Harman Steps Up Contribution To Open AVB Project in Effort To Secure In-vehicle Networks

Harman made an open source software contribution to the Open AVB project to help drive adoption of ethernet AVB/TSN (audio video bridging/time sensitive networking) in automotive, consumer, pro audio/video and industrial markets, the company said Tuesday. Harman’s contribution includes enhancements to the AVTP (audio video transport protocol) data pipeline, aiming to “modernize and prepare the connected car with flexible, scalable and secure in-vehicle networking technology while addressing an increased need for highly reliable communication in the vehicle,” said the company. As the auto industry continues to move toward autonomous driving, there is an increased need for highly dependable, cross-domain communication in the vehicle, said Harman. Ethernet AVB is a “reliable solution” because it replaces the physical complexity of analog cables and the network complexity of earlier proprietary systems, said Harman. “AVB brings an open, standards-based approach that enables interoperable platforms to offer more affordable and better market solutions.” The Open AVB project is backed by the AVnu Alliance, a community creating an interoperable ecosystem of “low-latency, time-synchronized, highly reliable” networked devices using open standards through certification. The Open AVB project provides essential network building blocks, drivers, libraries and best practices for building AVB/TSN systems, it said. Harman has been contributing to working groups and projects since the Alliance's formation, and the goal of the latest contribution is to enable a fully functioning, viable open source software stack for the development and testing of ethernet AVB products, it said. With open source software as the foundation, Harman hopes to bring the global auto industry more closely aligned with the larger networking community “to make modern vehicle networking technology more quickly available to the connected car," said Dean Miles, senior vice president-Harman Connected Services.