Low-Power Intel Architecture Platform for In-Vehicle Infotainment - Part 2: Virtualization, hyperthreading, security, connectivity and power management

Intel® Technologies
Intel includes various technologies in its products, but the relevant ones for the Intel-based IVI platform are covered here from the IVI usage perspective. Each of the Intel® platform solutions has varying levels of technology support, due to independencies on various platform hardware component features. While we cover these technologies and their applicability to the Intel-based IVI platform, one must reference each of the product SKU specifications for the available support.

Virtualization
Virtualization creates a level of abstraction between physical hardware and the operating system. The abstraction layer, referred to as the hypervisor, executes the OS as a guest within a virtual machine (VM) environment and virtualizes or emulates the platform resources (CPU, memory, and I/O) to the guest OS. Multiple guest operating systems can be supported by the hypervisor, each encapsulated within its own VM, executing unmodified software stacks with user applications (fully virtualized) or modified to run in conjunction with the hypervisor (para-virtualized).

Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) applicable to the Intel-based IVI platform is based on two different components, namely Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT) for IA-32, Intel® 64 and Intel® Architecture (Intel® VT-x) support on the processor and Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT) for Directed I/O (Intel® VT-d) support in the controller hub. Intel VT-x constitutes a set of virtual-machine extensions (VMXs) that support virtualization of the processor hardware. Intel VT-d provides IO device assignment to the VM with hardware-assisted DMA and interrupt remapping from the I/O devices. For complete details of Intel VT, visit http://developer.intel.com.

Each of the Intel platform solutions has a varying set of hardware capabilities for virtualization. The key virtualization usage models for the Intel-based IVI platform that a car OEM can use with the appropriate built-in Intel VT hardware are described in the following paragraphs.

Consolidation: This usage model is the concept of combining multiple applications, each of them executing on a separate hardware platform, onto a single hardware platform without modification of the application or the OS. Executing on a virtualized platform, each application executes within its own OS environment as a guest within a separate VM. These embedded applications are typically characterized as running under a real-time OS (RTOS) with one or more dedicated I/O devices. The driving function behind consolidation is the cost reduction associated with fewer platforms and lower maintenance costs, power consumption, heat dissipation and cooling, and weight, while increasing platform reliability due to fewer components, as illustrated in Figure 7.

Examples of IVI and vehicle applications that could be consolidated are listed below.

•  Engine information: alerts, warnings, and diagnostics
•  Auto control, information: wipers, lights, turn signal, tire pressure
•  Driver assist: lane departure warning, blind spot detection, front/rear proximity, external temperature, and directional information
•  Fuel economy: average and instantaneous MPG, optimum speed, distance remaining to refuel
•  Environmental controls: interior lighting, temperature regulation, mirror and seat positioning
•  Electronic dashboard