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Simulation

Screenshot of the simulation of a multi camera scenario

Screenshot of the simulation of a multi camera scenario

Simulation tools are of vital importance to explore the technical feasibility and facilitate the distributed process of vehicle infra­struc­ture design. CoRE is working on simulation models for the event-based simulation of real-time Ethernet networks. Our simulation models are published as open-source module.

To evaluate the feasibility of an Ethernet-based unified communication infrastructure for future in-vehicle applications, it is important to identify characteristic and comparable network metrics. A future option of technological and economic success can be only made on the ground of these valid performance estimates. Further, a detailed quantitative analysis allows for optimisations, including a critical view on proposed solutions, and can be used to rate improvements of the components and protocols. Event-based simulation is suitable for these analyses and provides the necessary performance estimates. Since automotive applications have very strict requirements – usually the temporal precision must be within a few microseconds – it is necessary to simulate the temporal behaviour with high accuracy.

During the development process of a car, several service providers and suppliers are involved. Different components are designed by various partners. The Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) is responsible for the design and configuration of the in-vehicle communication infrastructure. Temporal attributes and information about the load of an in-vehicle backbone are necessary at an early stage of the development, when the components are not yet available. Further extensions and build-to-order variants must be regarded and result in a large configuration space. Thus, a simulation-based evaluation strategy is indispensable for the design of an in-vehicle backbone. It allows the evaluation of different configuration parameters before construction and in a more comprehensive manner. Requirements for suppliers and service providers are assigned based on the simulation results.

All tools are designed for an efficient workflow. With help of the Abstract Network Description Language (ANDL) a network can be described in a system-level degree of abstraction. Ethernet components, CAN busses, gateways and different ECUs are connected. The stimuli generators and protocols be parameterized according to the degree of abstraction. After the generation process a runnable simulation configuration is available. This configuration uses the CoRE simulation models. The network simulation execution genrates the result files. This results are available in the form of vectors and scalars. The analysis can be performed using tools integrated in OMNeT ++ or other external tools.

CoRE4INET is an extension to the INET framework for the event-based simulation of real-time Ethernet in the OMNEST/OMNeT++ simulation system. It provides real-time Ethernet protocols like AS6802, AVB and TSN. FiCo4OMNeT is an open-source simulation model for the event-based simulation of Fieldbus technologies in the OMNEST/OMNeT++ simulation system. It enables the simulation of CAN and Flexray technologies. SignalsAndGateways using both to enable a heterogeneous network simulation. It includes gateway components to connect Ethernet and Bus communication. SOQoSMW is an extension of the CoRE simulation models for the event-based simulation of service-based communication in real-time Ethernet networks. It provides middleware components and applications for services as well as gateway components, which are compatible with the SignalsAndGateways models. SDN4CoRE (Software-Defined Networking for Communication over Realtime Ethernet) is an open-source extension for the event-based simulation of programmable (software-defined) real-time Ethernet networks in the OMNeT++ simulation system. It uses the OpenFlow framework and provides additional programming mechanisms such as NetConf to allow the programming of real-time Ethernet components via controller applications.

Quick Start

Step 1: Download OMNeT++ 5.5.1

Step 2: Install OMNeT++

Step 3: Get INET framework 3.6.6

Step 4: Install CoRE plugins

Step 5: Get CoRE frameworks

Step 6: Working with the Tools




  1. An Extension of the OMNeT++ INET Framework for Simulating Real-time Ethernet with High Accuracy
    Steinbach, Till and Dieumo Kenfack, Hermand and Korf, Franz and Schmidt, Thomas C. | mar 2011
    Proceedings of the 4th International ICST Conference on Simulation Tools and Techniques

    @inproceedings{sdkks-eifre-11, author = {Steinbach, Till and {Dieumo Kenfack}, Hermand and Korf, Franz and Schmidt, Thomas C.}, title = {{An Extension of the OMNeT++ INET Framework for Simulating Real-time Ethernet with High Accuracy}}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 4th International ICST Conference on Simulation Tools and Techniques}, location = {Barcelona, Spain}, month = mar, year = {2011}, pages = {375--382}, publisher = {ACM-DL}, address = {New York}, isbn = {978-1-936968-00-8}, eprinttype = {acmdl}, eprint = {2151120}, groups = {own, publications, simulation, omnet, ttethernet}, langid = {english} }

    Real-time extensions to standard switched Ethernet widen the realm of computer networking into the time-critical domain. These technologies have started to establish in process automation, while Ethernet-based communication infrastructures in vehicles are novel and challenged by particularly hard real-time constraints. Simulation tools are of vital importance to explore the technical feasibility and facilitate the distributed process of vehicle infrastructure design. This paper introduces an extension of the OMNeT++ INET framework for simulating real-time Ethernet with high temporal accuracy. Our module implements the TTEthernet protocol, a real-time extension to standard Ethernet that is proposed for standardisation. We present the major implementation aspects of the simulation model and apply our tool to an abstract in-vehicle backbone. A careful evaluation that compares our results with calculations obtained from a mathematical framework, as well as with real-world measurements using TTEthernet hardware shows simulation and reality in good agreement.

  1. Simulation und Evaluation von Echtzeit-Ethernet in Fahrzeugnetzen
    Steinbach, Till and Korf, Franz and Schmidt, Thomas C. | may 2012

    @article{sks-seeef-12, author = {Steinbach, Till and Korf, Franz and Schmidt, Thomas C.}, title = {{Simulation und Evaluation von Echtzeit-Ethernet in Fahrzeugnetzen}}, journal = {PIK - Praxis der Informationsverarbeitung und Kommunikation}, month = may, year = {2012}, pages = {67--74}, volume = {35}, number = {2}, publisher = {De Gruyter}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {0930-5157}, groups = {own, publications, simulation}, langid = {ngerman} }

    Die Zunahme von elektronischen Systemen insbesondere im Fahrerassistenz- und Komfortbereich der Fahrzeuge drängt die etablierten Automotive-Kommunikations\-technologien an die Grenze ihrer Leistungsfähigkeit. Ein neuer Ansatz für die Kommunikation zwischen Steuergeräten ist Ethernet im Automobil. Echtzeiterweiterungen haben den Einsatzbereich von Standard-Switched-Ethernet auf zeitkritische Anwendungen ausgedehnt. Diese Arbeit stellt eine simulationsbasierte Evaluationsstrategie für Echtzeit-Ethernet-basierte Vermittlungsinfrastrukturen im Fahrzeug vor. Wir führen eine gründliche Analyse des zugrundeliegenden Simulationsmodells durch, welche die Simulationsergebnisse mit Berechnungen eines mathematischen Modells und Messungen auf echter Hardware vergleicht. Sehr präzise Übereinstimmungen belegen die Gültigkeit der Implementierung und der mit ihr ermittelten Kenngrößen.

  1. Simulation of Mixed Critical In-vehicular Networks
    Meyer, Philipp and Korf, Franz and Steinbach, Till and Schmidt, Thomas C | 2019
    Recent Advances in Network Simulation

    @incollection{mkss-smcin-19, author = {Meyer, Philipp and Korf, Franz and Steinbach, Till and Schmidt, Thomas C}, title = {{Simulation of Mixed Critical In-vehicular Networks}}, booktitle = {Recent Advances in Network Simulation}, year = {2019}, pages = {317--345}, publisher = {Springer}, url = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-12842-5\_10}, eprinttype = {arxiv}, eprint = {1808.03081}, groups = {own, publications, simulation, qos, tsn}, langid = {english} }

    Future automotive applications ranging from advanced driver assistance to autonomous driving will largely increase demands on in-vehicular networks. Data flows of high bandwidth or low latency requirements, but in particular many additional communication relations will introduce a new level of complexity to the in-car communication system. It is expected that future communication backbones which interconnect sensors and actuators with Electronic Control Units (ECUs) in cars will be built on Ethernet technologies. However, signaling from different application domains demands for network services of tailored attributes, including real-time transmission protocols as defined in the Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) Ethernet extensions. These Quality of Service (QoS) constraints will increase network complexity even further. Event-based simulation is a key technology to master the challenges of an in-car network design. This chapter introduces the domain-specific aspects and simulation models for in-vehicular networks and presents an overview of the car-centric network design process. Starting from a domain-specific description language, we cover the corresponding simulation models with their workflows and apply our approach to a related case study for an in-car network of a premium car.


Further publications can be found in the publications section.


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