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Focus on Electronics
Motorola, VCT to develop networking architectures
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The increasing electronic content of cars demands smarter, more cost-effective vehicle communication systems to link the numerous control units, according to Denis Griot, Motorola Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Body Electronics and Occupant Safety Division. Today, there is a variety of incompatible sub buses in the market, but new networking standards will simplify the integration and maintenance of applications and reduce costs for manufacturers. Motorola and Volcano Communications Technologies (VCT) expect to be the first to offer comprehensive Local Interconnect Network (LIN) based solutions with development tool support as a result of their strategic alliance to develop future vehicle networking architectures. The two companies intend to initially offer solutions for the LIN standard's cost-effective serial networking architecture.
In March, Motorola and VCT joined with Audi, BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Volvo Car, and Volkswagen to form the LIN consortium that defined a cost-competitive, sub-bus network solution. LIN complements Controller Area Network (CAN) solutions by providing customers with lower-cost connections within local network clusters. LIN gives automotive manufacturers a flexible and cost effective way to adapt car platforms across all models and generally increase functionality. For instance, application devices can be more easily connected to the car network and be accessible to a range of diagnostics and services.
The VCT/Motorola alliance is expected to offer hardware and software solutions for car manufacturers as they face the challenge of networking an increasing number of low-end applications such as door locks, windows, and mirror-control systems. Motorola plans to contribute its DigitalDNA silicon and software technology and VCT will offer its tool chain for design, configuration, and maintenance of embedded real-time communications systems.
Kevin Jost
AEI September 2000
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