The HDBaseT Alliance is finalizing the specifications for HDBaseT Automotive, which allows for better efficiency and cost-savings in various automotive applications, including infotainment and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS):

• Bandwidth of up to 6 Gbps throughput over 15 meters of single pair unshielded cable (UTP)

• Low latency (less than 10 µsec) in the distribution of uncompressed AV, Ethernet, controls, USB and power, over low-cost, low-weight and reliable cabling.

• Native networking and multistreaming support.

GM is committed to bringing to market the best technologies and infrastructure to enable a safer and more pleasant driving experience. HDBaseT fits into this category, and we are looking forward to contributing to the Alliance and advance this vision.

—Natalie Wiencowski, Global Lead of Electrical Hardware & Member of the Advanced Electrical Architecture Team at General Motors

The cornerstone of HDBaseT technology is 5Play, a feature set that converges uncompressed ultra-HD digital video and audio, 100BaseT Ethernet, USB 2.0, up to 100W of power over cable, and various control signals through a single LAN cable for up to 100 meters/328 feet. The latest specification of HDBaseT also enables the transmission of audio & video, Ethernet, USB and controls over fiber optic, for even longer distances.

HDBaseT uses an asymmetric method, sending video, audio, Ethernet and controls from source to sink, but only 100Mb are transferred back (Ethernet and controls). Unlike conventional data communication which is a symmetrical application by nature, with required a bit error rate (BER) of at least 10 to the minus 12, the asymmetric nature of HDBaseT is based on an innovative DSP engine and an AFE (Application Front End) architecture.

A special line coding scheme was developed to provide a better transfer quality to some kinds of data (audio, controls, Ethernet) without the need for the protecting overhead for the video content which consumes most of the bandwidth.

HDBaseT uses a proprietary version of Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM) technology, where digital data is represented as a coding scheme using different levels of DC voltage at high rates. This enables the 5Play feature-set to be maintained over a single 100 m CAT cable, without the electrical characteristics of the wire affecting performance. Although HDBaseT uses the same coding technology as Ethernet and even has an Ethernet channel, its packet-based technology is different from the traditional Ethernet packets. HDBaseT simply relies on the same physical cabling which provides the inherent benefits of the cost-effective CAT infrastructure.