Automotive Network Architecture from Legacy SOA to Modern SOA.

1. Introduction

One of the most exciting changes in the automotive industry is the shift in network design, moving from the old "SOA" (Signal-Oriented Architecture) to the new "SOA" (Service-Oriented Architecture). In this post, I’ll explain what this change means and how it’s helping make vehicle systems more connected, flexible, and efficient.

Before we dive deeper into both architectures, let’s define some network criteria to compare them based on key points.

2. Network Criteria:

• Topology: How ECUs (Electronic Control Units) are connected within the vehicle (network setup).
• Data Path: The flow of data packets between two or more ECUs.
• Data Length: The length of each data packet.
• Protocols Used: The communication standards in use.
• Data Rate: The speed at which data packets are sent.
• Meets Real-Time Constraints?: Whether the system can meet timing requirements for real-time performance.

Now that we’ve established key points for comparing the two architectures, let’s divide the timeline into two periods: before 2011 and after 2011.

Before 2011, the automotive industry primarily used the legacy Signal-Oriented Architecture. However, in 2011, BMW introduced a new communication protocol called SOME/IP (Scalable service-Oriented MiddlewarE over IP), which enabled the shift to a modern Service-Oriented Architecture.

Now, let’s look at the main requirements before 2011 and the key characteristics of automotive networks during that time.

Before moving on to the next part, remember the network criteria we discussed—I’ll be using these points in the upcoming article.

Next: Legacy Network