ES920.1 - User’s Guide
14
ETAS
Hardware Description
3
Hardware Description
This chapter provides an overview of FlexRay and the ES920.1 module and pro
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vides you with information on its properties, connectors and the LED.
3.1
Overview
3.1.1
FlexRay
The complexity of vehicle electronics is permanently on the increase due to the
increasing number, growing function scope and the networking of electronic
ECUs in vehicles. Error-free functioning of the systems is essential for safety
applications such as X-by-Wire (e.g. for the brake system or steering). This
requires, for example, reliable and real-time-capable data transfer between the
electrical and mechatronic components.
The new powerful FlexRay bus system fulfils these demands. It has a range of
innovative functional and safety features with which system safety in vehicles can
be improved. The FlexRay bus system enables data rates of up to 10 MBit/s in a
topology of point-to-point connections, active stars and mixed systems. Typical
of this topology are, for example, ideal bus terminations and thus minimized
reflections, defined electrical behavior, flexible expandability, error delimitation
on affected branches and optimized EMC behavior.
The importance of the standardized FlexRay bus system is permantenly on the
increase in development projects in the automotive industry. Due to redundant
data transfer, FlexRay can also be used in safety-critical applications and the
deterministic structure enables messages to be transferred reliably.
The signals to be monitored can be selected from the set of all signals available
in the connected cluster. To obtain the corresponding information, the FIBEX file
is imported to INTECRIO. INTECRIO then uses the FIBEX file to configure the
FlexRay hardware.