TTA:
Time-Triggered Architecture

ESPRIT OMI Project 23396
1 December 1996 - 30 November 1998

Objectives and Results

A generic time-triggered computer architecture (TTA) for fault-tolerant distributed real-time systems will be implemented. The project will demonstrate that the architecture can be effectively deployed in safety-critical transportation systems (automotive, aerospace, railway).

A key component of this architecture is the communication controller utilising a deterministic time-triggered protocol (TTP/C). This VLSI component will be accompanied by a comprehensive systems engineering environment offering user-friendly tools for design, application programming support, and safety analysis. To prove the approach, an evaluation of TTA and its accompanying systems and safety engineering environment in a realistic setting is needed. The project will provide such an evaluation for three typical industrial applications, one from each of the three participating sectors (automotive, aerospace, railway).

Added Value and Target Markets

The application domains of TTA are safety-critical by-wire systems in the automotive, aerospace, and railway industries. The key advantages of the TTA over other architectures are predictability, composability, and transparent implementation of fault-tolerance.

The main market will be the automotive electronics market, in which a paradigm shift from mechanical control to electronic control is very likely in the near future. Once standardised, system modules of the required functionality and dependability will be available for a very competitive price. Many other industrial sectors, e.g., train control, aircraft industry, industrial process control, etc., will then be able to take advantage of these very cost-effective system solutions for the design of safety-critical applications in new application domains. Furthermore, the expected wide use of the TTA technology will itself generate a broad market for engineering tools for time-triggered architectures.

The time-triggered technology is concurrently driven forward by a large segment of European car manufactureres and suppliers in the BRITE-EURAM project X-By-Wire (BE-1329). In the X-By-Wire project, a framework for automotive by-wire applications focusing on technology standards for the automotive industry is elaborated.

TTA Objectives

Participants

Daimler-Benz AG, Co-ordinator	Germany
Alcatel Austria AG	Austria
Austria Mikro Systeme International AG	Austria
British Aerospace Airbus Ltd	UK
GENIAS Software GmbH	Germany
TEMIC GmbH	Germany
Technical University of Vienna	Austria
University of Ulm	Germany
University of York	UK

Contact Point

Günter Heiner
Phone: +49-30 39982-237
FAX: +49-30 39982-107

e-mail:heiner@dbag.bln.daimlerbenz.com

Daimler-Benz AG
Research&Technology
Alt-Moabit 96a
D-10559 Berlin

Public Project Documents

Time-Triggered Architecture (TTA) C. Scheidler, G. Heiner, R. Sasse, E. Fuchs, H. Kopetz and C. Temple presented at EMMSEC'97, Florence, Italy, Nov. 1997, published in ``Advances in Information Technologies: The Business Challenge'', IOS Press, ISBN 90 5199 385 4 (Word 97 document)
A Lightweight Ethernet Protocol to Connect a Time-Triggered Real-Time System to an INTERNET Server M. Kucera, I. Smaili and E. Fuchs, presented at EMMSEC'98, Bordeaux, France, Sept. 1998. (Word 97 document)
SETTA: A Systems Engineering Environment for Time-Triggered Architectures C. Scheidler, E. Fuchs and A. B"acker, presented at EMMSEC'98, Bordeaux, France, Sept. 1998. (Word 97 document)
Application Monitoring in the Time-Triggered Architecture M. Kucera and C. Sikula, presented at the 9th European Workshop on Dependable Computing, Gdansk, Poland, May 1998. (Word 97 document)
Interfacing Time-Triggered Embedded Systems to the INTERNET H. Kopetz, M. Kucera, D. Millinger, C. Ebner and I. Smaili, presented at the International Symposium on Internet Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, April 1998. (Word 97 document)
Time-Triggered Architecture for Safety-Related Distributed Real-Time Systems in Transportation Systems G. Heiner and T. Thurner, presented at the 28th Annual International Symposium on Fault-Tolerant Computing, Munich, Germany, June 1998. (Word 97 document)
Avoiding the Babbling-Idiot Failure in a Time-Triggered Communication System C. Temple, presented at the 28th Annual International Symposium on Fault-Tolerant Computing, Munich, Germany, June 1998.