Embedded software development has become one of the greatest challenges in the automotive domain, due to the rising complexity of vehicle systems. A method to handle the complexity of automotive software is Model Based Design (MBD). As MBD offers great advantages in early simulation and testing, it has become today's mainstream method for automotive software engineering. However, some aspects can be initially tested after the integration of software on real hardware components (usually by the supplier) and when all parts of a system (e.g. bus systems, sensors, actuators) are present. The consequence is that the requirement specification of the according system possibly contains gaps that can lead to software defects. New technologies like the AUTOSAR standard enable additional potentials for the validation of model based developed software. Due to the AUTOSAR software architecture it is possible for an OEM to realize an early ¿virtual¿ software integration with an acceptable effort and perform at next step a front loading of system tests. In this paper we present an approach that improves the quality of the requirement specification artifacts by using test front loading. In detail, we analyze the requirement engineering part of the software development process to identify aspects that can not be tested without having all system components. Afterwards, we classify these aspects and define an abstract test pattern that can be globally used for testing. Additionally, we illustrate our approach in a case study on an interior light system for the next Mercedes-Benz M-Class generation.

Today by-wire systems are well-known and utilised in the area of aircraft construction. In the last few years there has been an endeavour in the automotive industry to realise by-wire applications without mechanical or hydraulic backup systems in vehicles. The required electronic systems must be highly reliable and cost-effective due to the constraints of mass production. A time-triggered architecture is a new approach that satisfies these requirements. The backbone of communication in this architecture is the fault-tolerant Time-Triggered Protocol (TTP), developed by the Vienna University of Technology and the Daimler-Benz Research. The TTP protocol has been designed due to the class C SAE classification for safety critical control applications, like brake-by-wire or steer-by-wire. For time-triggered architectures a new development process is required to handle the complexity of the systems, accelerate the development and increase the reliability. In this paper we present an approach for the development of distributed fault-tolerant systems based on TTP. The present approach is evaluated by a brake-by-wire case study.