Making the most of "MOST"
Car navigation, digital radios, displays, cell phones and CDs/DVDs - the latest cars from BMW and Daimler Chrusler have it all. But what connects them together so as not to distract your attention while driving? MOST (Media Oriented System Transport) network is the answer. New cars include a dozen or more devices that need to interact with drivers and passengers through visual and audible interfaces. For the reason of safety, these devices should interact automatically with minimal driver distraction. This technology is the foundation for users to be able to access telematics and information services outside the car.
MOST is the network that provides orderly interaction and coordination among various sub-systems. It is designed to meet the requirements of automotive applications. A rugged, reliable technology, it efficiently moves large amounts of streaming and packetised information alongwith the necessary control information. Currently, MOST implementations use plastic optical fibres because of their light weight, less cost and less EMI. Infotainment network provides increased bandwidth and speed due to the usage of OFC. The network supports both synchronous and synchronous data transfer.
Architecture of MOST : A typical MOST network consists of a human machine interface (HMI) which controls a CD player, radio and telephone. In the latest cars, manufacturers have replaced the conventional copper cables with the infotainment network for interconnection. Devices are in proximity and don't require a connection to the central unit. With the infotainment system only connectors, inline to the fibre in the vehicle harness are added.
MOST Network : MOST system comprises MOST interconnects and MOST devices. Interconnect is the way in which communications during system start-up are established. Communication between devices is possible after a successful interconnect. Each device has an address relative to its physical position with respect to the timing master. MOST devices can be anything from simple display to complex applications. MOST devices provide a standard interface in terms of their response to network management functions such as configuration, reset channel allocation and failsafe operation, communication mechanism and physical interface. MOST - the multimedia standard for future cars. MOST plays an important role in multimedia networking, where several multimedia devices are interconnected and controlled by MOST protocol. In future, this network can be extended to connect to the external world.
A big advantage of the MOST system is that leading manufacturers in the automotive and communication industries are currently upgrading. MOST to become a common standard for multimedia networks in car. And BMW is one of the fore runners in this process.
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