A complete turn-key AUTOSAR solution

The Swedish company Systemite AB, was founded in 2000 and was formed around the idea of SystemWeaver – an integrated systems engineering solution which was originally developed by the founders within the GM sphere. Founded by Claes Anderson, Mikael Strömberg and Jan Söderberg, the company started by implementing the concept in the automotive sector. But since SystemWeaver could be used by other industries as well, it was decided that a new company, Systemite, be formed.

In 2001 the IT consultant Ergodata AB became part owner besides the founding managers. Ergodata contributes with important expertise and resources in the development of the SystemWeaver product. In the autumn of 2000 Systemite launched the first release of SystemWeaver that shortly after was successfully used in a customer implementation.

According to Systemite, the industry’s immense transformation towards software-based systems as an increasing part of the total design lead to very complex systems, with potential implications on both product quality and development efficiency. The development of SystemWeaver meant that instead of focusing on documents for information storage companies could use a database to store a model of the system and use the model elements or “system building blocks” as carriers for relevant system information.

SystemWeaver uses one source of information – a distributed database – from which different views of the systems can be generated. The engineer only needs to enter information once and the information can then be viewed from different aspects. Instead of storing documents that contains information of the different “system building blocks” or components, SystemWeaver connects the information to the components themselves. The SystemWeaver platform is an infrastructure used for maintaining consistency in design information, distribution of consistent design information and integration of design processes .

Systemite’s main customers are in the automotive sector but the company has made inroads has obtained an important position in the automotive industry. Other target industries are telecom and military systems. In 2005, for example, Systemite was appointed as AB Volvo’s supplier of electronics systems development tools. Systemite initially supplied the SystemWeaver information management platform and specialized tools to be used in the development of the common electrical architecture for Volvo Group’s next generation of trucks.

The contract included licenses for the SystemWeaver platform as well as services to analyze and implement specialized solutions to meet the specific needs of the organization. “We see this as an important recognition of our vision and technology, as well as a recognition of Systemite’s capacity as a major industrial partner,” said Claes Anderson, managing director of Systemite AB during the signing of the contract in January 2005.

According to Systemite, some of the benefits of using the SystemWeaver platform includes ensuring good product quality, organizational efficiency, maintainability, configuration management – as the system model allows views from different angles the system can be defined as a result of functional configuration. Other benefits include rationalization – as every component and its associated information is only entered one time in the database. This avoids multiple work which else is created by need for multiple documents and lack of overview.

The platform allows for better project management and/or risk management since SystemWeaver supports an effective project monitoring by which it is possible to check the status on all design processes. It is not only possible to track the status of a component but also to what level requirements are fulfilled. The platform also ensures that the “global component space” in combination with high performance distribution and access improves cooperative work between different geographic and/or organisational locations.

Automotive Industries spoke to Jan Söderberg, chief technical officer at Systemite AB.

AI: What role does Systemite AB play in the AUTOSAR initiative? What do you think is the future of embedded, in-vehicle electronics?

JS: Systemite offers enabling tool solutions that make AUTOSAR an integrated part of the development processes within OEMs and suppliers, offering seamless collaboration. Systemite has worked with component-based architectures since the 90’s and AUTOSAR has validated this paradigm. We see that development of embedded systems will no longer be a detached part of vehicle projects, but an integrated cross-functional aspect of entire projects. The systems will to a large extent be based on the reuse of already tested and proven software and system components, but configured to offer brand qualities.

AI: Please tell us a little bit about Systemite’s automotive capabilities and how you plan to expand the scope of these capabilities in the future?

JS:
Systemite has been active in the automotive industry since it was founded in 2000, its founders and personnel involved in automotive system development since the late 80’s in embedded distributed system concepts like CAN, OSEK, X-By-Wire etc, evolving in the Automotive industry. We have been involved in virtually all aspects of embedded systems, from hardware to software, from systems engineering and analyses to implementation and testing, defining quality procedures and using them etc. We will continue to focus these experiences into the Development platform SystemWeaver and provide our customers with leveled support for all aspects of the development process. SystemWeaver is a platform suitable for customer adaptations and will be so even in the future, but we are continuously investigating the applicability for of-the-shelf solutions. At current date we have a number of turn-key solutions for a variety of disciplines such as ‘Requirement elicitation’, ‘requirement management’, ‘technology roadmapping’, ‘Test management’, and more. Our plan is also to offer a complete turn-key AUTOSAR solution as the standards becomes mature.

AI: Currently, your company has a strong presence in Scandinavia and the EU – will you be expanding into North America and other markets in the future?

JS: The long term plan for Systemite and SystemWeaver in particular, is to expand by partnerships with companies that have a strong local presence and good application knowledge. But we are already working in global projects, since all of our customers are part of global organizations.

AI: What are some of the global companies that have evinced an interest in the SystemWeaver concept and development platform?

JS: In fact, SystemWeaver is in operation at around 20 OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, using our products and licensed solutions.

AI: Will automotive clients continue to provide the bulk of your business? If so, why is SystemWeaver particularly valid for the automotive industry vis a vis other industries?

JS: Our automotive clients need to develop and maintain well tested and highly optimized complex architectures, with product cost and quality at a premium. We all know the cost of recalls… While this need is not unique to the automotive field it has certainly been accentuated lately. When it comes to other industries Systemite will rely not only on organic growth but also build strategic alliances with companies of extensive application and domain knowledge