Intelligent and connected vehicles are the future direction of the automotive industry. The rapid development of smart cars has changed the value of cars. With the rise of user experience needs, system software has become increasingly important, and the trend of software-defined vehicles has become irreversible.The core idea of Software Defined Vehicles (SDV) is that the future of cars will be determined by software technology centered on artificial intelligence, rather than the size of the car's horsepower, whether it has genuine leather seats, or the quality of its mechanical performance. This will become a common development trend in the automotive industry. The industrial structure of the automotive industry is following the development path of the computer and mobile phone industries, and the standard for measuring the quality of cars will shift from the "hardware" level to the level of intelligence and the quality of software services.

In the process of automotive intelligence development, although the importance and proportion of software continue to increase, the research and development cycle of the whole vehicle is invisibly shortened, so the risk of car recalls caused by software vulnerabilities continues to rise. At present, the total code amount of high-end cars has exceeded 100 million lines. Even if controlled according to the highest software standard of CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) level 5, the code defect rate is still 0.32‰, and the scale of potential problems is not to be underestimated. Recall events require car manufacturers to pay huge direct and indirect costs.

For industries in development, facing the major trend of the development of smart cars, system update functions similar to those of Tesla will inevitably become the premise and foundation for the sustainable development of the industry. FOTA (Firmware Over-The-Air) has thus become one of the best solutions for addressing software vulnerabilities and upgrading smart car components.

FOTA wireless upgrades refer to providing firmware upgrade services for terminal devices with networking capabilities through the cloud. Users use the network to obtain smart terminal system upgrade packages on demand and in an easy-to-expand manner, and upgrade through FOTA to complete system repairs and optimizations. Car manufacturers and suppliers can quickly and conveniently achieve iterations of car ECUs, system versions, etc., through professional FOTA upgrade plans, ensuring system security and rapid upgrades, allowing users to experience new functions without replacing hardware equipment.

At present, FOTA has gradually been recognized and has developed into a new trend of the Internet of Vehicles that affects the decisions of OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) and TSPs (Telematics Service Providers). It is also one of the innovative attempts and trends for car manufacturers to improve user experience.

Product Features

Ø  Uses SPI protocol for data transmission, compliant with the ISO 14229 standard.

Ø  Adaptable to the program update specifications of various car manufacturers

Ø Supports multiple encryption mechanisms to ensure the security and reliability of data

Ø  Offers update capabilities for both applications and data

Ø  Supports SOTA AB partition SWAP functionality to ensure the integrity of data during the upgrade process.

Ø  Features safe and stable upgrade processes with mechanisms such as breakpoint resumption, intelligent restoration, and traceability

Ø Supports differential restoration technology, which can speed up the upgrade process by 90% compared to standard upgrades

Ø  Supports full package upgrades for enhanced security

Ø  Compatible with ZC.Xuanwu program update tools, providing a comprehensive solution for program updates

Deployment Modes

ZC Qinglong SPI OTA requires support for AB SWAP from the node chip. Below is the deployment mode for SPI OTA.

Two regions of equal size are partitioned in the Flash, designated as Area A and Area B, both used to store the APP, but only one area's APP is active at any given time. Initially, the APP is written to Area A. When updating, the new APP is written to Area B, and the active bit for the AB areas' APPs is switched. The Bootloader determines which area's APP is active based on a flag bit, and at startup, it maps the corresponding APP's data to a virtual address through the SOTA function. The Bootloader then jumps and executes the APP program at the virtual address. This method avoids the need to duplicate APP data and ensures the uniformity of software data addresses through address mapping functionality.

Communication Scheme

ZC Qinglong SPI OTA adheres to the standard UDS diagnostic communication specification, controlling the FOTA (Firmware Over-The-Air) functionality of the slave node through UDS messages. The following diagram illustrates the SPI OTA diagnostic interaction logic based on J3 and TC397:

ZC Qinglong SPI OTA completes the update of the slave node's software data and the AB partition switching by sequentially sending instructions to the slave node from the master node, including requests to refresh, erase data, flash data, verify data, and execute a reset.

PROCESS DOCUMENTATION

ZC.QingLong BootLoader is a self-developed program refreshing software (BootLoader) by ZC Technology. Controllers using ZC.QingLong BootLoader can achieve the update function of the application program through communication methods such as CAN, LIN, SPI, and UART. ZC.QingLong BootLoader supports chips from NXP, Infineon, Renesas, ST, and other manufacturers, and also supports the program refreshing standards of many car manufacturers, offering customized development services

ZC.QingLong SPI OTA can be applied to the controller program refreshing function based on the TC397 series chips. The supported controllers include:

Ø  Body Systems Vehicle

      Body controllers, air conditioning controllers, door controllers, gateways, etc

Ø  Power Systems

      Engine controllers, battery management systems, motor controllers, whole vehicle controllers, Auxiliary Control Module，etc

Ø  Chassis Systems

      Electric power steering systems, anti-lock braking systems, electronic stability systems, etc

Ø  ADAS System

      Radar, camera systems, etc

系统架构

The ZC.QingLong FOTA software controls the Flash Drv to perform memory data update operations through the TCP/IP protocol stack and CAN communication UDS diagnostic commands, providing application upgrade capabilities to the upper-layer APP.

The ZC.QingLong FOTA software includes the following functional modules:

Ø  Diagnostic communication processing via SPI, SPI IF, and SPI TP

Diagnostic communication functionality responsible for data transmission.

Ø  Diagnostic communication management DCM

Implementation of the complete UDS protocol, responsible for process control.

Ø  FLASH DRV、MEMIF

Responsible for application installation, application verification, and rollback operations in case of errors.

Ø  Security management algorithm SECM

Implementation of security algorithms, responsible for data security and access control.

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