Resilient and Secure Activity Control for Flexible Time-Triggered Systems (ReSAC)
ReSAC investigates time-triggered real-time systems, commonly used in automotive, avionics, and space industries, aiming to enhance their flexibility and support future applications.
The project at a glance
About
One of the reasons why avionics, railway, automotive, and space vehicles operate so safely is their reliance on a stringent design approach rooted in absolute predictability. This approach uses precise schedules that dictate exactly when each system component is allowed to act. These so-called time-triggered systems have become central to both research and industrial applications and are among the technologies expected to be used for the Lunar Gateway.
However, the very predictability that makes time-triggered systems so reliable also makes them inflexible, limiting their use in modern, demanding applications like autonomous driving, service robots, or future asteroid mining missions.
In this project, we aim to explore the boundaries of temporal flexibility for time-triggered systems within the scope of modern architectures. Instead of simply adding flexibility by relaxing individual restrictions—potentially compromising system properties—we will systematically examine the relationship between traditional time-triggered mechanisms and more relaxed activation schemes, as well as the extent to which the core properties of time-triggered systems can be preserved.
We will extend the foundation of time-triggered operation beyond fixed time slots designed for pre-defined applications and system configurations. This involves providing quantitative trade-offs regarding properties like reliability. While existing time-triggered architectures offer a single, fixed solution focused on simplicity and efficiency for the most safety-critical systems—where delays in computation or communication can have disastrous consequences—our approach will enable the configuration of diverse solutions. These solutions will cater to varying levels of demand and criticality, offering greater versatility while retaining the strengths of time-triggered principles.
Rather than replacing existing time-triggered solutions, our aim is to broaden the range of available options. This expanded flexibility will allow simultaneous deployment of various configurations tailored to the needs of today’s and future systems, particularly in cyber-physical and safety-critical domains, where reliability is paramount.
Organisation and Partners
Critical and Extreme Security and Dependability Research Group (CritiX)
Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT)
RPTU Kaiserslautern
Project team
Keywords
Real-Time Systems
Reliability
Cyber-Physical Systems
Time-Triggered