Comparison of In-Vehicle Communication Protocols for Critical Applications
Edward Robert Gundlach, Syed Masud Mahmud · 2005
The communication network is a key enabling technology for many of the latest advances in vehicle design. As drive-by-wire, vehicle control systems (e.g., vehicle stability control), hit avoidance, pre-crash warnings, and other design advances become more pervasive, the selection of the most appropriate invehicle communication protocol(s) for these critical applications becomes more important. This paper provides a comparison of the leading communication protocols for these high-performance applications. The protocols analyzed for this comparison are Time Triggered Controller Area Network (TTCAN) and FlexRay. This paper provides a summary of the features and attributes of these competing communication protocols, and it highlights the advantages and disadvantages where there are differences. In addition to the many quantitative attributes (e.g., bit rate, error detection, fault tolerant features, message payload, etc.) of these protocols, some qualitative aspects of the protocols are also provided. The goal of this paper is to provide a valuable resource when comparing and selecting communication protocols for these critical vehicle applications.