The second generation of FlexRay transceiver

Published:2012/3/18 21:47:00 Author:Ecco From:SeekIC

The FlexRay electrical physical layer spec rev. 3.0.1 has been pushed. It is the second generation of FlexRay transceiver and it starts mass production. The conformity, compatibility, and interoperability of new products are taken for granted, the semiconductor manufacturers have to ensure full device specific functional range in existing applications as a drop-in replacement.

Back in 2006, the first vehicle including a FlexRay network was known as adaptive drive (by BMW), and surely it presented an important milestone for the new technology, made necessary for competing with established network systems. The deterministic communication method of FlexRay was soon promoted by the system architects, opening up new vistas for the design of chassis, powertrain, and safety-related applications.

The goal of the second generation transceivers is to reduce costs without skipping currently required functionality. The system complexity regarding software, hardware, and network topology has increased. This fact profoundly conflicts with the cost pressure weighting down newly introduced technologies. According to the FlexRay definition, a compliant physical layer communication channel consists of four elements: bus driver (BD), twisted pair (TP) bus line, bus termination, and an active star (AS). The BD (transceiver) is an interface between the microcontroller (including the FlexRay communication controller) and the FlexRay bus. The bus driver converts the digital data stream to differential analog bus voltage and vice versa. The twisted pair bus line, with defined surge impedance, connects two or more bus nodes. The bus line is terminated by a resistor.

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