Low-Cost In-Vehicle Multiplex Wiring System

This paper describes a novel multiplex wiring system, recently developed through a joint effort of industry and academia in Brazil, with the purpose of providing a low-cost implementation alternative of this technology to economic-model cars, which represent the major product of the South American automotive industry.

The solution presented in this paper is innovative in that it constitutes a true low-cost implementation alternative for the nodes of a multiplex wiring system. In order to achieve this, a one-chip microsystem was developed which comprises two key elements: A digital section that interprets the messages circulating on the network and a Power driver that is capable of turning on any load with currents up to 2.5A.

The developed in-vehicle network uses a Master-Slave ring topology with a one-wire media that operates at a data transfer rate of 38.4 KBPS and features the cost-per-node of circa US$1.00.