Time-Triggered Architecture (TTA)

Project Description

TTA, short for Time-Triggered Architecture, is funded by the European Union under the Open Microprocessor Systems Initiative (OMI). The project aims at implementing a time-triggered computer architecture for fault-tolerant distributed real-time systems. A key component of this architecture is a communication controller executing the time-triggered protocol (TTP). This VLSI component is be accompanied by a comprehensive systems engineering environment offering user-friendly tools for design, application programming support, and safety analysis. Moreover, three typical applications will be used to evaluate the TTA approach in different industrial areas, i.e. automotive, aerospace, and railway. Research at Ulm focuses on the application of formal methods to TTA. The specification and verification system PVS is used to develop a formal model of the time-triggered protocol TTP/C and to verify its most critical properties, such as clock synchronization and group membership. For more information on TTA see the TTA Homepage at the University of Vienna.

Group Members

• F. W. von Henke
• H. Pfeifer
• D. Schwier

Project Partners

• Daimler-Benz AG, Co-ordinator
• Alcatel Austria AG
• Austria Mikro Systeme International AG
• British Aerospace Airbus Ltd
• GENIAS Software GmbH
• TEMIC GmbH
• Technical University of Vienna
• University of York

Publications

• H. Pfeifer, D. Schwier, F. W. von Henke
  Formal Verification for Time-Triggered Clock Synchronization
  Dependable Computing for Critical Applications (DCCA) 7
  San Jose, CA, 6-8 Jan. 1999.