In-Vehicle Data Bus Systems - The Key for New Concepts in Comfort and Convenience Electronics

In 1991 the first premium passenger cars with CAN data bus technology in powertrain electronics came to market. Development of in-vehicle network concepts for comfort and convenience electronics on the basis of a standardized CAN protocol started in the same year.

As a result, in-vehicle data bus technology is now in series production since early 1995 with four nodes in a 40 Kbps network which will be upgraded to more than 10 participants for MY 98 vehicles. Car manufacturer's design goals of wiring harness reduction (20 %) and cost reduction (10 %) have been fulfilled. In addition, new features like anti-theft and immobilization easily can be implemented by use of data-bus technology in combination with a gateway between class B an class C networks.

Finally, the paper will describe the limits of today's network topology on the basis of current chip technology. System chip design and sensor/actuator integration will be a need to overcome today's net-work limitations.