GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

In conventional electrical systems, functions are activated with the aid of dedicated point-to-point connections.

As the number of eletrical/electronic devices on board new vehicles has increased, the connection are becoming more complex and heavy. One reason for this is the complexity of functions implemented in the many electronic units, which require a

continual interchange of data. All this makes it more difficult to install new electrical systems and increases the complexity of fault diagnosis.

Many problems have been resolved and new electrical systems have been optimised compared to conventional systems by means of networking. This provides a more effective means of managing communication on board the car and for the transfer of

information between subsystems via the serial buses present: single wires, pairs of twisted wires or even optical fibres.