The Convergence of Multiple Vehicle Network Protocols: How to Select One Network over the Other and the Ensuing Variant Challenges

Communication between electronic control units (ECUs) and vehicle gateways can span LIN, CAN, FlexRay, and Ethernet. Designing an in-vehicle network supporting multiple car platform variants, with respect to selecting the appropriate technology to connect ECUs and gateway networks, and making timing based analysis and synthesis is extremely challenging.

This paper discusses how to handle a variety of communication protocols on an individual network level and how multiple networks relate to the overall communication design of a vehicle platform ensuring consistent variants.