Abstract
During the last decades, the complexity in automotive communication media
increased sharply. A solution to this problem might be a network based approach with a simple
physical layer, which provides the necessary features like fault tolerance through its
architecture. In this paper a network based approach to automotive communication media is
analyzed with a focus on timing issues. Using queuing theory it is shown that a well designed
system with this approach can fulfil the timing criteria of safety relevant automotive
applications to a satisfactory degree.
Keywords - Bus systems, safety relevant electronic systems, drive-by-wire, architecture of
automotive electronic systems, distributed systems