Pioneers of automotive ethernet

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technica engineering
06 Nov, 2019

Technica Engineering - Pioneers of Automotive Ethernet

Controller area network (CAN) and other existing technologies like LIN, Flexray, MOST were used as system buses in the automotive field earlier days. But these standards are now outdated in terms of payload, speed, etc. The move to Automotive Ethernet provides higher-quality, lower latency, time synchronization of audio and video in Ethernet standard format to transmit realtime audio and video streams. Automotive ethernet is a key driver of change in the electrical and electronics (E/E) structure of a car. Automotive Ethernet has switched networks with a point to point communication.

Four areas for automotive ethernet are
  • ADAS such as 360o camera systems
  • Infotainment
  • Diagnostics over IP
  • Communication Backbone
It provides hardware and software solutions that allow testing modern onboard electronic components and networks during the development phase
- Technica Engineering -

Product Portfolio:

There are 4 variants of hardware products.

1. Converters:

a. 100BASE-T1 Mediaconverter_BCM:

The 100Base-T1 Media Converter_BCM establishes one direct point to point connection between automotive ECU's using 100BASE-T1 and any standard Fast Ethernet device with RJ-45 connector. No packets are stored or modified. It uses the Broadcom BCM89810 Phy.

b. 100BASE-T1 Mediaconverter_EMC Set:

Its a tool for EMC validation of 100BASE-T1 ECU. It works in a pair-set, converting 100BASE-T1 to optical fiber and back to 100BASE-T1. It is specially designed to emit below the industry’s EMI standard requirements. No packages are stored or modified in the device. The process is a pure physical layer conversion.

c. 1000BASE-T1 Media converter:

The 1000BASE-T1 MediaConverter establishes one direct point-to-point conversion between automotive ECU’s using 1000BASE-T1 and any standard Gigabit Ethernet device with RJ-45 connector. No packets are stored or modified.

d. 1000BASE-T1 EMC Converter:

The 1000BASE-T1 MediaConverter EMC is specially designed for measurements within the EMC chamber. It is delivered in a set with an adapter board that enables internal PHY status readings and provides one point-to-point connection between Automotive Gigabit Ethernet and SFP Gigabit Ethernet, with which optical fiber modules are used.

e. 100BASE-T1 SFP Module:

100BASE-T1 SFP module is used to convert between 100BASE-T1 and SGMII(Serial Gigabit Media Independent Interface). It fits into a standard small Form-factor Pluggalble(SFP) and generates 100Mbit/s full-duplex 100BASE-T1.

f. 1000BASE-T1 SFP Module:

1000BASE-T1 SFP module is used to convert between 1000BASE-T1 and SGMII(Serial Gigabit Media Independent Interface). It fits into a standard small Form-factor Pluggalble(SFP) and generates 1000Mbit/s full-duplex 1000BASE-T1.

g. 100BASE-T1 Mediaconverter_NXP:

100BASE-T1 Media converter NXP establishes one direct point-to-point conversion between automotive ECU's using 100BASE-T1 and any standard fast Ethernet device with RJ-45 connector. No packets are stored and modified. It uses NXP TJA_1100 MRA4 phy.

h. 100BASE-T1 converter USB:

The 100BASE-T1 converter USB allows you to expand your PC/laptop with an additional Network Interface Card with the built-in USB-LAN chip and to interact directly with your 100BASE-T1 device with only one device. The power supply for the converter is provided by the USB port.

2. Switch Based Devices:

a. Universal EMC devices:

The Universal EMC device is a piece of testing equipment which can perform data logging and traffic generation under high electromagnetic radiations. With only one Fiber optic Ethernet connection, all the automotive buses can be accessed.

b. Media Gateway:

A media gateway is used for testing and analyzing on-board vehicle networks using 100BASE-T1. It captures the traffic between devices while maintaining normal communication as well as interaction with such devices via your test set-up.

3. TAP (Test Access Point) Devices:

a. 100BASE-T1 SPY mini:

It is used to allow the direct capture of 100BASE-T1 traffic with optional timestamping with 40ns resolution to standard Gigabit Ethernet. In logging mode, the data frames can be enhanced with additional information, the exact timestamp with 0.04us resolution and the bus port the data was originally received on. All data can be recorded on a PC or data logger for detailed offline analysis.

b. 100BASE-T1 SPY 12 port:

100BASE-T1 SPY 12 port samples data frames directly on the bus without the influence of the original network. The data Frames are enhanced with additional information as an exact timestamp and the bus port the data was originally sent on. All data can be recorded on a PC or datalogger for detailed offline analysis. Timestamps are in 0.04 μs resolution and synchronous to all connected lines.

4. Software and Test Benches

a. ANDI (The Automotive Network Diagnoser):

The simple test and simulation environment for ethernet controllers and bus systems. ANDI is a test and simulation environment for Ethernet electronics control unit (BASE-T1) and also for the CAN/CAN-FD, LIN and flexRay bus systems.

b. ADELA (The Automotive Database edition and layout):

ADELA is the automotive database edition tool that provides visulaization and validation features of Fibex and ARXML automotive databases, primarly for automotive ethernet but also for CAN.

c. BTS (Body Electronic Test System):

The highly-scalable Hardware-in-the-Loop(HiL) test system for automated validation of body electronic control unit (ECUs), As a highly scalable Hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) test system, the Body Electronic Test System (BTS) serves to automatically validate body ECUs such as the ones used in the most recent automotive systems.