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Future automotive applications, like high-speed control in power train or drive-by-wire systems, demand large bandwidth, deterministic communication behavior, and fault tolerance. FlexRay, a new standard communication system, is ideally suited to safety applications as well as applicable to the role of a central backbone in future ECU network architectures. The FlexRay physical layer specification is kept very generic to provide the network designer with a wide range of possibilities for optimization of the network implementation. Due to the highly transient behavior of the system, the developer of the network physical layer cannot manually predict the behavior of an entire FlexRay topology. To analyze design concepts like topologies, terminations, and ECU architectures much earlier in development phase, simulation is the only choice.

Electrical power requirements for vehicles continue to increase. Future vehicle applications require the development of reliable and robust power supply strategies that operate over various ambient temperatures and driving conditions. Insufficient charge balance is one of the major concerns for conventional lead-acid battery systems when operated with limited charging times during short journeys or extreme climate conditions. For vehicle power supply analysis, a detailed understanding of the operational characteristics of the major components and how they interact as a part of the electric power system, including environmental and road conditions, is essential if the analysis is to aid system optimization. This paper presents a model based technique that enhances the process of vehicle electrical power system design. Vehicle system optimization using virtual prototypes has become critically important as more electrical features are added to future vehicles.