Automotive OTA technology advanced with differential system

IoT software provider for safety-critical domains, Wind River, has announced enhancements to Wind River Edge Sync, including differential system technology that enables the smallest differential update when conducting over-the-air (OTA) updates. The ability to keep updates minimal reduces distribution time and cost, update transmission time, and memory required on automotive electronic control units (ECUs).

Wind River’s latest Edge Sync technology has been supplied to major automakers, most recently for Ford.

Efficient differential updates are an important functionality necessary for a successful, production-grade automotive OTA solution. The management of software over the course of a vehicle’s lifetime has become increasingly important to both maintaining system value and as a means of addressing security, and OTA update technology is a key element of this.

“Carmakers are faced with a rapidly evolving and growing impact that software is having to the value of an automobile,” said Marques McCammon, Vice President of Automotive at Wind River. “Not only is software driving innovation inside new cars but it is what will help carmakers continue to create new pathways to safe and secure mobility. By supporting carmakers in the management of software over a vehicle’s lifecycle, Wind River is helping them evolve their business to meet changing customer needs more effectively.”

Edge Sync differential system technology includes the following capabilities:

• Patch streaming: Stream smaller chunks of updates when memory on the target ECU is insufficient to store the full differential update.
• Patching in place: Optimize for low memory/performance ECUs, enabling the application of the update within a single active memory partition.
• A/B updates: Write to a secondary, inactive memory partition to apply the patch.
• Pause and resume: Allow installation to be paused and resumed from exactly where it left off, eliminating the need to restart from scratch.
• Reduced memory footprint of software client: Configurable software client that enables optimization for resource-constrained environments, including adding/removing functionality as needed to support only the relevant use cases for a given ECU.

Edge Sync is Wind River’s highly modular, end-to-end OTA update and software lifecycle management solution that allows for rapid, safe, and secure updates to software and firmware. Edge Sync meshes seamlessly with automakers’ proprietary systems or with third party data solutions enabling car companies to efficiently manage and maintain automotive software for the entire life of the car and to continuously improve the value of the car and experiences with customers on a long term basis.

Beyond OTA and software lifecycle management, Wind River’s diverse automotive portfolio also includes the high-performance, market-leading VxWorks RTOS, tuned for both determinism and responsiveness, with a proven track record in safety- and security-certified environments. Building on VxWorks technology, Wind River Drive provides Adaptive AUTOSAR-oriented software to support customers in developing ISO 26262 ASIL D–certifiable automotive safety-critical applications.

Wind River also delivers Wind River Linux and other commercial-grade open source technologies technical support, and maintenance to help customers stay up-to-date on the latest innovations.