Variability-Aware Process Extension for Updating Cyber Physical Systems Over the Air
Houssem Guissouma, Carl Philipp Hohl, Hannes Stoll, Eric Sax · 2020
Considering the rising amount of software applications in Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) and their shortening life cylces, updates may be required to fix bugs, enhance safety and security or add new features. For this purpose, Over The Air (OTA) communication can be used as an efficient deployment method. However, since CPS are often used to monitor and control safety-critical processes, it is necessary to thoroughly test the updated software before its distribution. This testing process is preceded by elicitation of the variants of devices that are eligible to receive the update and choosing representative configurations for testing. We propose an approach to select representative variants based on feature models and device configuration identifiers. Using this methodology, it is possible to manage OTA updates from the first design stages to the deployment to the maintained systems. A possible application could be a large fleet of intelligent vehicles. In addition, we explain how it is possible to use the introduced variant management to reduce the verification and validation effort for safety-critical software releases. The proposed procedure is instrumental for a novel update process covering the phases of design, deployment and run-time monitoring.