Improving processor performance for safer and economical cars and planes
Making cars and planes more energy-efficient, economical and safe is the aim of the EU-funded MERASA ('Multi-core execution of hard real-time applications supporting analysability') project. To achieve this, researchers from six countries have set out to develop embedded processors that use multi-core technology. In multi-core technology, several processors are built into one chip. This is necessary in order to produce processors that meet the so-called 'hard real-time constraints', the need to operate reliably within a fixed and very short time interval common to systems in the automotive and aircraft industries. Such processors could then be built into electronic control units in anti-lock braking systems (ABS), for instance, making them even safer by increasing the system's performance. Improved performance of control units could also help to optimise the fuel consumption of engines and thus boost their energy-efficiency. According to the project partners, current technology will not be able to achieve these aims; while PC processors are powerful and fast, they are not suitable for applications in embedded systems and are fairly expensive. Processors that are normally installed in embedded systems, on the other hand, tend to be relatively simple and hence are limited in their performance capability. 'We at the University of Augsburg will develop new real-time-capable processor structures in collaboration with our colleagues at the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre,' says Professor Theo Ungerer of the University of Augsburg, coordinator of the three-year project. 'We will implement them prototypically, and at the same time design the corresponding real-time-capable operating system software. 'Hand in hand with the hardware developers in Augsburg and Barcelona, our colleagues in France and England will develop suitable software solutions for the multi-core processors that we as a group are endeavouring to create,' Professor Ungerer adds. 'We are certain that, at the end of the three-year MERASA project, we will be able to present convincing prototypes of a new multi-core processor, an adequate operating system and software tools that are precisely tailored to the requirements of the programme analysis of hard real-time applications.' The project involves not only partners from academia, but from the industry. Together with the European Space Agency (ESA), they are incorporated into MERASA in the form of an industrial advisory board, which will support software and hardware developments and test them in pilot projects. 'This integration of renowned companies from different European states also clearly demonstrates that one aim of our MERASA project is to make an important contribution to the future competitiveness of Europe in the key segments of the motor, aerospace and machine construction industries,' Professor Ungerer comments. MERASA was launched at the beginning of November 2007. The partners will receive more than €2 million of the total project costs of €3 million from the EU under the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) theme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).