Fault-Tolerant Communication in Safety-Relevant Automotive Applications

More and more mechanical functions of cars will be controlled electronically. The control functions are performed by a set of controllers, which are connected by a network rather than by individuals links in cable trees. Modern cars own up to 50 ECUs (electronic control units) and separate communication systems for each region of control like power train, braking system, etc. Nowadays a typical communication system is the CAN(TM) bus.