The modern automobile is loaded with electronics. Simple electronics of the mid- to late-20th century like electronic ignition and 8-track/cassette audio has been replaced with controls on everything. Examples include ABS, suspension/stability control, fuel injection, engine pollution controls, and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), as well as satellite radio, GPS navigation, Wi-Fi hot spots, Bluetooth hands-free controls, and streaming audio.
In turn, all of this has given rise to the need for wired networks to organize the various subsystems and cut down on the amount of wiring needed. Simple networks like the local interconnect network (LIN) and controller area network (CAN) have been used for years.
But, as cars became more connected, faster networks like FlexRay and Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST) were adopted. Now, though, newer vehicles are required to handle even greater amounts of data at ever-higher speeds, which has led to the adoption of Ethernet. In addition, gateways that consolidate those slower networks also evolved to meet this need.
Ethernet Primer
Ethernet first emerged from the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in 1973 as a coax-based bus design. It was then standardized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as 802.3. Then over the years, it was updated and enhanced to produce many different versions. The coax standards were replaced by twisted-pair and fiber versions. And higher-speed variations arrived. The initial 10-Mb/s speed has seen gradual upgrades to 100 Mb/s, 1 Gb/s, 10 Gb/s, and 100 Gb/s.
The 1- and 10-Gb/s twisted-pair versions are the most popular today, as are related standards such as Power over Ethernet (PoE) that furnishes dc power to remote nodes. Older, slower versions are also still popular in many applications.
Ethernet was and still is primarily used for commercial office local-area networks. However, a hardened version known as Industrial Ethernet has emerged to serve industrial automation applications. It has steadily replaced legacy data-communications connections like RS-232, RS-485, and a variety of fieldbuses (Modbus, Profibus, etc.) that have developed over the years.