Last week I was able to conduct a well-attended training course on SysML at Embedded World 2024. The interest in MBSE is definitely there. I also took the opportunity to have a look around the trade fair. In particular, I took a closer look at the areas reserved for start-ups to find out where innovation is taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The result: AI is everywhere, there is hardly any sign of MBSE. But there was one interesting trend that relates to architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
For those who don't know it, the trade fair has been held annually in Nuremberg since 2003. It is aimed at international manufacturers and service providers of embedded software and hardware and is regarded internationally as the leading trade fair in this field. The trade fair regularly attracts over 1000 exhibitors and around 30,000 visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In contrast to other trade fairs, Embedded World a good portal<\/a>to systematically search for exhibitors. It is therefore possible to search specifically for manufacturers of software tools or directly for start-ups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disillusioning: In the \"Tools\" section, there are only two categories: \"Software\" and \"Hardware\". The system concept is not even to be found in the categorization. There is also the \"System & application software\" section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are hardly any providers of tools for systems engineering (let alone MBSE) among the tool manufacturers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Behind these categories are also tools that enable systems engineering, such as Ansys, Perforce or QA Systems. However, in most cases, the system concept is either subordinate or cannot be found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Systems engineering solves a concrete problem, namely the Complexity<\/a> the development of complex products. If not with systems engineering, then how?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The exhibitors at Embedded World have two answers to this question: platforms and vertical solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chip manufacturers such as Infineon, Intel and AMD in particular are focusing on platforms. They offer complete solutions consisting of special, energy-saving chips for the edge and powerful semiconductors for the data centers, together with the entire infrastructure. With this approach, the manufacturers provide a functioning architecture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If the customer adheres to the architecture specifications, this makes many things easier, such as meeting compliance requirements. On the other hand, this results in a vendor lock-in. This is not a problem as long as the prices are right - and as long as no important features are missing or even incompatible with the specified architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead of working with generic platforms, both the major manufacturers and niche providers offer vertical solutions that serve a specific segment. These include platforms for entire vehicles, for example, but also special solutions for image recognition or sensor technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There was a relatively large number of start-ups, especially when it came to vertical solutions. There were several that use new technologies such as 3D printing and low-code to offer \"complete solutions from a single source\". Not really new, but established companies in this segment are not yet using new technologies as efficiently as the start-ups claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But platforms and vertical solutions are not new trends. The biggest trend at the trade fair has little to do with systems engineering: Artificial intelligence<\/a>. Many manufacturers are rushing to integrate AI into their products, whether it makes sense or not. However, one topic in particular dominated the AI discourse: Edge AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For some time now, the trend in networked systems has been to carry out more and more operations at the \"edge\" of the network, i.e. in the network periphery. This is the opposite of processing more and more data \"only\" in the cloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Trend: Platforms and vertical solutions instead of systems engineering<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mastering complexity with platforms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Vertical solutions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The mega trend: edge AI and edge computing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n