The Future Design Scenario and the Sea Initiative

The overall objective of the SEA Initiative is to develop a framework and a seamless process-flow for the design of complex embedded real-time systems in automotive applications. Both framework and process -flow need to support the entire automotive design chain from car manufacturers to subsystem providers, from IP providers to semiconductor developers. These objectives address several key issues faced by the automotive industry, e.g. system complexity and efficiency: For the car manufacturer, where an increasing number of complex subsystems developed els ewhere have to be interfaced correctly and efficiently during system integration in presence of increasing pressure for faster introduction of new models in the market place. For the subsystem suppliers, where the requirements on quality and costs become tighter while the features demanded become more complex, demanding designs with increasingly larger software content and more performing hardware. For automotive semiconductor and IP providers, who find it increasingly difficult to meet the reliability and performance requirements demanded by their customers while providing their products so that they could be easily integrated and offer the performance required. Copyright © 2003 IFAC