A Body Switching System using the SAE J1850 (CarLink) Protocol

The recent approval by the SAE Motor Vehicle Council of the serial protocol J1850 is a major milestone in the development of an open and flexible network approach to vehicle wiring. However, it is now necessary to evaluate the practical implementation of the protocol in some real vehicle applications.

This paper describes one such exercise which considers a three station installation including the doors and a central body computer function, together with a diagnostic capability. It is, of course, anticipated that this simple system will be extended to include other areas of the vehicle as confidence is gained in its performance and the benefits of system integration are realised.