Performance evaluation of the inter-domain communication in a switched Ethernet based in-car network

Today's premium vehicles are some of the most complex consumer goods-featuring a large number of different functionalities. These functionalities are being implemented by numerous Electronic Control Units (ECUs), which are often inter- connected with CAN, FlexRay, LIN, and MOST. However, some car models already use Ethernet for high bandwidth applications, like diagnosis, flash update, and multimedia applications. With the increasing number of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) the network architecture of the vehicle needs to change in order to keep up with the growing demands. In this paper we focus on a domain-based evolution of today's in-vehicle network using switched Ethernet to keep up with ADAS demands. We examine different suitable Ethernet-based topologies and evaluate them based on realistic in-vehicle traffic in different network load situations. In addition, we determine the impact of MAC-Layer prioritization to the provided in-car applications and to the communication between the in-car domains.