IN-VEHICLE TELEMATICS- ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY CONTRIBUTION TO INTELLIGENT AUTOMOTIVES

GEETISHREE MISHRA¹, RAJESHWARI HEGDE^2
1Dept of Electronics and Communication Engg, BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore, India
²Dept of Telecommunication Engg, BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore, India

Received : 12-01-2012     Accepted : 15-02-2012     Published : 24-03-2012
Volume : 3     Issue : 1       Pages : 187 - 190
J Inform Syst Comm 3.1 (2012):187-190

Automotive telematics the newly explored technology basically deals with the services provided to vehicles by deploying a telecommunication control unit. Today’s intelligent vehicles have advanced features like pre crash warning, the environment guidance and traffic alert system, infotainment services, fleet management and diagnostics services which come under in-vehicle telematics. The growing needs to access information in remote, mobile environments have sparked interests in In-Vehicle Telematics Systems. With the wireless communication network and location data, the existing telematics system provides various information services such as navigation, emergency service etc. In addition, it collects and exploits vehicle status through in-vehicle sensor network such as CAN and LIN for remote fault monitoring and diagnostics. ECU’s firmware’s can be remotely upgraded through internet. This paper discusses the need for in vehicle Telematics, various applications and their implementations.

In-vehicle telematics, Telematics control unit, In-vehicle networks, Remote diagnostics, Firmware, Wireless technology.

Government-mandated emission regulations, fuel economy and safety and comfort requirements motivated the initial use of electronics in automotives. The tremendous performance improvements and relatively low cost of electronics have led to an explosive application of electronics in virtually every automotive subsystem. After microprocessors were introduced for engine control, they were then used in chassis systems, e.g. Antilock Braking System (ABS) and Electronics Stability Program (ESP) then in the body, e.g. for the air condition or vehicle access system replacing mechanically actuated components with electrically actuated ones (X-by-wire). The interconnected intelligent electronic devices, capable of processing and sharing information about the car, the driver, the environment, and others sources of data. The immense expansion in implementing intelligent sensors, micro-controllers and actuators in modern vehicles led to the development of several communication protocols to provide networking communications between ECUSs. These communication protocols are CAN, LIN, MOST, FlexRay and Byteflight etc [11] . The in-vehicle network is a cluster of sub networks of ECU’s of similar domain each would be using one of these protocols. The Gate-way ECU enables information exchange between ECU’s of different domain.
The technology integration between smart nodes, PCs, wireless communication systems, and the Internet is known as telematics. In addition to ECUs, personal computers and wireless telecommunication seem very likely to co-exist in most vehicles within the next few years. The wireless telecommunication media with Internet access are being developed to provide efficient communication between vehicles and Internet gateways [2] . The automotive telematics deals with services provided to vehicles over a telecommunication device. Communication systems such as Global positioning system, radio reception, information systems comes under in-vehicle telematics. A new research area in ITS (Intelligent Transportation System) is the Telematics, which combines Telecommunication with Informatics and is the central development of ITS [14] .
Today telematics and multimedia applications are in the forefront with vehicle tracking, remote diagnostics, collision avoidance and remote firmware upgradation having an on-board web enabled telematics control unit [1] .
This new information technology introduces Internet services into the vehicle. Many applications appear nowadays for telematics including safety, roadside assistance, real time error detection and diagnostics, vehicle tracking and monitoring, providing traffic information etc [4] . This paper is organized as follows. Section II illustrates the current available vehicle networks, while Section III presents in-vehicle Telematics. Various applications and services are discussed in Section IV. The conclusion is presented in section V.

In-vehicle networking, also known as multiplexing, is a method for transferring data among distributed electronic modules via a serial data bus. Networking allows greater vehicle content flexibility because functions can be added through software changes. As the electrical content of today's vehicles continues to increase the need for networking is even more evident. The currently available in vehicle networks are, Controller Area Network(CAN), Local Interconnect Network(LIN), Media Oriented System Transport(MOST), FlexRay, Byteflight, Bluetooth, GPRS etc [3,11] . In addition, the Global Positioning System (GPS) is increasingly becoming available inside the vehicle [6] .
CAN developed by Bosch in the mid-1980s is a serial, asynchronous, multi-master communication protocol for connecting control modules like smart sensors, actuators, and other CAN-capable micro-controllers. CAN supports bit rates in the range of 1Kbps to 1Mbps. The data rate less than 125Kbps normally known as low speed CAN. Data rate 125Kbps to 1Mbps is known as high speed CAN. The CAN node has its own clock generator for sampling the incoming data. CAN uses single wire, dual wire or fault tolerant techniques for signaling. LIN is a low-speed, single-master, multiple-slave serial networking protocol [3] . LIN is the standard designed for inexpensive communication between intelligent sensors and actuators inside the vehicle. Maximum speed is 20 Kbps. Typical applications for body control units are, Door Locks, Climate Control, Seat Belts, Sunroof, Lighting, Window Lift, Mirror Control etc. MOST is a synchronous fiber-optic network used for connecting audio and video media to provide inexpensive and robust high performance networking for multimedia applications inside automobiles [11] . FlexRay is the next- generation, deterministic and fault-tolerant network protocol to enable high-bandwidth, safety-critical applications Maximum speed is 10 Mbps per channel (dual channel). Typical applications are Drive-by-Wire, Brake-by-Wire, Advanced Safety and Collision Avoidance Systems, Steer-by-Wire, Stability Control, Camera-Based Monitoring Systems. Byteflight is the automotive protocol created by BMW and partners to address the need for safety-critical, fault tolerant means of electronic communication between automotive components that uses a hybrid synchronous/asynchronous TDMA based means of data transfer with pure event-triggered databuses. Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances using short wavelength radio transmissions in the ISM band from 2400-2480 MHz from fixed and mobile devices, creating Personal Area Networks (PANs) with high levels of security [5] . Due to mobile device trends and their influence in the cars, for various device integration, Bluetooth enhances safety in the car. Wi-Fi is a wireless version of a traditional Ethernet network, and requires configuration to set up shared resources, transmit files, and to set up audio links for example, headsets and hands-free devices. Wi-Fi uses the same radio frequencies as Bluetooth, but with higher power, resulting in a faster connection and better range from the base station. General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data service on the 2G and 3G cellular communication systems Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). GPRS is a best-effort service, implying variable throughput and latency that depend on the number of other users sharing the service concurrently, as opposed to circuit switching. GPRS technology is employed in WSN based telematics system. The GPS is a space-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites. It is maintained by the United States government and is freely accessible by anyone with a GPS receiver. For vehicle navigation system, GPS receiver is implemented with the in-vehicle telematics control unit.

The integrated use of telecommunication and informatics, for application in vehicles and with control of vehicles on the move is called in-vehicle Telematics. 802.11p the IEEE standard in the 802.11 family and also referred to as Wireless Access for the Vehicular Environment (WAVE), is the primary standard that addresses and enhances the intelligent transportation system [5] . According to the Telematics Research Group [1,2] , general requirements for a telematics-enabled vehicle are a two-way communications device generally a cell phone, a location-finding technology i.e either the GPS or a cell phone location technology, and The Telematics Control Unit (TCU) is an embedded computer designed for telematics functions which may be hands free cell phone-radio integration, or navigation-cell phone-radio integration [7,8] . The generic diagram that shows the main components of in-vehicle telematics system is shown in [Fig-2] . It consists of telematics control unit, telematics network operations system, wireless communications infrastructure, service provider and the service provider call center.
Added features could be telematics service monitoring, remote auto function control, remote auto diagnostics, auto collision notification, crash event data recorder, Bluetooth communication, speech user interface, and on-board or offboard navigation [1] . Ford Telematics uses the Motorola Telematics Communication Unit (TCUTM) [2] , which consists of a Motorola GPS receiver and wireless communications technology. This unit is a hands-free cellular voice and data transmission system, which use the Vodafone Group and its networks for providing cellular phone service. The Ford Telematics system provides location-based operator services, roadside assistance, voice-activated telephone capabilities and access to emergency services [9] . The Telematics Control Unit works as the gateway for the different networks inside the vehicle that provides connectivity among the in-vehicle networks themselves, and between each of them and the Internet as necessary; therefore, the computer should have an interface to every network that needs to be connected to it and also to the Internet to provide connectivity between the vehicle network and the Internet as well as to provide regular Internet access for browsing and entertainment [1] .

WSN-based intelligent telemetics system is to provide environment information such as temperature, moisture, illumination and existence of any objects on the road, accident risk information, and neighboring vehicle’s status information by connecting in-vehicle sensor network with wireless sensor network constructed for the road side environment. WSN-based intelligent telematics system largely consists of two sub-systems. One is vehicle to road system which selects and processes information about the vehicle status and road environment, and transmits it to control server through wireless communication between base station and telematics terminal. The other is vehicle-to-vehicle system which forms an ad-hoc network with neighboring vehicles and analyses information about the vehicle status gathered from in-vehicle sensor network. [Fig-3] shows the system architecture of WSN-based Intelligent Telematics System.
The huge amount of data generated from electronic control units and sensors inside the vehicle represents all the measurements and activities that the electronic systems are performing. Measurements are like temperature, pressure, and fluids levels for ABS braking, traction control, and gear shifting activities instances [5] .
This valuable Data is meaningful only when preserved and secured, enables performance analysis at any future time. Considerable benefits could be gained from collecting data generated inside the vehicle. Such data could be used for detecting minor malfunctions that could generate fatal errors and saves the manufacturer the need of an unexpected recall of the vehicle. This developing database, at the same time, would be shared with the service centers in order to predict necessary maintenance and provide service centers with enough information for diagnosing an error. This data collection and the consequent benefits can together be called remote diagnostics. Researchers at Daimler-Chrysler have discovered a treasure in the data garbage that opens up new opportunities for monitoring a vehicle’s condition and spotting malfunctions [2] . PC gateway collects operational activities of the electronic systems inside the vehicle, and provide a summary of the measurements that are taken by the sensors. A summarized report of all important data generated according to algorithms prepared by the manufacturer is uploaded periodically to the database server automatically.
To reprogram a controller, the vehicle needs to be driven to the service center, and the new program would be downloaded to the specific target from a computer connected directly to it. This implies that each control unit has to have a special port for flashing, which is usually done via a serial port such as RS232 or with special connectors such as the Background Debug Monitor connector that is used with some Motorola controllers [1] . The automotive industry is moving toward implementing micro-controllers with Flash memory inside the vehicles after significant reduction in its price which allows reprogramming of the control unit rather than replacing it if the revision of its firmware is needed [4,5] . Several hardware and software requirements have to be provided to the vehicle infrastructure in order to implement this new feature of remote updating or reprogramming the firmware. The type of micro-controllers that has an on-chip Flash programming voltage generator might be the most convenient to use. Software requirement is the need of a permanent Boot-loader firmware residing in the micro-controller nonvolatile memory, which would provide the functions that enable the communication with the target via CAN. These functions include Flash erasing and programming routines. To implement this functionality, either the Flash modifying routines embed into the firmware of the target that is written by the user and have it activated by a special CAN message or the Flash modifying routines be loaded into the dynamic memory of the micro-controller only when they are needed. These certain messages are the commands that are going to invoke the corresponding routine from either the target user firmware or from the embedded Boot-loader [5] .
Vehicle tracking is a way of monitoring the location, movements, status and behaviour of a vehicle or fleet of vehicles. This is achieved through a combination of a GPS receiver and an electronic device usually comprising a GSM GPRS modem or SMS sender installed in each vehicle, communicating with the user dispatching co-ordinating unit and PC- or web-based software [5,6] . Satellite navigation in the context of vehicle telematics is the technology of using a GPS and electronic mapping tool to enable the driver of a vehicle to locate a position, plan a route and navigate a journey. Telematics service providers can register their services and service consumers can subscribe to avail the services. Adopting open architecture, one proposed platform will contribute to efficient facilities of Telematics services in promising ubiquitous environments [12] .
Telematics technologies are self-orientating open network architecture structure of variable programmable intelligent system that provides warning information with surrounding vehicles in the vicinity of travel, intra-vehicle, and infrastructure. By use of telematics as applied to intelligent vehicle technologies, instantaneous direction travel cognizance of a vehicle may be transmitted in real-time to surrounding vehicles traveling in the local area of vehicles equipped to receive said warning signals of danger [10] .
Wireless vehicle safety communications telematics aid in car safety and road safety. It is an electronic sub-system in a car or other vehicle for the purpose of exchanging safety information, about such things as road hazards and the locations and speeds of vehicles, over short range radio links. This may involve temporary ad hoc wireless local area networks [4] . The new telematics hardware portfolio is shown in [Fig-4] above.
Wireless units will be installed in vehicles and probably also in fixed locations such as near traffic signals and emergency call boxes along the road. Sensors in the cars and at the fixed locations, as well as possible connections to wider networks, will provide the information, which will be displayed to the drivers. The range of the radio links can be extended by forwarding messages along multi-hop paths. Even without fixed units, information about fixed hazards can be maintained by moving vehicles by passing it backwards. It also seems possible for traffic lights, which one can expect to become smarter, to use this information to reduce the chance of collisions [6] . It may connect directly to the adaptive cruise control or other vehicle control aids. Cars and trucks with the wireless system connected to their brakes may move in convoys, to save fuel and space on the roads. When any column member slows down, all those behind it will automatically slow. There are also possibilities that need less engineering effort. A radio beacon could be connected to the brake light for example. The 30 MHz allocated is at 5.9 GHz, and unallocated bandwidth at 5.4 GHz may also be used. The standard is IEEE 802.11p, a low latency form of the Wi-Fi local area network standard [5,10] .

In this paper we have discussed about the current in-vehicle telematics applications and emergency services, their need in the present road environment and the basic hardware and software platform requirements for each application. The telematics control unit being the gateway between various in-vehicle networks and the internet which is also equipped with GPS receiver should have appropriate interface for each connection. Hands free interfaces becoming increasingly important for in-vehicle wireless services. Auto electronics systems need two-way communication for software upgrade, remote diagnostics and other functions like tracking and incident data collection. The value proposition of services improves as more options become available. The available Internet services are basically focused on entertainment, email, and web browsing while more practical applications and services are needed. It can be concluded that, Telematics technology and application deployment will be widespread in the near future.

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	Fig. 1- In-Vehicle Network
	Fig. 2- Main components of a Telematics System
	Fig. 3- WSN based intelligent telematics system
	Fig. 4- The new telematics Hardware portfolio