Automotive Ethernet

As autonomous driving and connected car are becoming a reality, there will be significant growth in the importance of Ethernet networking in vehicles.

The arrival of new systems and protocols requires new testing approaches and will increase demands upon Automotive research and development engineers in terms of network expertise. As a member of the OPEN Alliance SIG, VIAVI's network testing engineers are working closely with the industry to develop tailored answers to these challenges.

 

This playbook provides an overview of the various OPEN Alliance Automotive Ethernet TC8 protocols and step by step instructions on how to test different use cases using VIAVI solutions.

 

The cost and performance benefits—along with soaring future bandwidth requirements—make Ethernet too attractive for auto manufacturers to ignore. Furthermore, the OPEN Alliance (One Pair Ethernet) Special Interest Group (SIG) has effectively established Automotive Ethernet as the de-facto physical layer standard for the industry, clearing the way for its widespread adoption.

 

Automotive Ethernet replaces the standard, 8-wire shielded twisted pair cabling with a smaller, 2-wire unshielded twisted pair. By simplifying to a single system, reducing expensive copper and duplicated network hardware, OABR, while providing larger bandwidth, is some 30% lighter than equivalent mainstream technologies, improving vehicle efficiency, and reducing installation costs by 80%.

 

The 100BASE-T1 (100Mbps) and 1000BASE-T1 (1Gbps) standard is becoming essential as ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) and “connected car” functions escalate demand for complexity and bandwidth. There are already standard task groups working on 10Mbps and Multi-gig versions of 2-wire Ethernet to accommodate additional ranges of use cases. Moreover, increasing complexity in vehicle computing, infotainment and security will mean the next-generation of connected vehicles require software updates on a regular basis.

 

Switching to Automotive Ethernet from classic bus systems has the potential to prevent a bandwidth bottleneck, and transform the job from all-day garage procedure to something that can be carried out while the owner waits—or even to something that can be conducted over-the-air with no need to visit a garage.

 

The arrival of new systems and protocols requires new testing approaches, and will increase demands upon Automotive research and development engineers in terms of network expertise. What is more, Ethernet also presents the Automotive industry with an entirely new challenge that, unless taken seriously, could prove catastrophic for safety, reliability, and brand reputation: network security.