Infineon’s bus speeds in-vehicle communications

Infineon Technologies has announced that it has started working on its next generation FlexRay standard bus system for high-speed in-vehicle communications.

Supporting a data transfer rate of at least 10 Megabits per second (Mbps), Infineon’s FlexRay transceivers are 10 times faster than the current CAN (Control Area Network) standard now used in vehicles. Combined with standard microcontrollers, Infineon aims to offer a complete bus system for communication between in-vehicle control units, sensors and actuators dedicated to automotive safety. This would include braking and steering systems, and powertrain applications.

The proposed FlexRay system will consist of a stand-alone FlexRay protocol controller that can be integrated with 16- and 32-bit microcontrollers for vehicle safety and engine control applications. The stand-alone FlexRay protocol controller, which already is available, can be linked to all current microcontrollers and can use its Micro Second Bus as cost-effective and fast communication interface between two microcontrollers.

The bus system also includes a FlexRay transceiver, software and peripherals. Infineon uses the FlexRay IP-based technology for this new transceiver developed by austriamicrosystems,  a developer and manufacturer of analogue high-performance ICs.