Korea's new enhanced electronic automotive transmission protocol blasts existing technology out of the water, bringing the age of self-drive cars a step closer. Photo / iStock
Korean researchers have designed an enhanced electronic automotive transmission protocol that blasts existing technology out of the water, bringing the age of self-drive cars a step closer.
A Controller Area Network or CAN-bus protocol is an automotive standard developed by Bosch between 1983 and 1987, and which allows
microcontrollers and car components to communicate with each other without needing a host computer. It is a message-based protocol, designed originally to multiplex electrical signals within automobiles, but is also used in many other contexts.
Compared to today's commonly used 1Megabyte per second CAN-bus, this new Turbo-CAN protocol unveiled by Korea's Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology this week transfers data at a momentous 100 Megabyte per second, removing information bottleneck currently holding back the further development of in-car networks, reports Korea's Arirang news, with a video clip to explain how the new protocol works.
The Turbo Controller Area Network links a range of automotive devices, from engine control, lighting system and brakes to airbags.
While the regular CAN is suitable for processing applications with relatively low data capacity such as sending brake or lighting signals, the next step in motoring is about self-driving cars that require complex programs such as camera sensors and auto speed controllers.
