Embitel’s OTA Firmware Update Accelerator
Seamless Updates, Endless Performance
As an automotive OEM, you are constantly seeking solutions to differentiate and compete in the software-centered world of connected vehicles. If any automotive OEM has thrived in the midst of this competition, then no doubt, they would have adopted powerful technologies that differentiate their products from competing brands.
Today, automotive upgrades are increasingly being driven by innovative OTA firmware update solutions. Everything from infotainment OS security patches to ECU updates are orchestrated and executed through such solutions.
In line with this, we have developed an OTA firmware update accelerator which can be a boon to automotive businesses. Let’s learn more about this solution.
The Power of OTA Firmware Update
OTA firmware update has given connected vehicles the super-power of being able to continuously upgrade and increase in value!
However, when we talk about the update of critical vehicle functions, over the air, the need for supreme security and reliability is inevitable.
Embitel’s OTA firmware update accelerator is a customisable stack that fast-forwards the development time of a secure and scalable FOTA solution.
With this software stack, you can cut down the development time of your FOTA solution by 50%.
Our OTA firmware update accelerator is an end-to-end IoT solution. Let’s take a look at the cloud and device side components of our OTA Firmware Update Accelerator that makes it an unbeatable solution – one that can be customized for various client use cases and industries!
Embitel’s OTA Firmware Update Accelerator
Our OTA update solution is conceptualized and implemented by our team of cloud, hardware and device side engineers. The main objective of our OTA update accelerator solution is the implementation of Cloud based firmware updates to devices/vehicles.
The OTA firmware update stack has a Multi-Tenant Architecture, designed for scale and deployed in AWS Cloud. Modules of the FOTA stack based on Multi-Tenant Architecture are:
- User Management
- Device Management for FOTA
- Campaign Management for FOTA
- Telematics Data management
Since our solution has a modular architecture, any of these individual stacks can be purchased by the customer based on their specific requirements. Although this solution was developed for automotive OTA and telematics, this can be tailored for non-automotive use cases as well.
System Overview - Multi-tenant Architecture
What Makes Our Solution Stand Out from the Rest?
- Quick time-to-market – Our accelerator is a readily available stack that reduces the development time of an OTA update solution by 50%.
- Easily portable to other platforms – We can port the device-side micro-stack to other platform(s) and hardware with quick turn-around time.
- Scalable solution – Yes, we are talking about millions of vehicles being updated and tracked seamlessly from a single platform!
- Multitenant, multi branding solution deployed in AWS Cloud – If needed, multiple brands of an automotive OEM can use this solution independently, without exchange of data.
- Uptane-ready design – This guarantees supreme security of transmitted data and addresses various threat models, along with AWS standard data security.
Key Features of Our OTA Update Solution
- Campaign workflow for updating the firmware in vehicles
- Cloud deployment with Terraform scripts
- Display of Vehicle data (telematics) in Grafana dashboard
- Designed for scale using microservices architecture (Kubernetes), Kafka, Lambda functions, etc.
- User Management at scale – based on AWS Cognito (Role based access control)
- Over the air update is customizable based on customer needs
- Device side Firmware download solution – using integrated AWS SDK
- Data isolation with RLS mechanism
- Web application/portal based on ReactJS
- Realtime device provisioning
Here are some possible extensions of this solution:
- High volume Vehicle telematics at scale
- AI, ML based feature extension
- Extending Telematics based use cases – Geofencing, vehicle tracking, vehicle health prediction, diagnostics, etc.
- Data analytics – OEMs can utilize collected data and provide various types of subscription-based services to customers
OTA Firmware Update Accelerator – Cloud Platform
Apart from FOTA update and telematics capabilities, our cloud team is proficient in DevOps architecture and deployment, cloud migration, implementation of IoT cloud services, multi-industry cloud application development, and more.
The layered architecture of this solution in the cloud is shown below:
OTA Firmware Update Accelerator – Device Side Application
The basic purpose of our OTA update solution is to provide a platform that helps customers scale up their OTA or telematics functionality to millions of devices/vehicles.
So, to test that functionality on the cloud, we have also developed a device-side solution. We crafted a device embedded with the AWS application which can communicate with the cloud and get OTA updates installed.
AWS provides the device side SDK and the FOTA application on the device side, i.e., a Telematics Gateway Unit (TGU), is developed on this SDK.
The solution updates the software of an ECU present in a remote target system using OEM Server via wireless technology.
- Device software solution is built using Yocto-Linux Project with AWS IOT Device SDK platform integrated.
- Device-side solution is implemented on Raspberry Pi 4B Model hardware device.
- Device Provisioning is carried out using Fleet-Provisioning concept; this helps in scaling.
How It Works
OEM-Server
The Image Repository hosts the new Firmware bundle that needs to be upgraded in the vehicle. The campaign should be created in the server for all target devices to trigger over-the-air update from the Cloud.
Telematics Gateway Unit
The target device will query and fetch the latest firmware updates (if available) from the backend cloud and verify it. On successful verification, it will proceed with the installation of the latest firmware and then reboot the target device to activate the installed firmware.
Error Handling Features of OTA Micro Stack:
- Error handling on connectivity loss with OTA Server
- Error handling for firmware version (expected greater version than existing version of firmware)
- Error handling for download failure
- Error handling for installation failure (Recovery)
Components of the Telematics Gateway Unit
Various components of the telematics gateway unit are shown in the image above.
1) DownloadAgent:
Metadata-Handler
On Device boot-up, it prepares Version-Manifest data and sends it to the Image Repository. Later, it downloads Target Metadata to help in bundle verification process in the next step.
Bundle-Handler
It downloads Firmware Bundle Image and verifies it using the target metadata content received.
Status-Updater
It sends OTA progress status information to the Image-Repository for every status change scenario.
Trigger-Updates
On successful verification, it triggers UpdateAgent process to start firmware installation by broadcasting the metadata on the specific topic.
2) UpdateAgent:
Verify-Metadata
It receives broadcasted Target Metadata from DownloadAgent and verifies it.
Bundle-Installer
It verifies the latest bundle details and installs the bundle in the active Partition (Eg. B partition).
Boot-Settings
On successful install, it updates the Partition-Switch boot setting to switch partition in next boot.
Reboot-Device
It initiates target device (TGU) reboot activity.
RollbackMgr
On Reboot, it checks critical component run status. If any critical component is not running, then it invokes Rollback activity. Here, rollback does the switching of partition again to run the last stable firmware.
Uptane Readiness of Our OTA Firmware Update Accelerator
Automotive software updates over-the-air can deliver significant benefits to OEMs and vehicle owners alike. However, if it is not implemented correctly, it can expose vehicles to serious security vulnerabilities.
Uptane is the first automotive software update framework that protects vehicles from an extensive range of security attacks and makes them resilient to partial compromises as well.
It enhances the software update framework to address vulnerabilities and limitations that are unique to the automotive industry.
Our OTA firmware update accelerator is Uptane-ready for specific features/functionalities. It can support full Uptane compliance, if required by the customer, as we have the necessary infrastructure to achieve this.
| System | Uptane Feature | Uptane-Ready | Uptane-Compliance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Target Device (TGU) | A/B Partition / Additional Memory | Yes | Yes |
| Version Manifest | Yes | Yes | |
| Broadcast/Publish Metadata to all Secondary | Yes | Yes | |
| Partial Verification of Target Metadata | Yes | Yes | |
| Full Verification | No | Yes | |
| Secure Time from Time-Server (Optional) | No | Yes | |
| OEM Cloud Server | Version Manifest – Verification | Yes | Yes |
| Image Repository – Target Role | Yes | Yes | |
| Director Repository Roles | No | Yes | |
| Image Repository Roles | No | Yes | |
| Secure Time Server (Optional) | No | Yes |
Smart Cluster Architecture with OTA Micro Stack
The detailed layered architecture of a smart cluster with the device-side OTA micro stack (OTA Manager) implemented is shown below:
Why Choose Embitel for Your VCU Needs?
We are an industry-recognised group of technology professionals with deep domain expertise in IoT and automotive technology.
We are agile, transparent and flexible – all at once!
Our suite of reusable, proprietary software stacks expedites automotive project development significantly.
We have been developing cutting-edge IoT solutions for our global customers for more than 17 years.
Our unwavering commitment to data safety and delivery quality sets us apart from competition.
Reach Out to Our FOTA Team to Differentiate You Brand
Today, automotive OEMs are plagued with challenges such as commoditization, brand perception, and lack of agility in tech innovations.
- Commoditization – When most brands and vehicle models offer similar features/specifications, making it difficult for you to offer unique selling points
- Brand perception – The challenge of breaking through stereotypes and consumer perceptions about your brand’s offerings
- Lack of agility in tech innovations – You invest heavily in research and development of software, but the danger of automotive cybersecurity and safety looms large
Adopt FOTA to keep your vehicles constantly up-to-date and make your mark in the world. Contact us to understand how our FOTA solution can help you.
