MOST: A Cooperative Development Effort

Nov. 6, 2006

It's no surprise that the MOST automotive infotainment network remains number one, since it's been in development for nearly a decade. MOST is a multi-organizational cooperative effort based on a partnership of carmakers, audio/video set makers, system architects, and key component suppliers. Together, they define and adopt a common multimedia network protocol and application object model.

The origins of MOST materialized during the mid-1990s. That's when Oasis Silicon Systems (acquired by SMSC in March 2005), auto maker BMW, and Harman/Becker (a manufacturer of high-end audio systems) discussed the need for a feature-rich bus in automotive infotainment systems. Those discussions led to the MOST concept.

To standardize the technology, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Harman/Becker, and Oasis Silicon Systems founded the MOST Cooperation in 1998. The Cooperation has since expanded into a worldwide organization featuring a large list of associated partners, including a dozen leading car makers as well as more than five dozen major automotive electronics suppliers. This development background gives automotive designers using MOST the advantage of easy implementation in cars, and it avoids the more difficult design approaches needed for other networking options.

So far, about 40 European car models have implemented MOST. Expect that number to grow as car models from the U.S. and other countries join the fray.

About the Author

Roger Allan

Roger Allan is an electronics journalism veteran, and served as Electronic Design's Executive Editor for 15 of those years. He has covered just about every technology beat from semiconductors, components, packaging and power devices, to communications, test and measurement, automotive electronics, robotics, medical electronics, military electronics, robotics, and industrial electronics. His specialties include MEMS and nanoelectronics technologies. He is a contributor to the McGraw Hill Annual Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. He is also a Life Senior Member of the IEEE and holds a BSEE from New York University's School of Engineering and Science. Roger has worked for major electronics magazines besides Electronic Design, including the IEEE Spectrum, Electronics, EDN, Electronic Products, and the British New Scientist. He also has working experience in the electronics industry as a design engineer in filters, power supplies and control systems.

After his retirement from Electronic Design Magazine, He has been extensively contributing articles for Penton’s Electronic Design, Power Electronics Technology, Energy Efficiency and Technology (EE&T) and Microwaves RF Magazine, covering all of the aforementioned electronics segments as well as energy efficiency, harvesting and related technologies. He has also contributed articles to other electronics technology magazines worldwide.

He is a “jack of all trades and a master in leading-edge technologies” like MEMS, nanolectronics, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, military electronics, biometrics, implantable medical devices, and energy harvesting and related technologies.