Kernkonzept, the specialist in virtualization and operating system solutions for security and safety, has released the open-source L4Re Micro Hypervisor. It is introduced as reference hypervisor for the new 16nm real-time processors in the S32Z and S32E families from NXP® Semiconductors, which are equipped with 8 Arm® Cortex-R52 cores and run at up to 1 GHz. The L4Re Micro Hypervisor is included with NXP’s S32Z/E Vehicle Integration Platform (GreenVIP).
The newly introduced L4Re Micro Hypervisor leverages the field proven L4Re Operating System Framework, which provides open-source building blocks to design systems that consolidate multiple applications with different security, safety, and real-time requirements. The use-case specific design with L4Re’s Framework allows minimizing the trusted computing base of the overall system. Kernkonzept provides customer-specific solutions with minimal trusted computing bases to minimize attack surfaces and certification efforts.
The L4Re Operating System Framework is a general-purpose system of separate modules that provide flexibility to meet the security and safety requirements of various use cases in automotive, avionics, industrial, networking, and many other markets. With the L4Re Micro Hypervisor, system designers can place functionality on the Arm® Cortex-R52 and benefit from more flexibility in system design.
Newly available hardware-based virtualization allows multiple systems to be consolidated onto a single platform and unlocks the potential of these new processor types. With L4Re, functionality can be placed to run directly on the new L4Re Micro Hypervisor as a native application or in virtual machines – depending on customer requirements. Multicore systems such as NXP’s S32Z and S32E processors are supported to run multiple workloads or VMs in parallel.
NXP’s S32Z and S32E real-time processor families for software-defined vehicles enable secure integration of vehicle-wide functions and create a new class of processors: they combine the real-time behavior of microcontrollers with an unprecedented combination of gigahertz performance, multi-application isolation, and memory expansion capabilities. They offer scalability with 16nm processors and a roadmap to 5nm solutions. The S32Z and S32E processors target domain and zonal control, functional safety, electrification, and intelligent actuation for software-defined vehicles. All these functions and applications are supported by the L4Re Micro Hypervisor.
“NXP worked with Kernkonzept to tune their open-source hypervisor for our award-winning S32Z and S32E real-time processors families,” says Andy Birnie, NXP Senior Director of Solutions & Applications for Automotive Processors. “We included their L4Re Micro Hypervisor as a foundational element in the NXP GreenVIP to simplify the integration of secure real-time applications and support our customers’ next-generation innovations.”
“The L4Re Operating System Framework’s virtualization technology provides the foundation for building future secure and certifiable systems, as is needed in autonomous driving and many other use cases”, adds Dr. Adam Lackorzynski, CTO at Kernkonzept GmbH. “By extending our virtualization capabilities and working with NXP, Kernkonzept now offers the first open-source hypervisor for Cortex-R52 processors in general. We are proud to provide functional security for NXP’s S32Z and S32E real-time processors with our L4Re Micro Hypervisor as reference hypervisor.”
Being available in NXP’s GreenVIP, the open-source L4Re system allows for an instant start.
