Improvement of Automotive Sensors by Migrating AUTOSAR End-to-End Communication Protection Library into Hardware

This paper explores new methods to increase the level of safety of data transfer between sensors and electronic control units (ECUs) in automotive communication. A new model of basic sensors to be used in automotive electronics is proposed. This model contains hardware modules that implement the end-to-end communication protection (E2E) mechanism, as defined by the Automotive Open System Architecture (AUTOSAR) standard. By adding this feature inside the sensors, it is possible that, in addition to increasing the safety level, these sensors can be directly connected to the network ECUs via standard communication buses (e.g., Local Interconnect Network (LIN), Controller Area Network (CAN), Flexray, etc.). This paper describes the model, design, and mapping (in a Field Programmable Gate Array device (FPGA)) of the hardware E2E module capable of generating the Cyclic Redundancy Code (CRC) and counter signal for a customized message. This message represents the output of the new sensor E2E module used in a safety communication as requested by the automotive E2E standard. The model is validated also by comparing the data output of the E2E hardware with the data output of the AUTOSAR software E2E library. Finally, future needs and directions are suggested in this area.