Concept for Gasoline and Diesel Engine Control
Units," Version 5.5, 2013.
[3] ISO/TC 22/SC 32, ISO 26262:2011 Road vehicles -- Functional safety -- Part 1 to 10, 2011.
[4] freescale, "Safety Manual for MPC5744P," Rev 3, http://www.freescale.com/products/powerarchitecture-processors/mpc5xxx-5xxx-32-bit-mcus/mpc57xx-mcus/ultra-reliable-mpc574xp-mcu-forautomotive-industrial-safety-applications:MPC574xP, 2014.