FlexRay Automotive Communication Bus Overview

Updated Sep 1, 2020

Overview
The FlexRay communications bus is a deterministic, fault-tolerant and high-speed bus system developed in
conjunction with automobile manufacturers and leading suppliers. FlexRay delivers the error tolerance and time-
determinism performance requirements for x-by-wire applications (i.e. drive-by-wire, steer-by-wire, brake-by-wire,
etc.). This article covers the basics FlexRay.

Contents
Increasing Communications Demands
FlexRay Basics
FlexRay Topology and Layout
The FlexRay Protocol
FIBEX - The FlexRay network database
PCI and PXI FlexRay interfaces
Conclusion

Increasing Communications Demands

For automobiles to continue to improve safety, increase performance, reduce

environmental impact, and enhance comfort, the speed, quantity and reliability of data
communicated between a car's electronic control units (ECU) must increase. Advanced
control and safety systems--combining multiple sensors, actuators and electronic control
units--are beginning to require synchronization and performance past what the existing
standard, Controller Area Network (CAN), can provide. Coupled with growing bandwidth
requirements with today's advanced vehicles utilize over five separate CAN busses, automotive engineers are
demanding a next-generation, embedded network. After years of partnership with OEMs, tool suppliers, and end
users, the FlexRay standard has emerged as the in-vehicle communications bus to meet these new challenges in
the next generation of vehicles.

Adoption of a new networking standard in complex embedded designs like automobiles takes time. While FlexRay
will be solving current high-end and future mainstream in-vehicle network challenges, it will not displace the other
two dominant in-vehicle standards, CAN, and LIN. In order to optimize cost and reduce transition challenges, the
next generation of automobiles will contain FlexRay for high-end applications, CAN for mainstream powertrain
communications and LIN for low-cost body electronics.
 Bus LIN CAN FlexRay

Speed 40 kbit/s 1 Mbit/s 10 Mbit/s

Cost $ $$ $$$

Wires 1 2 2 or 4

High-Performance
Body
Powertrain, Safety
Electronics (Mirrors, Powertrain (Engine,
Typical Applications (Drive-by-wire, active
Power Seats, Transmission, ABS)
suspension, adaptive
Accesories)
cruise control)

Understanding how FlexRay works is important to engineers across all aspects of the vehicle design and production
process. This article will explain the core concepts of FlexRay.

FlexRay Basics

Many aspects of FlexRay are designed to keep costs

down while delivering top performance in a rugged
environment. FlexRay uses unshielded twisted pair
cabling to connect nodes together. FlexRay supports
single- and dual-channel configurations which consist of
one or two pairs of wires respectively. Differential signaling on each pair of wires reduces the effects of external
noise on the network without expensive shielding. Most FlexRay nodes typically also have power and ground wires
available to power transceivers and microprocessors.

Dual-channel configurations offer enhanced fault-tolerance and/or increased bandwidth. Most first-generation
FlexRay networks only utilize one channel to keep wiring costs down, but as applications increase in complexity and
safety requirements, future networks will use both channels.

FlexRay buses require termination at the ends, in the form of a resistor connected between the pair of signal wires.
Only the end nodes on a multi-drop bus need termination. Too much or too little termination can break a FlexRay
network. While specific network implementations vary, typical FlexRay networks have a cabling impedance between
80 and 110 ohms, and the end nodes are terminated to match this impedance. Termination is one of the most
frequent causes of frustration when connecting a FlexRay node to a test setup. Modern PC-based FlexRay
interfaces may contain on-board termination resistors to simplify wiring.

FlexRay Topology and Layout

One of the things that distinguishes FlexRay, CAN and LIN from more traditional networks such as ethernet is its
topology, or network layout. FlexRay supports simple multi-drop passive connections as well as active star
connections for more complex networks. Depending a vehicle's layout and level of FlexRay usage, selecting the
right topology helps designers optimize cost, performance, and reliability for a given design.
Multi-drop Bus

FlexRay is commonly used in a simple multi-drop bus

topology that features a single network cable run that
connects multiple ECUs together. This is the same
topology used by CAN and LIN and is familiar to OEMs,
making it a popular topology in first-generation FlexRay
vehicles. Each ECU can "branch" up to a small distance from the core "trunk" of the bus. The ends of the network
have termination resistors installed that eliminate problems with signal reflections. Because FlexRay operates at
high frequencies, up to 10 Mbit/s compared to CAN's 1 Mbit, FlexRay designers much take care to correctly
terminate and lay out networks to avoid signal integrity problems. The multi-drop format also fits nicely with vehicle
harnesses that commonly share a similar type of layout, simplifying installation and reducing wiring throughout the
vehicle.

Star Network

The FlexRay standard supports "Star" configurations which consist of individual

links that connect to a central active node. This node is functionally similar to a
hub found in PC ethernet networks. The active star configuration makes it
possible to run FlexRay networks over longer distances or to segment the network
in such a way that makes it more reliable should a portion of the network fail. If
one of the branches of the star is cut or shorted, the other legs continuing
functioning. Since long runs of wires tend to conduct more environmental noise such as electromagnetic emissions
from large electric motors, using multiple legs reduces the amount of exposed wire for a segment and can help
increase noise immunity.

Hybrid Network

The bus and star topologies can be combined to form a

hybrid topology. Future FlexRay networks will likely consist
of hybrid networks to take advantage of the ease-of-use
and cost advantages of the bus topology while applying the
performance and reliability of star networks where needed
in a vehicle.

The FlexRay Protocol
The FlexRay protocol is a unique time-triggered protocol that provides options for deterministic data that arrives in a
predictable time frame (down to the microsecond) as well as CAN-like dynamic event-driven data to handle a large
variety of frames. FlexRay accomplishes this hybrid of core static frames and dynamic frames with a pre-set
communication cycle that provides a pre-defined space for static and dynamic data. This space is configured with
the network by the network designer. While CAN nodes only needed to know the correct baud rate to communicate,
nodes on a FlexRay network must know how all the pieces of the network are configured in order to communicate.
As with any multi-drop bus, only one node can electrically write data to the bus at a time. If two nodes were to write
at the same time, you end up with contention on the bus and data becomes corrupt. There are a variety of schemes
used to prevent contention on a bus. CAN, for example, used an arbitration scheme where nodes will yield to other
nodes if they see a message with higher priority being sent on a bus. While flexible and easy to expand, this
technique does not allow for very high data rates and cannot guarantee timely delivery of data. FlexRay manages
multiple nodes with a Time Division Multiple Access or TDMA scheme. Every FlexRay node is synchronized to the
same clock, and each nodes waits for its turn to write on the bus. Because the timing is consistent in
a TDMA scheme, FlexRay is able to guarantee determinism or the consistency of data deliver to nodes on the
network. This provides many advantages for systems that depend on up-to-date data between nodes.

Embedded networks are different from PC-based networks in that they have a closed configuration and do not
change once they are assembled in the production product. This eliminates the need for additional mechanisms to
automatically discover and configure devices at run-time, much like a PC does when joining a new wired or wireless
network. By designing network configurations ahead of time, network designers save significant cost and increase
reliability of the network.

For a TDMA network such as FlexRay to work correctly, all nodes must be configured correctly. The FlexRay
standard is adaptable to many different types of networks and allows network designers to make tradeoffs between
network update speeds, deterministic data volume, and dynamic data volume among other parameters. Every
FlexRay network may be different, so each node must be programmed with correct network parameters before it can
participate on the bus.

To facilitate maintaining network configurations between nodes, FlexRay committee standardized a format for the
storage and transfer of these parameters in the engineering process. The Field Bus Exchange Format, or FIBEX file
is an ASAM-defined standard that allows network designers, prototypers, validaters, and testers to easily share
network parameters and quickly configure ECUs, test tools, hardware-in-the-loop simulation systems, and so on for
easy access to the bus.

The Communication Cycle

The FlexRay communication cycle is the fundamental element of the media-access scheme within FlexRay. The
duration of a cycle is fixed when the network is designed, but is typically around 1-5 ms. There are four main parts
to a communication cycle:

Figure 1: Communication Cycle

1. Static Segment
Reserved slots for deterministic data that arrives at a fixed period.
2. Dynamic Segment
The dynamic segment behaves in a fashion similar to CAN and is used for a wider variety of event-based data
 that does not require determinism.
3. Symbol Window
Typically used for network maintenance and signaling for starting the network.
4. Network Idle Time
A known "quiet" time used to maintain synchronization between node clocks.

Figure 2. Detail of the FlexRay macrotick

The smallest practical unit of time on a FlexRay network is a macrotick. FlexRay controllers actively synchronize
themselves and adjust their local clocks so that the macrotick occurs at the same point in time on every node across
the network. While configurable for a particular network, macroticks are often 1 microsecond long. Because the
macrotick is synchronized, data that relies on it is also synchronized.

1. Static Segment

Figure 3: Illustration of a static segment with 3 ECUs transmitting data to 4 reserved slots.

The static segment, represented as the blue portion of the frame, is the space in the cycle dedicated to scheduling a
number of time-triggered frames. The segment is broken up into slots, each slot containing a reserved frame of
data. When each slot occurs in time, the reserved ECU has the opportunity to transmit its data into that slot. Once
that time passes, the ECU must wait until the next cycle to transmit its data in that slot. Because the exact point in
time is known in the cycle, the data is deterministic and programs know exactly how old the data is. This is extremely
useful when calculating control loops that depend on consistently spaced data. Figure 3 illustrates a simple network
with four static slots being used by three ECUs. Actual FlexRay networks may contain up to several dozen static
slots.
 Figure 4. Illustration of a static slot with ECU #2 missing.

If an ECU goes offline or decides not to transmit data, its slot remains open and is not used by any other ECU, as
shown in Figure 4.

2. Dynamic Segment

Figure 5. Illustration of FlexRay dynamic slots with one ECU broadcasting data.

Most embedded networks have a small number of high-speed messages and a large number of lower-speed, less-
critical networks. To accommodate a wide variety of data without slowing down the FlexRay cycle with an excessive
number of static slots, the dynamic segment allows occasionally transmitted data. The segment is a fixed length, so
there is a limit of the fixed amount of data that can be placed in the dynamic segment per cycle. To prioritize the
data, minislots are pre-assigned to each frame of data that is eligible for transmission in the dynamic segment.
A minislot is typically a macrotick (a microsecond) long. Higher priority data receives a minislot closer to the
beginning of the dynamic frame.

Once a minislot occurs, an ECU has a brief opportunity to broadcast its frame. If it doesn't broadcast, it loses its
spot in the dynamic frame and the next minislot occurs. This process moves down the minislots until an ECU elects
to broadcast data. As the data is broadcast, future minislots must wait until the ECU completes its data broadcast. If
the dynamic frame window ends, then the lower-priority minislots must wait until the next cycle for another
opportunity to broadcast.
 Figure 6. Dynamic slots illustration showing ECUs 2 and 3 broadcasting in their minislots and leaving no
time for the lower-priority minislots.

Figure 5 shows ECU #1 broadcasting in its minislot since the first 7 minislots chose not to broadcast. Figure 6
shows ECUs #2 and #3 using the first two minislots, leaving no time for ECU #1 to broadcast. ECU #1 must wait for
the next cycle to broadcast.

The end result of the dynamic segment is a scheme similar to the arbitration scheme used by CAN.

3. Symbol Window
The Symbol window is primarily used for maintenance and identification of special cycles such as cold-start cycles.
Most high-level applications do not interact with the symbol window.

4. Network Idle Time

The network idle time is of a pre-defined, known length by ECUs. The ECUs make use of this idle time to make
adjustments for any drift that may have occurred during the previous cycle.

Data Security and Error Handling

The FlexRay network provides scalable fault-tolerance by allowing single or dual-channel communication. For
security-critical applications, the devices connected to the bus may use both channels for transferring data.
However, it is also possible to connect only one channel when redundancy is not needed, or to increase the
bandwidth by using both channels for transferring non-redundant data.

Within the physical layer, FlexRay provides fast error detection and signaling, as well as error containment through
an independent Bus Guardian. The Bus Guardian is a mechanism on the physical layer that protects a channel from
interference caused by communication that is not aligned with the cluster’s communication schedule.

Frame Format
 Figure 7. Detail of a FlexRay Frame
Each slot of a static or dynamic segment contains a FlexRay Frame. The frame is divided into three segments:
Header, Payload, and Trailer.

Header

Figure 8. Bit-level breakdown of a FlexRay Frame

The Header is 5 bytes (40 bits) long and includes the following fields:

1. Status Bits - 5 bits

2. Frame ID - 11 bits
3. Payload Length - 7 bits
4. Header CRC - 11 bits
5. Cycle Count - 6 bits
The Frame ID defines the slot in which the frame should be transmitted and is used for prioritizing event-triggered
frames. The Payload Length contains the number of words which are transferred in the frame. The Header CRC is
used to detect errors during the transfer. The Cycle Count contains the value of a counter that advances
incrementally each time a Communication Cycle starts.

Payload

Figure 9. Payload of a FlexRay Frame.

The payload contains the actual data transferred by the frame. The length of the FlexRay payload or data frame is
up to 127 words (254 bytes), which is over 30 times greater compared to CAN.
Trailer

Figure 10. Trailer of a FlexRay Frame.

The trailer contains three 8-bit CRCs to detect errors.

Signals

Figure 11. Frame to Signal conversion

FlexRay data is represented in bytes. Most applications require data to be represented in real decimal values with
units, scaling, and limits. When you take one or more bits or bytes from a FlexRay frame, apply a scaling and offset,
you get a signal that is useful for communicating actual parameters between ECUs. Most ECUs programs work
with FlexRay data as signals and leave the conversion of signals to raw frame data up to the driver or lower-level
communication protocols.

A typical vehicle has hundreds to thousands of signals. As the scaling, offset, definitions, and locations of these
signals can change, FlexRay networks store these definitions in the FIBEX database that defines the network. This
makes writing programs for FlexRay networks easier as designers can simply refer to the signal name in the code.
The compiler or driver then pulls the most recent scaling and offset information when the program is updated to the
ECU or test system.
Clock synchronization and cold starting

Figure 12. Simplified Synchronization process of a FlexRay network

FlexRay has the unique ability to sync up nodes on a network without an external synchronization clock signal. To
do so, it uses 2 special types of frames: Startup Frames and Sync Frames. To start a FlexRay cluster, at least 2
different nodes are required to send startup frames. The action of starting up the FlexRay bus is known as a cold-
start and the nodes sending the startup frames are usually known as cold-start nodes. The startup frames are
analogous to a start trigger, which tells all the nodes on the network to start.

Once the network is started, all nodes must synchronize their internal oscillators to the network's macrotick. This
can be done using two more more synchronization nodes. These can be any two separate nodes on the network
that pre-designated to broadcast special sync frames when they are first turned on. Other nodes on the network
wait for the sync frames to be broadcast, and measure the time between successive broadcasts in order to calibrate
their internal clocks to the FlexRay time. The sync frames are designated in the FIBEX configuration for the
network.

Once the network is synchronized and on-line, the network idle time (white space in the diagram) is measured and
used to adjust the clocks from cycle-to-cycle to maintain tight synchronization.

In-cycle control
 Figure 13. In-cycle control reading 4 wheel positions and updating a vehicle control output in a single
FlexRay cycle.

An advanced feature of FlexRay is the ability to do in-cycle control. Figure 13 illustrates an example where four
wheel positions are broadcast in the static slots of the frame. Because the wheel positions occur before the final
update command from the central controller #5, the controller has time to process and make a rapid output within the
same communication cycle. This allows very high-speed control rates to be realized on a FlexRay network.

FIBEX - The FlexRay network database

The FIeld Bus EXchange (FIBEX) format, an XML-based standardized file format defined by the ASAM consortium,
is used for describing automotive networks. While the standard format for FlexRay networks, the FIBEX database
format is compatible with many different automotive protocols, making it a flexible standard. FIBEX databases are
typically generated by vehicle network designers and shared with engineers working on a particular aspect of the
vehicle. With a FIBEX file and an PC interface or ECU that supports it, you can easily interact with a vehicle network
without having to manually configure interfaces and signal definitions.

FIBEX contains many aspects for a particular network, including the following:

Transmit and receive schedules

Frame definitions
Signal definitions
Bit-level encoding of signals
Network topology
ECU information
Network configurations, including baud rates and timings
For more information on FIBEX, see the Introduction to FIBEX article,

PCI and PXI FlexRay interfaces

National Instruments offers high-performance PCI and PXI FlexRay interfaces for connecting PCs to FlexRay
networks. With a PC-based interface, you can perform many engineering tasks on a FlexRay-enabled ECU,
including:

Rapid Prototyping
Hardware-in-the-loop simulation
Bus logging and debugging
Signal data acquisition
System Diagnostics
Custom applications
For more information on NI FlexRay interfaces, see the Introduction to the
NI-XNET FlexRay platform.
 Conclusion
The FlexRay communications network delivers the deterministic, fault-tolerant and high-speed bus system
performance requirements for the next generation of automobiles.

Related Links:

Introduction to FIBEX
Introduction to the NI-XNET FlexRay platform.