Proposal for a distributed computer control system in heavy-duty trucks

In designing safety-critical real-time distributed control-systems a great potential lies in combining methods within the areas of dependable computer systems and control theory. In this report a brake system on a heavy-duty truck is used as a case study to discuss the choice of distribution level of the computer system and the control algorithms. The distrubution levels of these system aspects are othogonal in the sense that they may be chosen independently for a certain system configuration. A system configuration is obtained by mapping a specific control algorithm architecture on a computer/communications architecture. To explore different system architectures the combinations of three different distribution levels for the control algorithms and computer/communication systems are investigated with respect to dependability and required information exchange. The result is a proposal on the choice of final distribution level of the brake system.