What are in-vehicle communication systems?

In-vehicle communication systems are networks and technologies that allow different electronic components within a vehicle to send and receive messages with each other. These systems are the backbone of modern transportation, powering everything from basic functions like engine control and infotainment to advanced features like active safety systems and autonomous driving. At their core, in-vehicle communication systems are computer networks designed to operate within the unique and often harsh environment of a vehicle. This involves communication between the various electronic control units (ECU), sensors, and actuators within the vehicle itself. The purpose is to ensure that different components of the car can "talk" to each other and coordinate their functions seamlessly.

What is Automotive Ethernet?

Automotive Ethernet is a specialized version of the standard Ethernet technology, specifically adapted to meet the unique and demanding requirements of in-vehicle communication networks. While it leverages the fundamental principles of Ethernet, its physical layer and some operational aspects are significantly different to suit the harsh automotive environment. Automotive Ethernet is rapidly becoming the backbone of next-generation vehicle architectures due to its ability to support high bandwidth, reduce wiring complexity and weight, and improve cybersecurity. Traditional in-vehicle networks like Controller Area Network (CAN) and Local Interconnect Network (LIN) have served vehicles well for decades, handling lower bandwidth communication for systems like engine control, braking, and basic body electronics. However, the rise of advanced features in modern cars demands significantly higher bandwidth and more robust, scalable communication.

What is Automotive SerDes?

Automotive Serializer/Deserializer (SerDes) is a critical technology in modern vehicles, particularly for high-bandwidth, point-to-point connections. It is a method of data transmission that addresses the challenges of moving vast amounts of data from sensors (like cameras, radar, and lidar) and displaying it over relatively long distances within the vehicle, while keeping wiring complexity and cost down. The major benefit of SerDes lies in its ability to combine multiple data lines and an associated clock signal into a single serial stream, which is then transmitted over just one or two pairs of wires. This significantly reduces the number of physical connections, cable bulk, and cost. SerDes is critical to facilitating communication for ADAS and autonomous sensors.

How do in-vehicle communication systems contribute to ADAS and autonomous driving?

In-vehicle communication systems are critical to the operation and advancement of Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles (AV). They are the nervous system that allows these complex technologies to perceive, process, decide, and act. While both Automotive SerDes and Automotive Ethernet are crucial for high-bandwidth automotive data transmission used in ADAS and autonomous system communication, they serve somewhat different primary roles and have different characteristics. SerDes will handle the high-bandwidth, point-to-point links from sensors to processing units (often domain controllers), while Automotive Ethernet will form the high-speed backbone that connects these domain controllers and other vehicle systems together, facilitating overall network communication, software updates, and advanced networking functions.

In-Vehicle Communications

Streamline in-vehicle communications development

Keysight in-vehicle communications products offer high-performance design and test platforms to ensure the functionality, performance, and interoperability of modern automotive networking systems. Automotive Ethernet provides a single, universal medium for high-speed communication that allows different components to coexist on the same switched network. Keysight automotive Ethernet test products ensure network integrity for compliance, decode, TSN, TCP/IP stack testing, as well as safe and secure performance of the connected car. SerDes connections convert parallel data to serial data (and vice-versa), enabling faster communication between devices like cameras, sensors, and other autonomous driving systems. Request a quote for one of our popular configurations today. Need help selecting? Check out the resources below.

OSI layers 1–7 testing

Validate layers 1-7 of the OSI model with automotive Ethernet, starting with the physical layer and then control plane evaluation, timing accuracy, and guaranteed delivery.

Multi-gigabit data validation

Keysight automotive Ethernet and SerDes solutions validate multi-gigabit communication as modern ADAS and autonomous features demand the fastest data rates.

Time-sensitive networking

Keysight products support TSN standards, guaranteeing reliable and synchronized data delivery for safety-critical applications like real-time video streams from cameras and other sensor data.

Tx, Rx, and Lx testing

Automate testing and validation across transmitter (Tx), receiver (Rx), and channel testing from 10 Mbps to 32 Gbps, providing increased test accuracy while saving time for rigorous compliance testing.

Measurement type

Channel (Lx), Receive (Rx), Transmit (Tx), Communication interface, Media converter
Technology

Automotive Ethernet, MIPI A-PHY, ASA, GSML, Generic, CAN FD, LIN, DoIP Ethernet, XCP on Ethernet, Automotive Ethernet (Optical)
Data rate

10 Mb/s - 10 Gb/s, 100 Mb/s - 1000 Mb/s, 2 Gb/s - 32 Gb/s, 1 Mb/s - 8 Mb/s, 100 kb/s - 100 Mb/s, 100 Mb/s, 2.5 Gb/s - 10 Gb/s, 2.5 Gb/s - 50 Gb/s, 10 Mb/s