The showcase is based on the AVnu AVB Automotive Profile—a specification for the use of the IEEE AVB standards that provides an integrated overall networking solution for the automotive market.

AVB is an enhancement to the Ethernet suite of open standards. It provides quality of service (QoS) guarantees; a network time synchronization service; and a related transport protocol for transmission of time-sensitive traffic that together allow a network to handle audio-visual (AV) data. In the automotive environment, it can also satisfy more generalized time-sensitive networking requirements, opening up the possibility of a single network that handles infotainment, body control, driver assistance and even safety-critical functions.

The AVnu AVB Automotive Profile brings these standards together so as to meet the need for fast vehicle start-up and reliable operation of automotive infotainment systems. Automotive suppliers and OEMs can use the AVnu AVB Automotive Profile to simplify requirements specification, enable faster time-to-market, lower costs, and ease integration.

The demonstration at Automotive Ethernet Congress featured the AVnu Automotive multi-media profile through six endpoints (audio source, digital amplifier, grand master clock, etc).

The setup included real and emulated AVB talkers and listeners from NXP and Ixia communicating over a network of AVB bridges from Marvell and NXP, all AVnu Alliance members.

The demonstration is a milestone showcasing automotive AVB/TSN is a technology that is ready for use in production, and has been validated by multi-vendor implementations of the same system profile. It also highlighted the automotive Ethernet specific physical layer, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 100BASE-T1 (Ethernet running at 100Mbps over a single twisted pair).

Highlighting the benefits of AVB/TSN for the automotive space, the demonstration featured precise synchronization, delivery of time-sensitive streams, bandwidth and latency guarantees. The demonstration is validation that AVB/TSN is the low-cost, high-performance networking technology for the automotive industry. The technology enables car makers to use the same Ethernet network for real-time and non-real-time communications, at much higher speeds than previous automotive busses.

The AVnu Alliance is a community creating an interoperable ecosystem of low-latency, time-synchronized, highly reliable networked devices using open standards. AVnu creates certification programs to ensure interoperability of networked devices. The foundational technology enables deterministic synchronized networking based on IEEE Audio Video Bridging (AVB) / Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) base standards. The Alliance, in conjunction with other complimentary standards bodies and alliances, develops complete solutions in professional AV, automotive, industrial control and consumer segments.

Resources

• AVnu Alliance White Paper: “AVB for Automotive Use”

• Automotive Ethernet AVB Functional and Interoperability Specification. Revision 1.4 12 May 2015