2.4 From Automotive to Flight Test Instrumentation: Wiring Reduction Using New Ethernet Standard

The electric car has required the development of a new vehicle architecture , use of new sensor technologies (cameras, UWB, radar, ) and networking extension (cloud gateways) to support new requirements of connectivity, safety, security and reliability, enabling not only current but future services (infotainment and communications). Supporting this architecture has been possible thanks to a new Ethernet standard that will reduce significantly the wiring needed: Ethernet over a single pair cable. This article introduces the main features of the new Ethernet standards related with single pair Ethernet and how Flight Test can make use of them. Currently most of FTI components have Ethernet interfaces (acquisition systems, sensors, cameras ...) so the adoption of the new standard in current architecture can be done smoothly at different paces. The proposal of new FTI architectures for some use cases are presented to show major improvements from this standard. Finally, future expected advantages for FTI components are analyzed as the adoption of Ethernet for new sensors, the use of AI devices at the edge and the co-existence with wireless and IoT technologies