Adaptive Software

It’s becoming increasingly important for autonomous systems to have the ability to adapt to new environments and react in real-time based on their own current performance. The systems must also be able to adapt at runtime when critical components fail in order to guarantee safe and dependable behavior in each situation. If full functionality is not achieved through adaptation, the system should be designed to gradually adjust the scope and quality of its functionality through graceful degradation in order to yield the highest performance without sacrificing functional safety.

Embedded systems must be expandable

In the future, there must be a possibility to modify or expand systems once they have been sold, so that they can be adapted to newly-identified safety requirements or to allow the implementation of new business models with »function on demand«. Updates and upgrades place high demands on software architectures, especially when safety-critical functions are involved. The possibility to retrofit legacy systems with new functions also allows them to be used in a sustainable and flexible manner.

Adaptive systems are required wherever fault tolerance and expandability plays a role. These systems are used in fields of applications such as agriculture and construction machinery, autonomous driving, Industry 4.0 and medical technology.   

The Fraunhofer IKS develops adaptive software architectures that enable:

• Fast and cost-effective development of your adaptive systems
• Flexible and adaptive architecture building blocks
• Updates and upgrades to safety-critical functions
• Continuous overview of all safety and real-time requirements
• Quick adaptation of software and function statuses and shorter certification intervals
• Continuous deployment of safety functions
  
• Sustainable and flexible usage of existing systems
  
• Connection and incorporation of systems via edge, fog or cloud and expansion with external functions