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Wireless Networking for Automobiles Our cars may soon be getting check-ups without stopping at the mechanic’s BY CHRISTOPHER A. LUPINI AND DOUGLAS L. WELK he electronic architecture of future vehicles will rely more heavily on wireless communications to provide features and functions necessary for vehicle operation and driver/passenger comfort. 1 This article gives an overview of wireless data communication and how it is, and will be, used for passenger vehicle applications. Figure 1 shows how wireless applications are roughly divided into on-board and off-board categories. WIRELESS BOOM IEEE 802.11 wireless networks are being rapidly deployed in home and office environments worldwide. In addition, several public sector agencies at the local, county and state levels have announced plans for wide-area deployments to attain economic growth and other benefits associated with easy broadband Internet access for their workforce and citizens. Some of the most notable examples include the cities of Philadelphia, PA, and Minneapolis, MN; Macomb and Romeo Counties in Michigan; and the state of South Dakota. Given the expectation of continued widespread growth in network deployments, it is nearly inevitable that there will be a desire to use these networks to communicate with vehicles. The initial applications for this communication link are likely to be related to entertainment functions, but will eventually expand to include diagnostic, safety and mobility functions as well. Therefore, we’ll briefly explore some of these potential applications. WIRELESS PROTOCOL CANDIDATES There are many possible wireless communication schemes. The primary one discussed in the industry today is 802.11. This will, in fact, probably be the most popular implementation for the foreseeable future. However, 802.11 may not be suitable for all applications and other protocols for automotive use (Fig. 2) have cropped up—including Zigbee and Bluetooth®. Much of the automotive industry’s attention has been on Bluetooth. However, 802.11 also has its proponents, so many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers are studying co-location so that products containing either standard can exist near each other. Ultrawideband (UWB) is the wild card that some think will make Bluetooth and 802.11 obsolete. Approved by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in February 2002, UWB is essentially white noise communication. Using precise clocking, tiny amounts of information are transported across a very wide range of frequencies at very low power (perhaps 1/10,000 that of a cell phone). Compared with spread spectrum, which uses a small range of frequencies one at a time, UWB uses a wide range of frequencies all at once. UWB is used for global position sensing, works indoors and easily 22 | Technology Century | AUGUST–SEPTEMBER 2005
penetrates obstructions. Table 1 lists leading wireless protocol candidates. 2 Table 2 shows a more technical comparison of the leading wireless protocol candidates for in-vehicle use. IN THE VEHICLE Current use of wireless networks in vehicles has been limited to applications such as remote keyless entry and tire pressure monitoring systems. Small-scale, true networked systems have been developed for hands-free operation of cell phones in automobiles via Bluetooth. In the future, however, wireless technology may allow connections between headrest displays, which could be used for video sharing. Engineers are also interested in chassis and body applications of wireless technology because of the attractiveness of saving wires, connectors and their associated weight. Even powertrain electronics could use wireless networking to communicate between various sensors and actuators. Entertainment The advantages of wireless networks are particularly compelling for entertainment applications because they do not require the widespread deployment of a wireless infrastructure. Instead, they obtain and exchange information with the wireless networks installed in each consumer’s home. In addition, entertainment applications offer functionality that can be used every day, thereby creating an increased perception of value by the consumer over other applications that may only be used occasionally, or even rarely. In addition, consumers have demonstrated a willingness to pay for entertainment features—most recently by the success of the satellite radio providers. Thus, consumers can help pay for the hardware by purchasing entertainment features. This hardware can then be used to support other applications that are important, but don’t have a high perceived value on a day-to-day basis. For these reasons, we believe that entertainment applications will be the first vehicle-based uses of wireless networks. Fig. 1: Wireless applications for a vehicle are divided into on-board and o-board categories. Fig. 2: Major wireless protocols used in the automotive industry compared by range and throughput. www.esd.org | The Engineering Society of Detroit | 23
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