Mitch Dowell 
Basics and Functional Behavior
From an application developer’s point of view, AUTOSAR diagnostics are relatively straightforward. There is, however, some terminology to learn before understanding AUTOSAR diagnostics. If you are unfamiliar with the services offered in the AUTOSAR BSW or how applications communicate in AUTOSAR-compliant software, please read the linked articles for more information.
Hardware in the Loop (HiL) systems are used in the development and test of real-time embedded systems often found in Electronic Control Units (ECU) within almost any on- or off-highway vehicle today. HiL systems are comprised of both hardware and software that can simulate the larger entity (i.e. car, tractor, etc.), so that the smaller ECU can be inserted into that larger system to determine whether or not it’s internal real-time embedded system is performing as intended. While this may seem like a mountainous task for vehicle manufacturers in industry today, DISTek has invested in tackling the design and production of an internal HiL solution.
How does application software pass data within an AUTOSAR-compliant system? The answer depends on what the application wants to communicate with. There are two main methods of communication for AUTOSAR-compliant application software: sender-receiver communication and client-server communication. Let’s begin by discussing application software in AUTOSAR before diving into communication.
