BroadR-Reach (later also known as ''OPEN Alliance BroadR-Reach'' or ''OABR'') technology is an

Ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

physical layer standard designed for automotive connectivity applications. BroadR-Reach allows multiple in-vehicle systems to simultaneously access information over unshielded single twisted pair cable. BroadR-Reach was invented and is promoted by

Broadcom Corporation Broadcom Corporation was an American fabless manufacturing, fabless semiconductor company that made products for the wireless and broadband communication industry. It was acquired by Avago Technologies for $37billion in 2016 and operates as a ...

, now

Broadcom Limited Broadcom Inc. is an American multinational designer, developer, manufacturer, and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data center, networking, software, ...

Networks

Using BroadR-Reach technology in automotive enables the migration from multiple closed applications to an open

-based network. This allows automotive manufacturers to incorporate multiple electronic systems and devices, such as advanced safety features (i.e. 360-degree surround view parking assistance, rear-view cameras and collision avoidance systems) and comfort and infotainment features. The automotive-qualified BroadR-Reach Ethernet physical layer standard can be combined with

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE ...

802.3 compliant switch technology to deliver 100 Mbit/s over unshielded single twisted pair cable. This innovation bypasses traditional cabling for Ethernet connectivity, allowing all vehicle components to connect using wires that are lighter and more cost effective.

Physical layer

The BroadR-Reach

automotive Ethernet IEEE 802.3bz, NBASE-T and MGBASE-T are standards released in 2016 for Ethernet over twisted pair at speeds of 2.5 and . These use the same cabling as the ubiquitous Gigabit Ethernet, yet offer higher speeds. The resulting standards are named 2.5GB ...

standard realizes simultaneous transmit and receive (i.e., full-duplex) operations on a single-pair cable. In order to better de-correlate the signals, the digital signal processor (DSP) uses a highly optimized scrambler when compared to the scrambler used in 100BASE-TX. This provides a robust and efficient signaling scheme required by automotive applications. The BroadR-Reach automotive Ethernet standard uses a signaling scheme with higher spectral efficiency than that of 100BASE-TX. This limits the signal bandwidth of Automotive Ethernet to 33.3 MHz, which is about half the bandwidth of 100BASE-TX. A lower signal bandwidth improves return loss, reduces crosstalk, and ensures that BroadR-Reach automotive Ethernet standard passes the stringent automotive electromagnetic emission requirements.

Standardization

The

OPEN Alliance SIG The OPEN Alliance is a non-profit, special interest group (SIG) of mainly automotive industry and technology providers collaborating to encourage wide scale adoption of Ethernet-based communication as the standard in automotive networking appl ...

is a special interest group formed by

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

Broadcom Broadcom Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational designer, developer, manufacturer, and global supplier of a wide range of semiconductor and infrastructure software products. Broadcom's product offerings serve the data cen ...

Freescale Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. was an American semiconductor manufacturer. It was created by the divestiture of the Semiconductor Products Sector of Motorola in 2004. Freescale focused their integrated circuit products on the automotive, embedde ...

, Harman,

Hyundai Hyundai is a former South Korean industrial conglomerate ("''chaebol''"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Asan, a real estate construction ...

, NXP and

STMicroelectronics STMicroelectronics Naamloze vennootschap, NV (commonly referred to as ST or STMicro) is a European multinational corporation, multinational semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company. It is the largest of such companies in Europe. ...

to establish BroadR-Reach as an open standard and to encourage wide scale adoption of automotive Ethernet as the connectivity standard in automotive networking applications. Since its inception in late 2011, membership has reached more than 300 members as of 22 March 2016.

IEEE 802.3 IEEE 802.3 is a working group and a collection of standards defining the physical layer and data link layer's media access control (MAC) of wired Ethernet. The standards are produced by the working group of the Institute of Electrical and Electro ...

standardized

100BASE-T1 In computer networking, Fast Ethernet Ethernet physical layer, physical layers carry traffic at the nominal rate of . The Classic Ethernet, prior Ethernet speed was . Of the Fast Ethernet physical layers, 100BASE-TX is by far the most common. ...

in IEEE 802.3bw-2015 Clause 96.

Licensing

The BroadR-Reach automotive Ethernet standard was officially released in December 2011, following the formation of The OPEN (One-Pair Ether-Net) Alliance Special Interest Group (SIG) (

). License to the specification for BroadR-Reach is available to all interested OPEN Alliance SIG members under

RAND The RAND Corporation, doing business as RAND, is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in research and development (R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the ...

terms via a license from

Corporation.

References

{{Reflist

External links

The OPEN Alliance SIG (official website)

Electronics Weekly: NXP, Broadcom and Freescale drive Ethernet in cars

EDN Network: Alliance formed for using Ethernet in vehicles

Automotive IT: Alliance formed to advance ethernet for in-car connectivity

New York Times: The Coming Car Electronics Revolution

Automotive Engineering Online: Ethernet in Cars: an idea whose time has come

Ethernet standards