RAD-Star User’s Guide
2
© 2015-2016 Intrepid Control Systems, Inc.
Version 1.2 - June 1, 2016
message is received by the switch as usual, with only a minor delay for processing. The RAD-
Star also sends a copy of the message over conventional Ethernet to the PC so it can be
viewed and analyzed using a software tool such as Intrepid’s Vehicle Spy. A similar process
occurs for messages sent by the Automotive Ethernet switch: they are received by the RAD-
Star, forwarded to the ECU, and a copy also sent to the PC.
The interface provided by the RAD-Star is full-duplex and bidirectional. This means that
in addition to using the PC to monitor messages sent by the Automotive Ethernet devices
attached to it, you can create and send custom messages from the PC to the devices as well.
This allows you to query, test, configure and manage any BroadR-Reach ECU.
Figure 1 depicts how the RAD-Star functions when inserted into a network as an active tap.
AE
ECU
AE
Switch
ECU to
Switch
Switch
to ECU
AE
ECU
AE
Switch
Switch
to ECU
RAD-Star
Conventional
Ethernet
Network
ECU to
Switch
PC to
Switch
PC to
ECU
Figure 1: Using the RAD-Star as an Active Tap.
On the left, a standard connection between an Automotive Ethernet switch
and a single ECU. (Other ECUs connected to the switch are not shown.) On the right, the network that results after inserting
the RAD-Star as an active tap. Messages flow from the switch through the RAD-Star to the ECU, and vice-versa, maintaining
normal operation of the network. In addition, copies of each message are transmitted by the RAD-Star to the attached
conventional Ethernet network. Optionally, messages from a PC or other device on the Ethernet network may also be sent to
the switch or ECU.
Operation as a Media Converter
If only one Automotive Ethernet device is connected to the RAD-Star, it will not forward
messages received from that device to its other BroadR-Reach port (since the second port
will not be connected). However, it will continue to send those messages to the attached
conventional Ethernet device, and conversely, will send messages from the conventional
Ethernet port to the AE ECU. In this configuration, the RAD-Star is said to be operating as a
media converter
, because it converts messages from the Automotive Ethernet media format to
conventional Ethernet and vice-versa. This is depicted in Figure 2.
