AVnu Alliance, Cisco and TTTech to host Deterministic Ethernet Forum for in-vehicle networking

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AVnu Alliance, Cisco and TTTech to host Deterministic Ethernet Forum for in-vehicle networking

28 August 2015

AVnu Alliance, Cisco and TTTech will host the Deterministic Ethernet Forum for automotive in-vehicle networking and the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT), on 23 October 2015 in Vienna, Austria. The forum will be an opportunity for leading automotive and industrial companies to discuss and influence the implementation of deterministic Ethernet solutions and related standards. Confirmed keynotes at the event include presentations by Altera, Audi, AVnu Alliance, Cisco, Delphi, GE, KUKA, NXP, Renesas and Vestas.

Deterministic Ethernet uses time scheduling to bring deterministic real-time communication to standard IEEE 802 Ethernet. Deterministic Ethernet is based on IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.1Q AVB and 802.1Qbv TSN (pre-standard) as well as SAE AS6802 standards, and guarantees message delivery across switched Ethernet networks. It offers improved safety and security with a traffic class immune to Denial of Service. It also enables the full convergence of critical, real-time and regular traffic within a single network.

Of particular interest to emerging automotive applications, Deterministic Ethernet guarantees timing for hundreds of real-time control functions within a complex system; guarantees bandwidth even in case of excessive network loads and bursts; and guarantees delivery even in case of network faults.

An example use case for the technology would be as the converged backbone network in a vehicle, integrating body, chassis, powertrain, drivers assistance and infotainment networks.

Deterministic Ethernet is currently a high-profile topic with standards being created within major industry standardization bodies, such as IEEE, that are paving the way for seamless communication within the Industrial Internet and for automotive in-vehicle networking.

The mass market adoption of these standards is being supported by semiconductor companies with dedicated silicon solutions. Automotive and transportation markets are already deploying deterministic Ethernet in critical systems like advanced driver assistance systems and high-speed in-vehicle backbones. Time-scheduled deterministic Ethernet standards such as the IEEE standard Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) are now starting to be adopted for industrial control systems and factory automation.

AVnu Alliance is an industry consortium driving open standards deterministic networking through certification; Cisco is a leading multinational networking technology company; TTTech is an expert in robust networking and safety controls.

TTTech’s Hermes DE switch. Earlier this July, TTTech launched its own Deterministic Ethernet switch—Hermes—for application development and evaluation of in-vehicle network architectures in the field of automotive and heavy machinery.

With this intelligent device, customers can now evaluate multiple technical standards supported by the NXP SJA1105T chip, including AVB, TSN and Time-Triggered Ethernet. The switch also integrates a powerful CPU running AUTOSAR 4.2.1 and provides digital and analog I/Os plus CAN, FlexRay and Ethernet interfaces.

The DE-Switch Hermes 3/1 BRR makes the development and evaluation of AVB and TSN possible in a versatile form factor. The NXP SJA1105T chip enables networks with standard Ethernet for best effort traffic, Quality of Service (QoS) for using VLANs and priorities, Audio-Video Bridging (AVB) for clock synchronization and traffic shaping, Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) for time-aware shaping and Time-Triggered Ethernet for time-triggered communication and fault-tolerant clock synchronization.

Combined with its integrated control functionality, the Hermes switch will enable a wide range of in-vehicle projects for diagnostics, control applications, infotainment and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).

NXP, the market leader for semiconductors for automotive in-vehicle networking, has previously licensed the Ethernet Switch IP from TTTech and used it to develop the first Ethernet switch chip SJA1105T.

The Hermes switch offers 3 x BroadR-Reach physical layer interfaces that enable 100 Mbit/s full-duplex communication over unshielded twisted single pair (UTSP) cabling in addition to one 100/1000Base-Tx port. TTTech will also offer a lab version with 4 x 100/1000 Base-Tx ports and RJ-45 connectors.

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