"Vehicle electrics and electronics are becoming increasingly sophisticated: more functions and greater technical complexity on the one hand. On the other hand, a large number of players are involved. The recipe for success is cross-company, standard-compliant and secure cooperation between software developers. We have to break through traditional supply chains and develop software collaboratively in cross-company teams," explains David Schmelter, scientist at Fraunhofer IEM. To enable this cooperation, the Panorama consortium defined open de facto standards, tools and best practices for the exchange of formal system models and made them available as an open source ecosystem. It received a total of 4.3 million euros in funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) from April 2019 to March 2022 as part of the European funding cluster ITEA 3.

Enable secure data exchange

The Eclipse APP4MC development platform enables the cross-company design and management of complex tool chains for vehicle electronics and software with the help of the open exchange format Amalthea. Fraunhofer IEM researched possible organizational challenges and threats to data security and the protection of intellectual property. A particular focus was placed on detailed Amalthea system models. The scientists formulated recommendations for action with which companies can minimize security risks and maintain a trusting exchange of information among each other. For example, developers should only share system models for a specific purpose (e.g. for a specific simulation) and only with the necessary information (data minimization). In future, direct competitors will also be able to exchange and process sensitive information in their software development.

Automatically complete models

The joint tracking of software requirements throughout the development process is an important building block for the functional safety of embedded systems. The time-consuming and previously manual updating of so-called traceability models harbors the risk of inconsistencies in the requirements, which can be time-consuming and costly to rectify. With Memo (Multi-objective Evolution of Models), Fraunhofer IEM is developing a framework for the open traceability management tool Eclipse Capra that automates this important work.

Using search-based software engineering techniques, Memo calculates high-quality alternative solutions for incomplete or contradictory requirements and proposes them to the development team for selection. This significantly increases the quality of the traceability models with less effort. Memo can be easily extended for other modeling languages and can be adapted to individual use cases.

Open source - the basis for collaborative software development

In addition to Memo, Eclipse APP4MC and Eclipse Capra are examples of a number of open source projects that have been developed and enhanced in Panorama.

• Eclipse APP4MC is a platform for the development of vehicle electronics for complex embedded multi- and many-core systems. Companies use the open exchange format Amalthea to design and manage complex tool chains, particularly for system simulation and validation. The Panorama project partners developed cloud-enabled methods and visualizations for the simulation and validation of these architectures. This makes it easier for companies to integrate models from development partners into their own tool chains.
• Eclipse Capra is an open traceability management tool for tracking software requirements throughout the development process. In addition to Amalthea, the Panorama project partners integrated further data exchange formats. With Capra, companies can track their validation results from software design to requirements - and thus work with their development partners on the security of embedded systems.