An eBPF/XDP-Based Architecture for Efficient SOME/IP Service Discovery

The rapid evolution of Software-Defined Vehicles (SDVs) necessitates efficient and scalable communication mechanisms between in-vehicle Electronic Control Units (ECUs). SOME/IP, particularly its Service Discovery component (SOME/IP-SD), has emerged as a critical protocol for enabling dynamic service-oriented communication in this context. However, traditional user-space implementations of SOME/IP-SD suffer from performance limitations, primarily due to excessive context switching overhead and CPU resource consumption, which can hinder real-time performance in automotive applications. This paper introduces a novel kernel-based architecture for SOME/IP-SD processing that leverages the power of eBPF/XDP. The proposed architecture offloads SOME/IP-SD packet processing to the kernel, significantly reducing context switching and optimizing system resource utilization. By processing SOME/IP service discovery at the kernel level with eBPF/XDP, the architecture minimizes latency and improves overall performance through early packet filtering and efficient data sharing between kernel and user space via eBPF maps. The proposed architecture aims to enhance the responsiveness of service discovery, a critical requirement for real-time applications in SDVs. This kernel-level approach demonstrates the potential of eBPF/XDP in optimizing automotive network protocols and is expected to contribute to the advancement of real-time communication systems in next-generation vehicles.