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First MOST Cooperation Carmaker Member Pioneers MOST150

The MOST Cooperation is proud to announce that its core partner members Audi and Daimler will be the first carmakers to integrate MOST150 into series production vehicles. “Since the first implementation of MOST25 in an Audi car in 2002, MOST has become the established standard for the networking of premium infotainment systems at Audi,” stated Jens Koetz, Director of the division of electrical/electronic design, networking, energy systems, and system safety at AUDI AG. “Now the new generation MOST150 offers unique advantages as a speed upgrade through consistent further development of the existing transmission technology. Infotainment applications place very different demands on the network infrastructure, and MOST150 provides all the communication mechanisms over one interface, an all-in-one approach. Because of these unbeatable advantages, the Volkswagen group has decided to introduce MOST150 throughout their range of vehicles.” First use of MOST150 will be with the start of production of the new Audi A3 series. Following this, the technology will roll out successively through each of the series in the Volkswagen group. This contains the vehicle construction sets MQB (modular transverse construction set) and MLBevo (modular longitudinal construction set). The cars derived from this platforms range from the Volkswagen Golf to the Audi A8.

To support this first use, Audi has prototyped all their planned applications on the network side based on two reference projects. The result is that Audi has declared MOST150 ready to take off. “Proving the excellent work of the MOST Cooperation, Audi will set up 100 percent on the MOST specification in regards to network management and basic MOST functionality,” said Dr. Christian Thiel, MOST Cooperation Administrator. “Audi and the MOST Cooperation have worked closely together in specifying communication for ring break diagnosis (RBD). Through this standardization, Audi is expecting a further enhancement in quality.”

MOST150 Provides Future-Proof Infrastructure for Infotainment Network

“MOST150 currently presents the best potential for synergy, and it is more versatile in application. Consequently, for us it-s the next logical step in technology,” added Jens Koetz. “MOST150 is technically and economically the best choice for a future proof infotainment network. This is the basis for the decision to introduce MOST150 in the Volkswagen Group.” Due to its consistent further development of the existing MOST25 and MOST50 transmission technology, MOST150 offers clear benefits, including an increase in bandwidth, an Ethernet channel for the transmission of IP data, isochronous streaming for the transmission of video streams, packet data transmission, synchronous streaming for transmitting multichannel audio, and a control channel to transmit control commands to peripheral devices. MOST150 allows the parallel usage of all these services through one network.

Technology Evaluations by Audi Attest to MOST150 Practical Suitability

Audi used two reference projects to evaluate the latest MOST Technology with regard to its suitability for series production usage. This ensured the verification of the initial application at Audi and minimized scheduling and technical risks. First, a MOST150 reference platform has been designed for use in the laboratory. This hardware consists of a MOST ring with seven participants (including Timing Master, Network Master, and Power Master). The focus of this project was the verification of all use cases relevant to Audi and the Volkswagen Group. Tests were performed in the areas of wake-up/sleep, stability, and performance measurements. Second, a MOST150 InCar system was employed to test the integration of MOST150 into a vehicle network, focusing on the influences of the vehicle environment on the MOST150 communication. Tests were carried out in the areas of over/undervoltage, temperature stress (climate chamber), wake-up/ sleep, and test drives. Furthermore, an ECL reference implementation is performed in MOST150 InCar in order to verify the interoperability of different Electric Control Line (ECL) transceivers and RBD verification. In addition, the recently introduced Sudden Signal Off/Critical Unlock (SSO/CU) feature was verified on this platform. Through these verification projects, Audi confirmed that MOST150 is ready for series production. Following this knowledge, Audi forwarded MOST150 into series production development to be used as the network technology for the “Modular Infotainment System” (MIB).