Implementation of FlexRay protocol with an automotive application

Abstract

FlexRay is a high-speed communications protocol with high flexibility and reliability. It was devised by automotive manufacturers and semiconductor vendors. FlexRay provides a high speed serial communication, time triggered bus and fault tolerant communication between electronic devices for automotive applications. In this paper, we first design the FlexRay communication controller, bus guardian protocol specification and function parts using SDL (Specification and Description Language). Then, the system is re-designed using Verilog HDL based on the SDL source. The FlexRay system is synthesized using Samsung 0.35 µml technology. It is shown that the designed system can operate in the frequency range up to 76 MHz. In addition, the FlexRay system is implemented using ALTERA Excalibur ARM EPXA4F672C3 with a bus driver chip AS8211. It is shown that the implemented system operates successfully in automobile advance alarm system in vehicle applications.