Senior engineers for the hard parts of vehicle software.
Six practices covering safety, architecture and embedded software. Every engagement is led by an engineer who has done the work before, on programs like yours, with your standards and your toolchain.
Functional safety
ISO 26262 across Parts 2 to 6, with the hand-offs between them kept consistent: the HARA matches the architecture, the technical safety concept respects the silicon's safety manual, and the software requirements trace back to a safety goal.
The functional safety practiceWhat we deliver
- Safety plans and functional safety management
- Item definitions, HARAs and safety goals
- Functional and technical safety concepts
- Hardware-software interface definitions
- Software safety requirements and architecture
Where we go deep
- Processor and microcontroller safety manuals and their assumptions of use
- Freedom from interference on hypervisors and multicore
- ASIL decomposition that shrinks the safety-relevant code
- Safety elements out of context (SEooC)
- Software FMEA, FTA and dependent failure analysis
SDV and E/E architecture
Central compute puts safety-relevant and consumer software on one processor. We design the partitioning, supervision and degradation that make that safe, and the zonal networks around it.
The SDV architecture practiceWhat we deliver
- Platform software architecture and requirements
- Mixed-criticality partitioning on a type-1 hypervisor
- Health supervision between the main processor and a safety microcontroller
- State, power and degraded-mode management
Platforms
- High-performance automotive compute platforms
- ASIL D lockstep safety microcontrollers
- Safety RTOS hosts with Linux and Android guests
- AUTOSAR Adaptive and Classic side by side
AUTOSAR and embedded software
Our engineers built AUTOSAR basic software from the specification before commercial tooling existed, and have architected Classic and Adaptive platforms since. We know where AUTOSAR helps and where it only adds weight.
What we deliver
- Classic and Adaptive software architecture
- BSW, MCAL and OS strategy and supplier selection
- Multicore and memory-partitioned deployment
- Migration from service-driven code to AUTOSAR
- Mode management, program flow monitoring, reset and safe-state design
Embedded depth
- Device drivers and board bring-up
- Embedded Linux, safety RTOS and hypervisor platforms
- CAN, CAN FD, J1939 and automotive Ethernet
- Style guides and rules for model-based code
Cybersecurity and content protection
ISO/SAE 21434 work led by certified engineers, with a specialty most security firms don't have: protecting premium audio and video content inside the vehicle, and getting that design accepted by the OEM.
What we deliver
- Threat analysis and risk assessment (TARA)
- Cybersecurity goals, concepts and requirements
- HSM-based secure boot, key handling and secure communication
- Support through OEM security review and acceptance
Content protection
- Digital rights management in AUTOSAR architectures
- Protected media paths on central compute
Systems engineering and process
Good engineers lose weeks to workflows that fight them. We design the system boundaries, requirement and test baselines and tool automation that let a program move fast and still pass an ASPICE or ISO 26262 assessment.
What we deliver
- Systems engineering and design workflow redesign
- Gold-standard requirement and test artifacts
- Traceability from requirement to test result
- Continuous integration and automated build tooling
Tools and methods
- SysML, DOORS Next and Polarion
- MathWorks toolchain integration
- HIL and MIL test process and test management
- ASPICE-aligned process tailoring
Controls, diagnostics and OBD
Where our engineering started: model-based controls and on-board diagnostics for engines, aftertreatment and electrified drivetrains. Our engineers hold patents in OBD diagnostics and have taken platforms through certification.
What we deliver
- Control system design and tuning in Simulink and TargetLink
- Multivariable and state-space control, Kalman filtering
- Plant models for design, HIL and validation
- Turnkey subsystem development, requirements to verification
OBD and certification
- OBD concept development from system FMEA and regulation
- Heavy-duty OBD, EMD and Euro certification planning
- IUMPR planning and demonstration testing
- Aftertreatment monitors: SCR, DPF, NOx, PM sensing
Scoped the way your program runs
Most of our work is fixed price against defined deliverables. When a program needs people inside the team, we provide them.
Work packages
A defined set of work products, such as a concept-phase safety package or a BSW architecture, at a fixed price with bounded review cycles.
Phase leadership
We lead a program phase, such as concept or A-sample, and stay accountable for the consistency of architecture, requirements and safety across it.
Embedded engineers
Experienced engineers working in your tools and your process, from a few weeks of review to long-running program roles.
Partner network
For larger programs we extend capacity through a vetted network of engineering partners in North America, with Unatech accountable for the result.
Tell us what the program needs.
A review of a safety concept, an architecture for a new platform, or engineers who can start next month. We'll come back with a scope and a price.