Plug-and-Play Connection of Multiple Sensors with Different I/Fs for In-Vehicle Networks

In-vehicle networks have been introduced not only in automobiles but also in various fields of manufacturing industries. They have become an essential elemental technology. However, designing a system in which multiple ECUs and sensors cooperate through an in-vehicle network requires knowledge not only of the network itself but also of embedded systems. Consequently, such design is a difficult task for beginners with insufficient knowledge. This study uses an approach in which the above knowledge is concealed and connections to the in-vehicle network are supported in a plug-and-play manner. The system, designated as the Complex Automotive Network Vanquishing Assistance System (CANVAS), is proposed. Even beginners are able to connect the ECUs and the sensors to an in-vehicle network using CANVAS without consideration of differences in the I/Fs adopted in the sensors and coding drivers for them. After presenting the CANVAS configuration, ease of connection was confirmed based on the time necessary to connect various distance sensors to a mobile robot with CANVAS. The CANVAS effectiveness was also confirmed through a comparative investigation of the distance sensors in a prototyping site as one use case. © 2024 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC.