2. Introduction and Overview

2.1. Introduction

Thank you for purchasing an Intrepid Control Systems RAD-Star 2 active tap and media converter for Automotive Ethernet (AE). The RAD-Star 2 allows you to monitor all traffic on a BroadR-Reach (100BASE-T1 compatible) link between two AE devices. Once inserted in the link, the RAD-Star 2 passes all traffic between the devices with virtually no added latency, while sending a timestamped copy of each message to a standard Ethernet device (such as a laptop PC) for monitoring. The RAD-Star 2 can also be used as a media converter, allowing up to two ECUs to be interfaced directly to a PC or other conventional Ethernet device. In both applications, it is also possible to transmit messages from the PC to the ECU(s) using a tool like Intrepid’s Vehicle Spy software, allowing those devices to be directly controlled.

As its name suggests, the RAD-Star 2 is Intrepid’s second generation single active tap tool and includes numerous improvements over the original RAD-Star. These include improved performance, a Gigabit Ethernet port, the ability to interface two devices in media converter mode instead of one, raw media converter mode, a membrane LED display and keypad, the ability to interface over USB, ruggedized packaging, and much more. The RAD-Star 2 also adds support for two CAN FD channels in addition to its Automotive Ethernet capabilities, allowing you to work with conventional CAN devices and to gateway between CAN and AE.

Note

Note: BroadR-Reach (sometimes abbreviated as BroadR or just BR) is sometimes also called One Pair Ethernet (OPEN or OP). In 2015, BroadR-Reach was published as a formal Ethernet standard in IEEE 802.3bw and given the designation 100BASE-T1. While not 100% identical, the two are nearly the same; the RAD- Star uses BroadR-Reach transceivers, but is compatible with 100BASE-T1.

2.2. Package Contents

Your RAD-Star 2 package includes both hardware and software.

2.2.1. Hardware

Upon opening the RAD-Star 2 box, you should find a RAD-Star 2 Quick Start Guide on top with the device itself secured under transparent plastic film in a cardboard holder. Remove the guide, the device and the cardboard, and you’ll see the following additional items:

  • A standard four-pair 3’ (~1m) Ethernet cable.
  • An Intrepid 12V power supply.
  • A small plastic bag containing a TE Connectivity 8-position Nano MQS female plug housing and 8 Nano MQS crimp contacts. These are used to create a cable to connect to your Automotive Ethernet network.

Please remove, unwrap and inspect all of the contents of the box. If anything is missing or damaged, please contact Intrepid for prompt assistance, using the information at the end of this guide. Later in the document you will find more information on the Nano MQS components and detailed instructions for creating Automotive Ethernet cables to connect the RAD-Star 2 to your vehicle networks.

2.2.2. Software

In addition to the hardware items described above, you will find in the box a software/driver CD containing:

  • A copy of Intrepid’s Vehicle Spy vehicle network software.
  • Drivers for the RAD-Star 2.
  • An API install kit containing the neoVI Explorer utility for configuring the device.
  • Documentation materials.

Intrepid’s Vehicle Spy (often abbreviated as VSpy) is the “Swiss army knife” of automotive networking tools. It allows you to easily monitor and transmit on vehicle networks, and includes capabilities for ECU simulation, data acquisition, scripting, diagnostics, data analysis and much more.

The RAD-Star 2 and Vehicle Spy are designed to work together hand in hand, and we recommend purchasing a VSpy license to go along with your new hardware. If you did so, then a full copy of the software will be included on the software/driver CD. If you did not purchase Vehicle Spy, a trial version of the program will be provided instead, which allows access to VSpy’s basic features and also lets you configure your hardware.

It is also possible to control the RAD-Star 2 from within other software using one of the APIs that the device supports.

2.3. Operational Overview

The RAD-Star 2 is both a powerful and flexible device that allows you to handle a number of different challenges associated with Automotive Ethernet. The device can function as an active tap or media converter, and also includes a special “raw media converter” mode. At the same time it can also act as an interface to conventional vehicle networks such as CAN and CAN FD.

2.3.1. Active Tap Mode

Due to the high performance and complexity of BroadR-Reach (and 100BASE-T1), typical approaches for interfacing to a network—such as attaching a probe to the bus—do not work. This problem is resolved by interposing the RAD-Star 2 between two Automotive Ethernet devices, typically an ECU and a switch, but possibly also two ECUs. Instead of connecting the two devices directly, both are attached to the BroadR-Reach ports of the RAD-Star 2. The Gigabit Ethernet link of the RAD-Star 2 is then connected to a laptop PC or similar conventional Ethernet device (USB can also be used).

Note

Note: The term “tap” has a dual meaning: it refers to the act of tapping into a network (such as used in the phrase “wire tap”). It also is sometimes considered an acronym for “test access point,” since a tap does indeed act as an access point for testing, though you can do much more than that with the RAD-Star 2. For simplicity, in this document we will just use the word “tap”.

Once configuration is complete, the RAD-Star 2 is set up as a “middleman” in the network, managed by a custom-designed processor within the unit. When either AE device transmits, the RAD-Star 2 receives the message and retransmits it to the other device with only a minor delay for processing. The RAD-Star 2 also sends a copy of the message over its Gigabit Ethernet or USB connection to the PC, so it can be viewed and analyzed within software like Vehicle Spy. These frames are encapsulated in a custom wrapper (the details of which can be found later in this section).

The interface provided by the RAD-Star 2 is full-duplex and bidirectional. This means that in addition to using the PC to monitor messages sent by the Automotive Ethernet nodes attached to it, you can create and send custom messages from the PC to the nodes as well. This allows you to query, test, configure and manage these nodes using Vehicle Spy.

Figure 1 depicts how the RAD-Star 2 functions when inserted into a typical Automotive Ethernet network as a tap. Note that operation is the same whether tapping a link between an ECU and a switch or between two ECUs.

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Figure 1: Using the RAD-Star 2 as an Active Tap. On the left, a standard connection between two Automotive Ethernet nodes, which could be a switch port and an ECU or two ECUs. On the right, the network that results after inserting the RAD-Star 2 as an active tap. Messages flow from Node 1 through the RAD-Star to Node 2, and vice-versa, maintaining normal operation of the network (solid blue arrows). In addition, copies of each message are transmitted by the RAD-Star 2 to the attached conventional Ethernet network (dashed blue arrows). Optionally, messages from a PC or other device on the Ethernet network may also be sent to both nodes (red arrows).

2.3.2. Media Converter Mode

Instead of being interposed in a link between two Automotive Ethernet nodes, the RAD- Star 2 can be configured to interface to two nodes independently. Any traffic received by a node will be converted from Automotive Ethernet to standard Ethernet (or USB) and sent to the PC. Conversely, traffic from the PC will be converted to BroadR-Reach and sent to the appropriate node. Since in this operating mode the RAD-Star 2 is converting between two media—Automotive Ethernet and either Gigabit Ethernet or USB—it is said to be acting as a media converter. Again here, frames are encapsulated in a proprietary wrapper, which will be explained shortly.

Figure 2 depicts the logical operation of the RAD-Star 2 when used in this manner. Note the difference between tap and media converter mode: traffic is not copied between the AE nodes, so they behave independently.

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Figure 2: Using the RAD-Star 2 as a Media Converter. On the left, two independent (unconnected) Automotive Ethernet nodes. On the right, the two nodes connected to the RAD-Star 2 and a PC in media converter mode. Each node can send to the PC, and vice-versa, simultaneously and independently.

2.3.3. Raw Media Converter Mode

In addition to its “normal” media converter mode, the RAD-Star 2 supports a special “raw” media converter mode that is intended for special applications. In this mode, one of its BroadR- Reach ports is configured to act as a “pure” media converter at the physical layer level, while the other is disabled. Communication is always through Gigabit Ethernet (not USB) and no wrapper is used on frames.

In this mode the RAD-Star 2 effectively operates the same way as Intrepid’s RAD-Moon media converter device. One difference, however, is that frame buffering is supported in the RAD-Star 2 in this mode, allowing a BroadR-Reach device to be connected to a conventional Ethernet network running at 10 Mb/s, if needed.

This mode of operation is illustrated in Figure 3.

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Figure 3: Using the RAD-Star 2 as a Raw Media Converter. In this configuration the first BroadR-Reach channel is configured to act as a pure physical layer media converter, attaching the PC to a single AE node; the other channel is disabled. Traffic is passed between devices without the use of a frame wrapper.

2.3.4. Message Forwarding Mode

In this mode, all frames received on all networks (AE01-02/CAN1-2/LIN) are encapsulated with a timestamp and other information before forwarding it out the Ethernet Port (100/1000BASE-T). This mode is very similar to Media Converter mode with the following 2 differences:

  1. No PC host connection is required to initiate the forwarding of encapsulated frames. (No connection to Vehicle Spy)
  2. Frames are only forwarded from BASE-T1 to BASE-T.

2.3.5. Timestamping and Frame Wrapping

The RAD-Star 2 records the time that each message is received on any of its Automotive Ethernet ports. This hardware-level timestamp is then transmitted in a special wrapper frame over its Gigabit Ethernet or USB link, encapsulating the original message. The wrapper frame contains its own Ethernet header and Frame Check Sequence (FCS) field, along with an extra header containing information specific to the RAD-Star 2. As mentioned above, this wrapper is used in the two “normal” modes (active tap and media converter) but not in raw media converter mode.

Ethernet controllers normally discard any frames received for which an error has been detected, and strip the FCS error-detection field even on valid frames. The RAD-Star 2’s special wrapping mechanism allows it to capture BroadR-Reach frames in their entirety, including the FCS field, ensuring that error frames are preserved so they can be analyzed.

2.3.6. Conventional Vehicle Network Interfacing

In addition to its Automotive Ethernet capabilities, the RAD-Star 2 can act as an interface to conventional vehicle networks. It includes hardware for 2 CAN channels with CAN FD support. Both channels are captured simultaneously, and are hardware time-stamped with great accuracy. Non-Ethernet messages are encapsulated into Ethernet frames and transmitted to the PC over the same connection used for BroadR-Reach data, where they are decoded and displayed by Vehicle Spy.

2.4. Block Diagram

Figure 4 shows a simple block diagram of the RAD-Star 2. All operations are controlled by the central processor, which is implemented as a custom system-on-a-chip (SoC) integrated circuit. This design provides powerful flexibility and also allows the implementation of new features in existing hardware through firmware flash updates. The various physical layer chips and network-specific controllers connect to the appropriate connectors on the device for attachment to vehicle networks.

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2.5. Summary of Key Features

The RAD-Star 2 is one of the most powerful vehicle networking tools ever developed, providing extensive analysis and simulation options for both conventional and Automotive Ethernet networks. To give you an idea of how much you can do with the RAD-Star 2, here’s a summary of the device’s most important design, construction, operational and performance features.

Construction, Controls and Cabling

  • Compact design: 5.4” x 3.4” x 1.5” (14 x 9 x 4 cm).
  • Light weight: about 11 oz (315 g).
  • Solid anodized aluminum case.
  • Thick rubber end boots for shock protection.
  • Ruggedized metal connectors.
  • Cable interfaces on sides for easier connections.
  • Multiple LEDs for status output.
  • Included cables and connector contacts for vehicle network interfacing.
  • Included 12V power supply.

Power and Performance

  • Powerful SoC design.
  • Field-upgradeable firmware.
  • Support for 4.5V to 36V input power.
  • Low power consumption (0.5A @ 12V).
  • 64-bit timestamping with 10 ns accuracy on all networks.

Automotive Ethernet Interfaces and Features

  • Two BroadR-Reach (100BASE-T1 compatible) Broadcom Automotive Ethernet PHYs.
  • One Gigabit Ethernet PHY with industry standard RJ-45 jack.
  • One USB Type B connector.
  • One DB-9 connector for interfacing to CAN / CAN FD networks.
  • Switchable between one active tap, two media converter ports and one raw media converter using surface touchpad.
  • Full-duplex support for simultaneous data transmission and reception across all PHYs.
  • AVB/TSN support.
  • Ethernet frame preemption support.

Conventional Network Interfaces and Features

  • Two dedicated Dual Wire (DW) CAN channels (ISO 11898-2).
  • CAN FD support with software selection of ISO and non-ISO CAN FD versions.

2.6. Hardware and Software Requirements

You will need only a small amount of support hardware to make use of your RAD-Star 2:

  • A vehicle network, either within an actual vehicle or in a test bench environment.
  • A standard electrical plug to use the included DC power adapter. You also have the option of providing power via a custom cable on your network bench.
  • A PC or other device with an available Gigabit Ethernet or USB 2.0 (or higher) port.
  • Cables and/or connectors to connect to the BroadR-Reach nodes in your Automotive Ethernet network.
  • A crimping tool to attach wires to the provided crimp contacts and secure them within the Nano MQS plug housings. See Section 3.5 for more details.

Additional cables may also be needed, depending on the nature of the network to which the RAD-Star 2 is being connected.

Intrepid’s Vehicle Spy Professional is recommended for use with the RAD-Star 2, and provides everything you need to set up your hardware and use all of its capabilities. The setup program for VSpy will also install the necessary drivers for your RAD-Star 2. If you do not have a VSpy license, you can use the included Vehicle Spy trial version for basic network interfacing and driver setup.

It is also possible to use Vehicle Spy with third-party or custom software, via the Intrepid API. The necessary drivers can also be set up using the API kit installer. All of this software comes with the RAD-Star 2, or if necessary, can be downloaded from the Intrepid web site at http://www.intrepidcs.com. Installation instructions can be found later in this guide.

Please refer to the Vehicle Spy documentation for its more specific PC hardware and operating system requirements and recommendations. Note, however, that Vehicle Spy will run on most modern Windows-based PCs.