Applying Architectural Hybridization in Networked Embedded Systems

Building distributed embedded systems in wireless and mobile environments is more challenging than if fixed network infrastructures can be used. One of the main issues is the increased uncertainty and lack of reliability caused by interferences and fading in the communication, dynamic topologies, and so on. When predictability is an important requirement, then the uncertainties created by wireless networks become a major concern. The problem may be even more stringent if some safety critical requirements are also involved. In this paper we discuss the use of hybrid models and architectural hybridization as one of the possible alternatives to deal with the intrinsic uncertainties of wireless and mobile environments in the design of distributed embedded systems. In particular, we consider the case of safety-critical applications in the automotive domain, which must always operate correctly in spite of the existing uncertainties. We provide the guidelines and a generic architecture for the development of these applications in the considered hybrid systems. We also refer to interface issues and describe a programming model that is “hybridizationaware”. Finally, we illustrate the ideas and the approach presented in the paper using a practical application example.