On Extensible Networks for Embedded Systems

When designing a distributed computing-system, the communication networks are a key determining factor for system's performance. A common approach is to minimize bandwidth-consumption, while other important objectives -- maintainability, extensibility, robustness -- get less attention in the literature. In this work we provide a design-methodology how to efficiently balance these conflicting objectives. We build an initial network configuration by applying heuristics. Then, we refine this configuration by using optimization strategies which address the multi-objective optimization problem. By doing so, the network configuration not only satisfies the requirements of the current communication-demand, but it is also prepared to handle additional future communication-demand. Experimental results from an automotive case-study show that extensibility can be significantly improved (up to 44%) while trading only a little bandwidth-efficency (1% deteriation).