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July 19, 2004

DECOS, a joint initiative formed to generate a proposal for an integrated project within the EU’s Framework Programme 6, has been accepted by the European Commission. The goal of DECOS is to identify and alleviate the barriers that hinder the development of highly reliable embedded systems. Project kick-off has been on July 12, 2004.

DECOS, which stands for “Dependable Embedded Components and Systems,” was among the most successful project proposals that were submitted to the EC in the field of embedded systems. DECOS’s high standing is a direct function of the great strength, individually and collectively, of its industrial and academic partners. The partners will jointly develop a set of generic hardware and software components within the framework of the Time-Triggered Architecture (TTA).

TTA is the architecture of choice for high-dependability distributed systems in a variety of application domains. It is a major technological achievement in the area of distributed real-time systems. Since TTA is the most dependable approach for high-reliability systems, it has attracted a significant amount of attention in a broad range of industries, including aerospace, automotive, special vehicles, railway, and industrial control. Reliable integration of safety-relevant and non-safety-relevant subsystems is a major concern in these domains.

In the aerospace industry integrated solutions can already be found in the newest generation of airplanes. Nevertheless, the indispensable shift towards methodically interdisciplinary integration has to be enhanced and industrialized. In the automotive area many safety-relevant embedded applications are still implemented as a set of self-contained units with their own processing and input/output systems. The driver assistance subsystem, the infotainment subsystem, and the body electronic subsystem are developed separately. Each subsystem has its own hardware base; this helps to avoid malicious mutual interference. However, system integration then becomes a difficult, error-prone and costly activity that must deal with errors in each of the subsystems.

In an integrated architecture, multiple subsystems are hosted on top of the same platform. This efficient solution decreases the number of separate control units. Furthermore, the number of cables and connectors, which are a major source of system outages, can be reduced significantly. It is expected that the DECOS project will lead to a reduction of hardware costs, as well as a significant increase in the overall dependability of all embedded systems, including those in which safety is a critical issue.

DECOS Project Partners

  • Airbus Deutschland GmbH
  • ARC Seibersdorf Research GmbH
  • Audi Electronics Venture GmbH
  • Budapest University of Technology and Economics
  • Centro Ricerche Fiat
  • EADS Corporate Research Center Germany CRC
  • Esterel Technologies S. A.
  • Hamburg University of Technology
  • Hella KG Hueck & Co.
  • Infineon Technologies AG
  • Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg
  • Profactor Produktionsforschungs GmbH
  • Swedish National Testing and Research Institute
  • Technical University Vienna
  • University of Kassel
  • University of Kiel
  • Technical University Darmstadt
  • THALES Avionics
  • TTTech Computertechnik AG

For additional information please visit the DECOS web page at www.decos.at.

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