Viewpoint-Based Methodology for Adaption of Automotive E/E-Architectures

Abstract

The functional capability of modern vehicles is facilitated by an interconnection of services, software, electronics, and electrics all together framed by the vehicle architecture. From a terminological perspective, the so-called Electric/Electronic-architecture (E/E-architecture) is dedicated to structure these different artifacts and their mutual dependencies in the form of an architecture description. However, not all stakeholders of an E/E-architecture have to consider all artifacts and dependencies because their concerns may address only certain subsets, e.g. the software architecture. Therefore, the decomposition of an E/E-architecture description into smaller, stakeholder-specific contributions needs to be achieved. The generic approach for this decomposition is given by the ISO 42010. In order to adapt the idea on E/E-architectures, we provide a conceptual model for the description of an E/E-architecture as a first step. In respect of analyzing E/E-architectures under change, a methodology for the application of the conceptual model is then presented with a focus on two aspects: The identification of impacted artifacts from changed requirements and the corresponding identification and coordination of impacted development processes. As a conclusion, we identify the necessity of introducing tools and detailed development process descriptions for demonstrating practical feasibility.