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About Silver
Silver is a Software-in-the-Loop (SiL) solution to create and run virtual ECUs (vECUs). It provides an early, scalable, cost-effective, and deterministic simulation platform for ECU development, functional test, and validation.
Increasing software complexity further delays the availability of ECUs due to larger and time-consuming iteration cycles. Automotive manufacturers need to test their ECUs as early as possible, ideally before HW is available to meet aggressive Time-To-Market schedules and with that, reduce costs. Virtual ECUs are key to fast feedback loops and thus ensure the quality of complex control software.
Silver accelerates software development by enabling suppliers and manufacturers to integrate, test, and debug SW, ahead and independent of HW test rigs. Silver supports application integration, middleware integration, and operating system integration use cases (Level 1 through Level 3 vECU). With that, Silver can isolate software modules, software layers and any combination of software modules in ECU software of any complexity, and enables vertical, horizontal and hybrid integration tests in the early stages of development.
By supporting automotive standards like ASAM, AUTOSAR, FMI, CAN, Ethernet, etc. Silver seamlessly integrates into every ecosystem and test automation framework. To further increase the simulation fidelity with production code drivers, Silver can be coupled with Virtualizer – Synopsys’ solution for partial and full binary SW stack integration.
Key Benefits
Features
Software Development Without Additional Hardware
Control SW Development without additional HW, With Silver, you can build virtual ECUs that closely mimic the behaviour of their real counterparts. Silver is a powerful experimentation environment for validating and testing the interaction of single or networked ECUs of various domains such as powertrain and ADAS/AD for instance. It also allows to include plant models and Restbus capabilities to enable high-fidelity closed-loop simulations.
Saving Time and Costs with Continuous Integration
Do not lose time anymore when upgrading to a new software release on the vehicle. Simple vECUs (L1, L2) setups can be created by inexperienced users in 1 day to 2 weeks. After the initial effort to set-up the automated build process, updating the vECU for a new software release is typically done within a few minutes. This way, software bugs can be detected early by simulation, before moving to the vehicle.
The Software Environment
Silver allows the user to run or co-simulate simulation models of various tools (e.g., MATLAB / Simulink) on your computer. During distributed development, models can be exchanged between developers and suppliers in binary form, without passing the corresponding source code. This helps to protect your know-how. In contrast to hardware test rigs, the deterministic vECU can be debugged instruction by instruction with free of charge or commercial IDEs (e.g., Visual Studio Code) during runtime. Measurement, calibration, and diagnostics work as they do in the real vehicle (e.g., INCA, CANape). A Silver vECU can be connected to, or even executed on, real-time systems. For systematic and automated testing, Silver offers vast connectivity to industry leading tools like Synopsys TPT as well as an extensive XIL-API implementation.
Under the Hood
Depending on the use case and the availability of source code, different parts of the ECU software can be ported to a PC: (A) only the Application Software (ASw) is virtualized, (B) also parts of the Basic Software (BSw).
A Silver configuration can also be duplicated quickly. This allows every developer to use his or her personal development environment without blocking scarce resources such as HiLs, test rigs or test vehicles.
Virtualization
We virtualize your electronic control unit based on Silver, either once as part of a pilot project, or continuously during development for each software release.
We provide consulting on how to use virtual ECUs (vECUs) to optimize your development process (keywords “continuous integration,” “nightly build”) and help you with setting up of such a process, for example, based on Jenkins.
Benefits
- Development and validation tasks move from road and hardware rigs to the workstation. Simulations can be done on an individual PC or in parallel on a network.
- Build a vECU from Simulink models, C-code, x86 objects or binaries
- Run your partial or full-blown production application software and basic software in a virtual prototype
- Compose and exchange vECUs in binary format to support common supply chain workflows and IP protection
- Automated generation of AUTOSAR RTE and OS substitution code for faster virtual prototype bring up.
- Vendor-independent Silver MCAL Plugins for basic software configuration tools (e.g., Elektrobit tresos Studio)
Learn how to accelerate development of Software-Defined Vehicles with Virtual ECUs
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Silver and TestWeaver References
From the development of a DCT transmission control to the crosswind assist function – our software solutions inspire. Automotive OEMs and suppliers worldwide use Silver and TestWeaver as a powerful environment for validating and testing the interaction of networked ECUs with vehicle components and for the efficient development of ECU software.
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