SmartData for Autonomous Vehicles (a.k.a. SmartData on Wheels)

Data is at the core of the design of modern Safety-Critical Systems. Data is no longer only sensed and processed in the context of the control loops of such systems. It is also secured, stored, and transmitted for the sake of the decision-making processes required for higher levels of autonomy. The task-centered strategies traditionally used to design critical systems consistently support scheduling analysis and verification of tasks execution times as long as periods, deadlines, and execution time estimates are known, but mostly ignore the flow of data across the various components in the system and often assume that data generation time is constant and can be fully encapsulated in the execution time of tasks. These assumptions, however, are not in phase with the design of modern autonomous systems such as smart factories and autonomous vehicles, which are examples of critical systems that are quickly advancing towards autonomy. A Data-driven approach to the design of such systems can more promptly accommodate requirements such as data freshness, redundant data sources, operational safety, and AI-readiness.

Decomposing the problem domain into SmartData considers the modeling of constructs that will abstract the selected entities and their relationships according to the data they produce and consume. The decomposition of the Problem Domain in SmartData follows the principles of Object Orientation. The Problem domain is decomposed into entities representing the data produced and consumed by the system. They are represented as classes that implement the SmartData interface, tagged with either <>, <>, <>, or <> stereotypes, and optionally tagged with <> and <>. The decomposition starts with identifying the actuation that will be envisioned for the system, followed by the SmartData the actuators are interested in, up to the sensors. For instance, in an autonomous vehicle, one may need to actuate, at a given rate, over throttle, brake, and steering. Each actuation is associated with a specific data input, which must be provided with a specific freshness constraint to avoid consuming expired data. This data dependency will generate Interest in other SmartData, resulting from a transformation or a sensing process. This Interest relation will then carry the timing and security requirements associated with the actuation. If more than one actuation is interested in a SmartData, this SmartData must adapt its period to supply all its consumers accordingly.