RTI Helps to 'Think About the Data, Not How to Communicate'

SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwire - Apr 18, 2012) - Real-Time Innovations (RTI), the world leader in delivering fast, scalable communications software that addresses the challenges of building and integrating real-time operational systems, today announced it has successfully applied RTI Connext DataBus™ to a number of research projects targeting future driver assistance and integrated safety applications at Volkswagen Group Research.

By adopting a data-centric "system-of-systems" approach, the Integrated Driver Assistance and Integrated Safety Department within Volkswagen Group Research could thereby reduce its system integration efforts, thus allowing researchers to focus resources instead on new functionality and capability innovation.

"Think about the data, not how to communicate -- has become a main objective for our researchers," said Dr. Jan Effertz, head of subdepartment for Sensors and Data Fusion at the Department for Integrated Driver Assistance and Security at Volkswagen Group Research. "Our real-time system and communication demands are extremely challenging and we carefully evaluate any new system-wide technology before standardizing. During the last years, the experiences with our partner RTI have been consistently very good. RTI's technology has become an important component in our research vehicle architectures, advancing our work beyond the limits that we have been facing with traditional automotive bus systems such as the CAN-Bus."

One of the challenges in research programs is that separate entities and companies use different operating system platforms to independently develop software. By simplifying the interface to a set of defined data structures and quality of service requirements, Volkswagen Group Research was able to easily integrate a variety of different existing software modules into its research vehicle systems in an efficient, sometimes even one-day plug and go assimilation.

For example, when European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) based satellite GPS data needed to be integrated across a system of multiple driver assistance sub-systems, the data only had to be added through one application to the RTI DataBus, and immediately appeared across a range of modular applications and functions that needed to access and use the high resolution data in real-time.

"Driver assistance systems play an important role in further reducing the number of road accidents," said Dr. Stan Schneider, CEO of Real-Time Innovations, Inc. "RTI is proud to be a small part of the future of driver safety, and to have the value of our technology thoroughly validated by Volkswagen's demanding engineering teams."

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About Volkswagen
The Volkswagen Group with its headquarters in Wolfsburg is one of the world's leading automobile manufacturers and the largest carmaker in Europe. In 2011, the Group increased the number of vehicles delivered to customers to 8.265 million (2010: 7.203 million), corresponding to a 12.3 percent share of the world passenger car market. The Group is made up of ten brands from seven European countries: Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT, ŠKODA, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Scania and MAN.

Volkswagen Group Research activities cover innovative driver assistance systems, alternative powertrains and fuels, material and production research, trend and future research as well as environmental and mobility research.

About RTI
RTI is the world leader in delivering fast, scalable, communications software that addresses the challenges of building and integrating real-time operational systems. RTI Connext solutions meet the needs of enterprise-wide integration -- from the operational edge to the enterprise data center. The RTI standards-based software infrastructure improves the efficiency of operational systems while facilitating better decisions, actions and outcomes for the business enterprise.

For over ten years, RTI has delivered industry-leading products and solutions for customers in markets ranging from Aerospace & Defense, Process Automation, Financial Services, Energy, Automotive, Health Sciences and Transportation Management.

Founded in 1991, RTI is privately held and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

RTI, Real-Time Innovations, RTI Data Distribution Service, and Connext are registered trademarks or trademarks of Real-Time Innovations, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective companies.