Highly Synchronous Modulation Scheme for Multidrop Real-Time Control

In industrial automation and automotive in-vehicle communication, real-time Ethernet becomes ever more important as a means of communication. For industrial and automotive usage, not only standard applications should be covered but also demanding real-time control applications with strict synchronization requirements. Another requirement is low-cost and low-weight cabling that does not require multiple wire pairs and multiple bridges, but may use twisted pair cabling and a multidrop architecture, which overcomes the need for bridging. Here we are presenting a modulation scheme that allows highly synchronous communication on a shared medium for N communication nodes. Our scheme uses orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) in conjunction with frequency and time multiplexing for N communication nodes. Along with end-to-end simulation, first proof-of-concept implementation is also provided.