Tired of missing messages in your IVN logging system?
In the world of In-Vehicle Network (IVN) logging, capturing every single message is paramount. Losing data during critical events, such as ECU startup or high-load scenarios, can lead to flawed analysis, delayed development, and potential safety risks. Among other excellent devices from companies such as Intrepid CS and Vector, we found the Capture Module devices from Technica and the TAP modules from b-plus to be very powerful and flexible. They both offer robust solutions to eliminate lost messages caused by slow startups or performance issues, though they approach the challenge from different and complementary angles.
This article dives into what makes these two product families stand out.
The Smart Capture & Synchronization Approach: Technica Capture Modules
Technica's Capture Modules are designed to be an intelligent and scalable solution for gathering data from across the vehicle's various networks. They excel at ensuring data integrity and usability through innovative features.
Timing is Everything: A standout feature is their precise time synchronization. The modules ensure that messages from different bus systems all share the same timestamp, thanks to the 802.1AS protocol. This capability extends across multiple devices, allowing engineers to cascade modules to capture data from numerous ports or diverse bus topologies, all while maintaining a single, coherent timeline for seamless analysis.
Capturing from the First Millisecond: These modules are designed for rapid startup and include a dedicated buffer, ensuring that every message is captured, including those from the very first moments of an ECU's startup sequence. Furthermore, they actively load balance traffic, which prevents the data bursts that often lead to information loss in lesser systems.
Non-Intrusive and High-Resolution: The system captures traffic without interfering with the network's operation. It delivers data with a high-resolution 40ns hardware timestamp, making it ideal for detailed analysis.
Flexible and Scalable: As a modular and scalable system, it can be adapted to capture all in-vehicle traffic with reliable timestamps. Accessing the logged data is straightforward, as it is provided in standard Ethernet frames via the TECMP or CMP protocols, making it readable by any Ethernet-capable device. For management, a built-in web server or a simple rotary switch for manual IP configuration makes setup easy.
The Pure Visibility Method: b-plus NETLion TAPs
The NETLion 1G and 10G series from b-plus provides Test Access Point (TAP) functionality, which is ideal for scenarios where non-intrusive, high-fidelity monitoring is the top priority.
Truly Passive and Invisible: The NETLion devices operate as passive TAPs, meaning they are completely transparent and do not interfere with the data stream between two communicating devices. This allows for reliable, real-time observation without any risk of signal disturbance. The TAP is invisible to the network, requiring no MAC address filtering or IP setup, and guarantees 100% packet visibility without drops in normal operation.
Full-Duplex Monitoring: They support the simultaneous decoupling of data streams in both directions. Each direction of communication is forwarded to a separate output port, allowing for independent analysis of TX and RX data from both ends of the link. This is crucial for debugging complex protocol interactions in ADAS/AD environments.
High-Speed and Future-Proof: The NETLion family is built for modern automotive Ethernet. The 1G model supports 100BASE-T1 and 1000BASE-T1 links, while the 10G model handles 2.5/5/10GBASE-T1, essential for high-bandwidth applications like domain controllers and sensor fusion systems.
Signal Quality: A significant advantage is the ability to monitor the physical layer. Through a web interface, users can check signal quality, view error counters, and check link status. This provides a deeper level of diagnostics beyond simple packet capture.
Built for the Real World: With an automotive-grade power supply and a wide operating temperature range (-40 to +85 °C), these TAPs are designed for harsh environments like in-vehicle logging setups, end-of-line testing, and HiL systems. Their low and deterministic latency ensures they are suitable even for time-sensitive applications.
Conclusion: The Right Tool for the Right Job
Both Technica's Capture Modules and b-plus's NETLion TAPs offer premier solutions to the problem of lost messages in IVN logging. The best choice depends on the specific use case.
Technica's Capture Modules are the ideal solution when you need to actively gather, synchronize, and buffer data from multiple, diverse bus systems into a single, time-coherent data stream for comprehensive analysis.
The b-plus NETLion TAPs are perfect when you need to passively and non-intrusively observe a specific high-speed Ethernet link with absolute certainty that the logging tool is not influencing the traffic, while also gaining valuable physical-layer insights.
By understanding the strengths of each approach, engineering teams can equip themselves with the right tools to build and validate safer, more reliable vehicles.
Further reading- Precise Clock Synchronization
Traditional tapping methods often rely on the tapping device's internal clock, which can drift over time and introduce inaccuracies. Furthermore, different tapping setups might use different internal clocks, making it challenging to compare data across multiple test environments.
Revert to us for early access to the article called "Achieving Precise Clock Synchronization in Automotive Ethernet with b-plus QX550 and NETLion".
