What is Hypervisor technology about?
COQOS Hypervisor SDK enables the convergence of several functionalities on a single System-on-Chip (SoC) while providing freedom from interference between systems of different criticality (assigned to different ASIL levels such as QM, A, B,). The core technology of COQOS Hypervisor SDK is the hypervisor. The hypervisor makes it possible to run several guest Operating Systems (including Linux, Android, AUTOSAR or other operating systems) in separated virtual machines. A typical use case is the safe cockpit controller that runs an instrument cluster and an in-vehicle infotainment system simultaneously, on a single processor.
First hypervisor complying to the new version of ISO 26262
OpenSynergy has developed a hypervisor – the COQOS Hypervisor. This typ-1 hypervisor has been designed as a low-complexity embedded hypervisor especially fitting to automotive applications. It allows customers to build highly compartmentalized systems that can be tailored to the specific requirements. It follows the multi-kernel architecture of the ARMv8 architecture and takes advantage of the hardware virtualization of the SOC using this architecture.The safety properties strongly rely on a systems supervisor component. TÜV SÜD has confirmed that the hypervisor complies to ISO 26262:2018 ASIL-B.
The hypervisor runs directly on the SoC application cores (at the highest privilege level) and creates several virtual machines (VMs). Each VM is isolated from the others and this separation (ISO 26262 calls it “freedom from interference”) supports some of the key integration requirements. The hypervisor supports the controlled interaction between the VMs and devices on the SoC and communication between the VMs.
The COQOS Hypervisor targets the specific needs of automotive devices such as a cockpit controller. COQOS Hypervisor is highly configurable so that customers can for example
It is minimalistic in its design and therefore is small, fast and certifiable. |  |
VIRTIO devices
The latest version of COQOS Hypervisor SDK supports a large bundle of VIRTIO features. VIRTIO was originally developed for enterprise virtualization workloads and cloud computing that make high demands on data processing performance. With the increasing amount of data driven workloads in vehicles, OpenSynergy sees a perfect fit in VIRTIO for the automotive industry. VIRTIO devices enable OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers to create maximum flexibility: guest operating systems can be used and re-used on different SoCs, including SoCs produced by different vendors. Also, software systems can be moved across different hypervisors without further modification. An example is the cockpit controller, in which the virtual platform enables several software systems to share the GPU power and the various displays available on different ECUs in the car. OpenSynergy drives the acceptance of VIRTIO as a standard to be used in the automotive industry.
Shared Display feature
OpenSynergy’s Shared Display Feature gives full flexibility and control how information is rendered on multiple displays in the vehicle.To satisfy the Cockpit Controller requirements, the reference architecture introduces two key technologies:
Shared GPU: It enables several VMs to use the GPU of the SoC concurrently. This sharing mechanism must support the required quality-of-service.
Shared display: It decouples virtual from physical displays. Applications in VMs can be rendered in virtual displays. A central compositor controls how these virtual displays are rendered on the physical displays available to the cockpit controller.
As information flows within one SoC (and not over networks), efficient communication mechanisms, such as “zero-copy” shared memory, can be used.
Developed as an SEooC and ISO 26262 compliant
To address the safety requirements, OpenSynergy has developed the COQOS Hypervisor as a Safety Element out of Context (SEooC) according to ISO 26262. The SEooC approach means that we have assumed certain safety requirements that our product fulfills. These safety requirements have been derived from our reference architecture for the cockpit controller. Based on these assumed safety requirements, we have designed, implemented and tested the COQOS Hypervisor following the practices required by ISO 26262 up to the level ASIL-B.