Mixed-Criticality Systems - a Journey "Embedded" in Time and Space

Michael Paulitsch, Airbus/Thales

Mixed-criticality embedded systems are getting more attention due to savings in cost, weight, and power, and fueled by the ever increasing performance of processers. Introduced into practice more than 2 decades ago -- e.g. in aerospace with the concept of time and space-partitioning -- optimization and different underlying hardware architectures like multicore processors continue to challenge system designers. This talk should present you a mix of different aspects of mixed-criticality system architecture and designs and underlying approaches of the past with excursions into real space, aerospace and railway systems. With the advent of multicore system-on-chip and multicore processors many of the original assumptions and solutions are challenged and sometimes invalidated and new problems emerge that require special attention. We will walk through current and future challenges and look at point solutions and discuss possible research needs. The interplay of safety, security, system design, performance optimization, scheduling aspects, and application needs and constraints combined with modern computing architectures like multicore processors provide a fertile ground for research and discussions in this field.

Bio: Michael Paulitsch is Head of Base Systems at Thales Austria GmbH (part of the Thales Ground Transportation Systems) in Vienna, Austria since August 2014. He is also product line responsible for the TAS Platform, a safety-critical computing platform for railway signaling, From 2008 to 2014, he has been Senior-Expert Dependable Computing and Networks as well as Scientific Director at Airbus Group Innovations in the Electronic, Communication and Intelligent Systems Department based in Munich, Germany. There his work focused on dependable embedded and secure embedded computing and networks. Before this, he worked at Honeywell Aerospace in the U.S. on software and electronic platforms in the area of business, regional, air transport, and human space avionics and engine control electronics. Michael Paulitsch published 50+ scientific papers in his area of expertise, participates in international scientific conference committees and holds 25+ patents. He holds a PhD in technical sciences from the Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria with emphasis on dependable embedded systems and a doctoral degree in economics and social science with emphasis on production management aspects.

Keynote slides