Digital Twin for maximum Cyber Security

Compliance with new UNECE cyber security regulations by using a digital twin of the car

Digitization in the automotive industry makes cyber security a focus topic for vehicle software updates - international regulatory bodies are currently working on security guidelines. For vehicle manufacturers, this means that they have to establish processes and systems in accordance with the new cyber security requirements as quickly as possible. "Digital Twin Computing" can provide significant support in this area. The new Digital Twin Computing initiative from Japan is going beyond the traditional understanding of digital twin.

Modern vehicles are "data centers on wheels": they contain over 100 electronic control units for functions such as engine control, anti-lock braking system, airbag or navigation. Each control unit is a computer with the corresponding (embedded) software. In total, around 100 million lines of code are currently installed in a premium vehicle. Innovations such as automated driving and the increasing networking of vehicles will at least double the software volume in the next ten years. This software must be maintained over the entire lifecycle in order to achieve security and customer satisfaction. On the one hand, software maintenance can consist of correcting errors. On the other hand, it can also enable new functions. In both cases, the software updates must be applied to each individual vehicle. Up to now, this usually required a workshop visit. In the future, this process will increasingly take place over the air, or OTA for short.

Safety is not just security

Functional safety was in the foreground in the historically grown vehicle architectures; it was already defined in ISO 26262 in 2011. In contrast, information security is a newer discipline in this environment. This type of security has quickly become very important due to the increasing number of potential points of attack in intelligent, networked vehicles (see Figure 1).

 

Figure 1: Overview on attack points of a connected car image source: NTT

OTA is just one of many information security risks that must be kept as small as possible with appropriate measures. This is even more true since cyber security and OTA are subject to international standardization and are therefore a prerequisite for type approval (homologation) of vehicles in the individual markets.

New cyber security regulations change type approval process

Vehicles are sold and used globally. In doing so, they must comply with country-specific approval regulations. In Germany, for example, type approvals are granted by the Federal Motor Transport Authority on the basis of the road traffic licensing regulations. To simplify the process of homologation, the "United Nations Economic Commission for Europe", or UNECE for short, has WP29, i.e. the "World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations". The rules are agreed there and then transposed into national law. In particular, the Cyber Security and Software Updates OTA task force is working on two regulations that will have a massive impact on type approval in the coming years and pose major challenges for vehicle manufacturers. The digital twin of the vehicle is an essential component of the solution.

SUMS - enormous effort for car manufacturers

The current draft of the regulations from the beginning of 2019 provides that vehicle manufacturers establish processes and systems to ensure information security during development, production and use. Among other things, a software update management system (SUMS) is to be created and audited every three years. The requirements for the SUMS include the identification of all software versions and their dependencies on the hardware and software environment used (compatibility), the identification of target vehicles for a software update, the impact analysis on existing type approvals, information on the vehicle user and the safe implementation of software updates - all combined with extensive documentation.

Another requirement in connection with SUMS is the "RX Software Identification Number" (RXSWIN), which contains regulation-specific information about homologation-relevant software. Each vehicle must be able to provide information via standard interfaces (on-board diagnostics, OBD for short) which software versions for functions relevant to type approval are installed on the vehicle.

New challenges for automotive manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers

OEMs are under great time pressure to have the SUMS & CSMS (Software Update Management System & Cyber Security Management System) and the associated processes and documentation established and audited as soon as the UNECE regulations have been finalized.

The introduction of the software identification number (RXSWIN), which contains information about the approval-relevant software of the electronic control systems and must exist across the entire value chain and the complete product life cycle, requires a comprehensive review and, if necessary, redefinition of processes. Given the many partners and suppliers involved, this is a complex requirement.

 

Meeting new regulations: Digital Twin reduces effort

To meet cyber security regulations such as SUMS & Co., the digital twin of the vehicle is an essential solution component, as automobile manufacturers can use digital twins to monitor and analyze the real vehicle. A digital vehicle twin thus offers exactly what the new UNECE regulations require in terms of transparency for the highest possible cyber security: The integrity and authenticity of the software in the vehicle can be traced at any time, software updates must be verified and validated at an early stage, for example by simulating cyber attacks.

Digital twin for vehicles

For an efficient software update management system, a digital twin of the vehicle is almost a must. All information on the vehicle's software and control unit configuration is available from the manufacturer at the time of delivery, but can change due to visits to the workshop or accidents, for example. Therefore, the current configuration of each individual vehicle must be checked before installing an update in order to reliably meet requirements such as storage space, libraries, control unit versions and compatibility. Concepts such as app stores for vehicles can also result in a large number of complex configurations over the product life cycle in the entertainment area.

The combination of the vehicle twin with the owner's driving profile allows further process optimization. For example, a time can be determined at which the vehicle is probably not being used and then the update can be carried out successfully.

Implementation over the product life cycle

The digital twin for the software must be available both at the car manufacturer and on the individual vehicle. The manufacturer builds the digital twin during product development and validates it with virtual and physical tests. The dependencies between electronic control units and software modules and their suppliers must also be managed. Depending on the vehicle equipment, the appropriate software versions and data must then be brought to the control units in production. Finally, in aftersales it is important to provide the dealers and workshops with the latest versions.

These processes are based on IT applications for software configuration management including compatibility management. In addition to the software source code, it is also necessary to manage the executable binary files and other data for parameterization. This software configuration is linked to the product structure in development and production. The delivery status of the software configuration of a vehicle can be seen as the initial status of the digital twin. This configuration must not only be managed centrally in the vehicle manufacturer's databases, but also stored on the vehicle with the ability to be queried.

Successful automotive OTA

From the smartphone we know the software update process, which is usually initiated by the user. In addition to this pull mechanism, a push mechanism is also required in the automotive sector, for example for recalls and security-critical updates. Some experiences from this environment should also be considered for automotive OTA:

• Sign code: check the safe origin before installation
• Only transmit updates via secure communication channels: encrypt the path from the cloud to the gateway / edge and from there to the vehicle
• Delta updates of the affected code modules: optimize bandwidth requirements and update duration
• Automatic recovery including rollback: create a functional state after connection problems

Outlook: Digital Twin Computing

At the end of 2019, the Japanese NTT presented the first research results with the Digital Twin Computing Initiative (DTC) in order to significantly expand the areas of application of digital twins through modern IT.

The difference between Digital Twin and DTC is as follows: Conventional digital twins are created and used for specific purposes. It is difficult to combine and interact with different digital twins. The DTC vision extends this concept by merging several digital twins in different industries and by expanding existing digital twins. For example, entire supply chains including factory planning and logistics could be mapped.

This would require an enormous amount of IT resources. Therefore, an infrastructure based on an "Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN)", such as that offered by NTT, is an important building block for DTC. IOWN uses the future technology of photonics for ultra-fast data transmission.

The technical solution modules for DTC form an architecture with four layers:

1. Cyber ​​/ Physical Interaction Layer for the interaction between the real world of humans and things with cyberspace
2. Digital Twin Layer for the generation and maintenance of digital twins
3. Digital World Presentation Layer, in which digital twins can be combined
4. Application layer for running applications

Conclusion: “DTC is a broad vision. We believe that we have to work with many partners from many different disciplines, for example from the social and natural sciences as well as the humanities and applied sciences, to implement this concept and to advance society.” said Koya Mori, Senior Research Engineer from the NTT Software Innovation Center in Tokyo.

Initial publication in German language:

Krüger, J.: Digital Twin für maximale Cyber Security. Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftlichen Fabrikbetrieb (ZWF) Sonderausgabe "Digitaler Zwilling" (2020), S. 29-31

Also available on the NTT DATA blog

Digitizing engineering processes – the Munich PLM Symposium 2017

The second Munich PLM Symposium was held at the Munich University of Applied Sciences on  September 13, 2017. According to Prof. Dr. Vahid Salehi “to present the current applications and implementations with regard to digitization in science and industry and to present future potentials of the technologies.”
We at NTT DATA, as founding member of the MPLM Advisory Board, actively helped shape the event. At the booth, our experts from the Innovation & Product Lifecycle Management Competence Center were available for discussions with the around 100 participants.

Whitepaper Autonomous Drive

Our 80 pages in print whitepaper “When the car takes control – A look into the future of autonomous driving” raised special interest. With companies such as Audi, Autoliv, BMW, Dräxlmaier, MAN Truck & Bus, Osram, Porsche, Schaeffler and Volkswagen, some companies that are active in this strategic theme of the automotive industry were among the participants. In his presentation “Driving into Systems Engineering”, Thomas Kriegel from Audi gave a very clear picture of the systems involved, such as Cameras, radar, lidar, sensor fusion and actuators for longitudinal and lateral dynamics.

 

DevOps for PLM

In the presentation “State-of-the-art software engineering for PLM”, Dr. Andreas Nordgren from BMW and Jens Krueger from NTT DATA presented the current challenges and solutions for larger PLM implementation projects.
The introduction of PLM platforms in larger organizations is usually an extensive IT project with a high percentage of configuration and customizing. Even if current programming languages ​​such as Java are used for system extensions, the practices regarding software engineering and IT project management are rarely state-of-the-art. Agile methods, continuous integration or even DevOps are rarely used in practice. The TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of a PLM implementation is mainly determined by maintenance and operating costs (about 70-80%). However, the drivers for these high follow-up costs are already determined during the software development by architecture and design.
Dr. Andreas Nordgren reported on experiences in building a continuous integration pipeline for the PLM platform of the BMW Brilliance Automotive Joint Venture in China. In larger organizations and in longer-running projects, the transfer of code between different organizational units and subcontractors must also be considered. This can be achieved with development guidelines, code reviews, static code quality checks and structured knowledge transfer sessions.

NTT DATA Altemista – Best Practices for DevOps

In the presentation and on our booth, we presented our integrated DevOps platform for Siemens Teamcenter PLM for the first time. NTT DATA Altemista is an Openshift-based cloud platform with integrated development tools including source code management, build management, test automation including static code analysis and deployment. The cloud approach allows simple generation of new environments for development, testing and, if necessary, production with worldwide access.

Conclusion

With good organization and interesting presentations on “Digitization engineering processes”, Prof. Dr. Vahid Salehi has created a provider-independent conference, which serves the networking of PLM experts in southern Germany and beyond. We are looking forward to the Munich PLM Symposium 2018.

Note: cross-post from the NTT DATA blog at http://emea.nttdata.com/blog/en

The NTT R&D Forum 2017: holograms, smart shirts and artificial co-driver in the fog

In February 2017, I was really appreciative of the fact that our parent company NTT invests heavily into research & development. The 6.000 researchers used the opportunity to show their latest innovations at the NTT R&D Forum 2017 in Tokyo. This year, I was hosting our customers from an automotive OEM, responsible for engineering and production IT. And we didn’t regret coming all the way from Germany to Tokyo – what an innovation festival.
The 3-day event took place in the NTT R&D center in Musashino, Tokyo – close to our NTT DATA headquarter with a stunning view over Tokyo. The construction works for the Olympic Games in 2020 are in progress and we are hoping for an open stadium right in front of our office.

Tokyo view from NTT DATA office – 36th floor

 

Immersive telepresence with Kirari

With this title, we weren’t prepared for what was presented. We took our places in a theatre-like room. As the lights were dimmed, a holographic judo match appeared on the stage, followed by a kabuki performance. The 3D visualization – without glasses – gave us a feeling as if we were there. Unfortunately, Youtube does not even come close to this experience – but take a look over here. When the lights came back, we realized that we are not on board of Star Trek and learned that a number of technologies are required for this stunt: source material in 4k resolution at 60 fps from multiple angles and surround audio, robust and accurate image extraction, fast streaming of the data from the remote location to the theatre, a very wide screen for a 180 degree view and video stitching for the reproduction of the images.

 

A wearable vital sensing fabric called Hitoe

And again, the title didn’t really prepare us for this innovation. Hitoe, a T-shirt with sensors for heartbeat, electrocardiogram waveforms and accelerometer data. After the wireless transmission through an IoT gateway system, the data can e.g. be used for health monitoring of workers at construction sites and automated industrial plants. Other use cases are in sports, have a look at the Indycar 500 racing car application of Hitoe.

Smart T-shirt Hitoe

 

Artificial intelligence for humans

Our next presenter was a cute little guy called Sota.

Pretty intelligent robot Sota – powered by corevo AI

In fact, he was built into a car and used his “heart-touching-AI” for natural dialogues and sensing the driver’s fatigue level. This led to motherly statements such as “It sounds like you did not sleep well yesterday. Do not push yourself, drive carefully.” It could also predict intentions of the driver (“Are you headed to Shin-Yokohama? There is a new curry shop”) and maintain a natural dialogue according to the driver’s situation. All this led to a very comfortable and safe drive.
One strength of corevo AI is the advanced audio processing with noise canceling that delivers clean signals required for robust speech recognition. In addition to improved audio conferences or call center applications, this technology was also used for anomaly detection in manufacturing processes. By filtering-out the noise from the actual manufacturing operation, the machine can be monitored and maintained more efficiently.

 

Fog computing on the edge

The Internet of Things was one of the focus topics at the NTT R&D Forum, bringing together our strengths in IT and communication technology. As IoT devices such as cars can produce massive amounts of data, fog computing uses intermediate ICT between the IoT devices and the cloud for pre-processing of data – the edge devices. We saw solutions for monitoring and Docker-based application delivery to the edge devices. We also saw an IoT data sharing platform based on the oneM2M, providing a unified interface to access the IoT data services from multiple domains.

 

Tokyo 2020

Of course, there were other things that the NTT colleagues were proud of and substantiating our claim of NTT DATA as the “Global IT Innovator”: IoT security could be greatly enhanced with multi-factor & continuous authentication, cyber threat analysis, spoofing prevention even when offline, IoT traffic anomaly detection etc..
But we are especially looking forward to the 5G mobile network technology with 375 Mbps, to be available in 2020. We then definitely need to check back on this in Tokyo and might also follow some Olympic events from our office window…

Note: cross-post from the NTT DATA blog at http://emea.nttdata.com/blog/en 

Digitalization of product development

180 experts for IT in the product development process met on September 22, 2016 in the Continental Arena in Regensburg, Germany.

The ProSTEP-iViP association had invited to the 2^nd JT Day. With the slogan „Engineering Digitalization with JT“, it used a hype topic which André Radon, Director IT Productprocess for the VW Group, took up: “I started as a software developer for CAD and have been working on the digitalization of the product development ever since. So what is new about digitalization?” His answer: connecting data islands and the integration of processes. VW uses the lightweight JT format e.g. for plant simulations with more than 100 complete cars in the process and does virtual assembly simulations with current product data.

Digital Transformation Enabler

JT is not a file format, but a “Digital Transformation Enabler” said Dr. Siegmar Haasis, CIO Research & Development at Mercedes-Benz Cars. He speaks from experience, as Daimler started very early with generating JT data from 3D CAD models and now manages about 17 million JT files in its PDM system. This was the basis to save on physical prototypes – cost of up to 1 million EURO per piece in the early development phase – using digital mockups. It also allowed several downstream processes to be based on the neutral, open 3D format JT instead of on proprietary CAD formats. Among the presented use cases was the communication between different CAD systems / versions (CATIA and NX) in the joint venture with Renault-Nissan and some virtual reality applications. Complex wire harness models can be more effectively worked on using 1:1 scale models with VR glasses.

Outlook

At the end of 2012, the JT specification was published as ISO 14306. With the broad adoption by German automotive OEM’s and suppliers, it also became the de-facto standard for the digitalization of product development. The VDA (association of the German automotive industry) recently published the recommendation VDA 5601 for the JT Industrial Application Package V2 (JTIAP). This addressed some innovations over the ISO standard while protecting investments. It remains open whether the desire for support of JT in the gaming engine Unity will be heard. But Microsoft and Siemens practiced the handshake for 3D printing: Siemens will implement conversion from JT to 3MF, the Microsoft format for 3D printing. Thus the digitalization circle is closed – the digital product data can become concrete products.

Note: cross-post from the NTT DATA blog at http://emea.nttdata.com/blog/en