EMBEDDED SOFTWARE PRODUCT LINE Identity Manager for AUTOSAR Solution for Multiple ECUs Overview of Advantages > Efficient handling of ECU variants > Less administration effort > Reduced inventory costs In the automobile, there is an increase in the number of ECUs that can be installed in different variants; they are known as multiple ECUs. Your advantage is the use of a single hardware for the differ- ent application areas. This reduces hardware costs and effort in inventory management. On the other hand, it results in increased effort in software development and the management of software variants for production and service areas. Based on its many years of cooperation with automotive OEMs and suppliers, Vector is familiar with typical applications for ECU vari- ants and can provide practice-oriented solutions for multiple ECUs based on AUTOSAR. Physical Multiple ECU One speaks of Physical Multiple ECUs, when multiple ECUs in a vehicle perform nearly identical functions at different locations. Door ECUs are a typical example of this. The individual ECUs only differ in their Rx and Tx PDUs or in their diagnostics and address in the network. In this case, a single ECU is developed and produced. Identity An ECU is identified by its Identity. The Identity establishes which variant of the ECU should be activated (e.g. which door side). So, an Identity is really the configuration of an ECU that is active at runtime and is based on a description file. The Identity is set when the ECU is initialized. Via the so-called Identity (see box), each ECU knows during start- up which one it is and where it is installed, and therefore also which functions it needs to fulfill. The buffer for the Rx and Tx PDUs can be completly overlaid if their layout is identical. The application accesses signals and data elements independent of its identity. No differentiation is necessary in the code. Multiple Configuration With the multiple configuration, it is possible to use an ECU in different car lines, and therefore in completely different communi- cation networks. A typical application here would be for what are known as carry-over ECUs. These ECUs contain the software for all of the car lines in which they are used. In this case, the ECU Extracts upon which the configuration of the AUTOSAR ECU soft- ware is based may differ very significantly for the different vari- ants, they may exhibit a completely different signal layout or support a different number of buses. Here too, the identity of the ECU is determined when it is started. Physical Multiple ECU and multiple configuration V2.3 2012-02 More Information: www.vector.com/contact