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News Release from: FlexRay Consortium
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 01 March 2007
Conformance tests upgrade FlexRay
specification
Two new conformance tests complete the FlexRay V2.1 specification set that was published in 2005.
The FlexRay Consortium has announced the release of the FlexRay V2.1 Protocol and Physical Layer Conformance Tests The FlexRay Consortium, including core partners BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Freescale Semiconductor, GM, NXP Semiconductors, Robert Bosch and Volkswagen, has made significant strides toward standardisation, market adoption and mass production since the system development first began in late 2000
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 8 Nov 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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On successful completion of the test, these devices will be qualified as conforming to the FlexRay V2.1 standard.
"The consortium is pleased to have successfully completed the implementation of conformance testing; now automotive manufacturers can benefit from a common standard across regions and across their own vehicle platforms, which simplifies design, production and ultimately reduces costs", stated Claas Bracklo, FlexRay Consortium Spokesperson and Head of Hardware and Software Components at BMW.
"With the conformance tests in place, carmakers around the world can begin using the FlexRay standard in their new vehicle platforms, bringing advanced safety and comfort applications to consumers for improved performance, while differentiating through these new applications".
Originally intended as the vehicle network to enable "x-by-wire" applications - where mechanical systems are replaced by electronic systems - the first implementation has recently started in mass production in an advanced chassis control application of the new BMW X5.
With this fast and practical use of FlexRay, market adoption is expected to accelerate very quickly.
Several members of the consortium have definitive timelines and plans for using FlexRay in their vehicle platforms.
For mass production, all products must pass the conformance tests and be certified as compliant to the FlexRay V2.1 standard.
The FlexRay V2.1 protocol operates at 10Mbit/s and is set to work in an environment for safety relevant systems, such as active braking and x-by-wire applications.
FlexRay has become the carmakers' favoured protocol for advanced control applications due to its time-triggered operation and fault tolerance providing reliable, on-time delivery of messages.
It is a flexible system allowing for a large freedom of network topologies comprising passive bus and active star topologies as well as a large variety of mixed topologies.
It offers over 20 times more net bandwidth than CAN, the bus used in existing chassis and powertrain applications.
Test house for the FlexRay V2.1 Protocol Conformance Test is TUV Nord, for the FlexRay V2.1 Physical Layer Conformance Test C and S Group and TZM.
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