Research
Issue 4/2002
Info
More Comfort
with Bluetooth
■ The short-range radio system Bluetooth will be bringing more comfort to automobiles in
the future. It links a variety of devices such as the car radio, mobile phone, PDA (personal
digital assistant) and headset, and has the potential to become a universal communication
interface between the vehicle and the outside world.
O
nce you’ve tried out this wireless
network, you won’t be able to do
without it. The data speeds from
your mobile phone to your headset without
any disturbances, and there are no wires to
get tangled up. Currently, Bluetooth is most
frequently used in the hands-free telephone
units now required for cars. These units used
to be linked with a mobile phone via data ca-
ble. The 2.4 GHz technology of Bluetooth
can do much more. However, researchers at
Bosch believe that Bluetooth’s most impor-
tant function will be to link together the vari-
ous multimedia devices in an automobile. For
example, nearly every modern terminal in
the area of consumer electronics now pro-
vides an address book function, whether it’s
a mobile phone, PDA, notebook or car tele-
phone. But there’s actually no good reason
why a driver should have to waste time trans-
ferring the telephone numbers stored in his
or her mobile phone to the car telephone, or
typing the addresses stored in the PDA into
the car’s navigation system. In the future, the
mobile phone and the PDA will be able to
automatically synchronize their telephone
numbers and addresses with a communica-
tion platform located inside the car.
Bluetooth can thus perform two important
functions: exchanging data between portable
terminals and the car, and enabling the wire-
less transfer of audio and video signals for
entertainment and information. A transfer
rate of up to 723 kbit/s is currently available
for such purposes. To take just one example,
the driver’s children in the back seat will be
able to control the car radio from a PDA via
Bluetooth while listening to the music on
Multimedia magic with Bluetooth: Remote con-
trol of the car radio and CD player via PDA. Mu-
sic can also be transmitted with total clarity di-
rectly into the headset.
their headsets. The researchers at Bosch en-
vision a communication platform that would
transfer a user interface onto the PDA’s
touchscreen for remote control of the radio.
It’s clear that Bluetooth will be used pri-
marily for multimedia data transfer. Com-
munication pathways requiring a high de-
gree of security — i.e. between sensors and
control devices — will remain linked by
wires. One exception would be if informa-
tion on the vehicle needs to be read by ex-
ternal users for the purpose of automotive
diagnosis or maintenance. In such a case,
the repair center or the roadside assistance
service could then easily diagnose problems
and determine the condition of the vehicle.
Bosch Research Info Issue 4/2002
Editorial
■ Dr. Michael Bolle
Vice President
Communications
Corporate Research
and Development
From Single Devices to
Open Service Platforms
growing number of new tech-
A nologies for automobiles is
bringing us greater safety, more com-
fort and better entertainment. This
makes driving a pleasure, but it’s a
huge challenge for the engineers who
have to develop new vehicle models.
Thinking in terms of individual
devices is no longer enough. Be-
cause the various automotive do-
mains such as the powertrain, vehi-
cle body, multimedia and telematics
are gradually converging, today’s au-
tomobile must be regarded as an in-
tegrated system. A supplier like
Bosch, which is involved in all of
these areas, thus becomes a systems
architect integrating these many dif-
ferent components into a smoothly
functioning whole. To this end, re-
searchers at Bosch are developing
concepts for the integration of tele-
matics and multimedia functions on
a shared software platform. This in-
cludes audiovisual entertainment
and navigation, access to wired bus
systems like CAN or MOST, and
wireless communication via mobile
phone systems or local radio net-
works on the basis of corresponding
standards such as Bluetooth.
The system architecture needed
for these purposes is such that a ve-
hicle can benefit from future techno-
logical advances during its entire
lifespan. The concept follows the
well known approach of personal
computers, which as simple comput-
ing platforms are open to a variety of
applications and services that can be
downloaded from the Internet as
Java applets, for example.
A Multimedia Offensive for
the Automobile of Tomorrow
■ The appeal of future multimedia and telematics services depends on two factors:
The first priority is a unified hardware and software architecture that combines various
technologies into a single system. At the same time, the needs and interests of the driver
have to be taken into account.
T
he first priority relates directly to
the expertise of Bosch as an auto-
motive supplier. The researchers at
Bosch are focusing on the task of integrat-
ing the various functions into a unified sys-
tem, since the company already has exper-
tise in all of the individual technologies and
has played a major role in establishing stan-
dards for them in a number of national and
international bodies and commissions. At
the heart of such a system is a unified soft-
ware platform (see page 4), on which the
various multimedia and telematics applica-
tions run. The software architecture guar-
antees that new applications can be imple-
mented easily. This leads to a significant
reduction in the time and expense required
for development.
It also means that new services can be
downloaded from automotive manufactur-
ers or other providers when the vehicles are
being configured on the production line, or
even after delivery.
Which services might be affected? Mar-
ket research has shown that the auxiliary
function to which car drivers and passen-
gers assign top priority is vehicle safety, fol-
lowed by traffic information and naviga-
tion. Of further interest are services in the application requires identification of the ve-
area of mobile telecommunications, mobile hicle’s current position via a satellite based
office, entertainment and mobile com- positioning system.
merce. ■ Personalization: The myriad of possibili-
Keeping these market research results in ties for a driver information system must be
mind, researchers at Bosch are creating a customized to meet the needs of the indi-
range of scenarios for the application of vidual user.
such new services. For this purpose, they ■ Voice control: This enables the driver to
are developing concepts to implement the request information about vehicle functions
necessary functions into the multimedia or control entertainment media via spoken
and telematics platform. In the process, it commands without being distracted from
turned out that the following three func- the road. Information (such as e-mails) can
tions play a key role: be read aloud to the user.
■ Positioning: Information must reach dri- Bosch employees have worked out a va-
vers in the right place and at the right time. riety of detailed scenarios in their research
Moreover, nearly every security and safety projects and implemented the necessary
■ The most important multimedia and telematics services for drivers:
Safety and security: Emergency call, call for roadside assistance, driver assistance,
anti-theft, vehicle tracking, remote diagnosis and repair
Traffic: Realtime traffic information, dynamic navigation, parking space availability
Communication: Hands-free communication, personalized information (news,
sports, events, weather), mobile office (e-mail, address book, calender), location-based
services (the nearest restaurant, hotel, cinema, gas station)
Entertainment: Music, video (“on demand” as well), Internet, games
Transactions: General banking services
Bosch Research Info Issue 4/2002
functions in the Java programming lan-
guage, which is independent of specific op-
erating systems.
In the European research project
DRiVE, Bosch and its partners have shown
how navigation systems and mobile phones
can work together on a shared software
platform. A user interface can be accessed
by means of voice control, enabling the dri-
ver to choose from various services on offer
— for example, a city guide that provides in-
formation about what’s going on around
town or where the nearest restaurants and
hotels are located. This system receives the
data via mobile phone from the Internet
portal of a car manufacturer willing to offer
this additional service to its customers. But
any certified third party provider with a bit
of enterprise can also jump on the band- world of multimedia and telematics. The just its services flexibly and efficiently to
wagon and supply his own service, such as navigation system will use its satellite re- meet the needs of the various vehicle mod-
a list of the pizzerias in the area. At the ceiver to determine the location of the ve- els and user groups. This makes it possible
touch of a button, the navigation system hicle and then transfer this information via to obtain help in an emergency from a spe-
can store the location coordinates of the mobile phone to a service provider. In turn, cial call center, for example, or be navi-
chosen restaurant and guide the driver the provider will find the nearest service gated to the next available service station,
safely to the destination. center that can repair the tire, find out how as described in the example given above.
Another possible service would be useful long a waiting period is required, and send An interface with the so-called CAN bus,
in the event that problems arise during a the list of possibilities back to the driver. which operates the vehicle’s control sys-
trip: The system could provide a list of The list will contain the name of the service tems, can activate a call to an emergency
nearby service stations, medical services or station, the distance from the current posi- service via the mobile phone in the event of
hospitals, or it could download train or tion, and the waiting time for the customer. an accident as soon as the ABS or ESP sen-
plane schedules into the navigation system. Each entry on the list comes with its loca- sors have reacted to the situation.
Other scenarios unfold in the areas of ve- tion coordinates, which are not visible to A remote diagnosis of the vehicle is also
hicle diagnostics and maintenance. For ex- the user but necessary for the navigation possible: Operating data can be read out
ample, if the tire pressure decreases below system. The driver chooses the service sta- from controlling devices via mobile phone.
a certain threshold during a trip, this infor- tion he wants, and on command the navi- If a repair is required, the driver is notified.
mation is communicated to the driver on gation system takes over. However, if the remote diagnosis concludes
the vehicle’s display. Even though modern The new OSGi (Open Service Gateway that a software update is sufficient to correct
tires permit a few kilometers of driving in initiative) industry standard guarantees that the malfunction, the remote maintenance
the event of a flat, a safety-conscious driver various services and applications can be procedure can be carried out by simply
will want to know the location of the near- simply downloaded and will then function downloading the necessary software from
est auto repair shop or tire service center. independently of the underlying computer an authorized and certified service
The touch of a button or a voice command hardware and operating system. This guar- provider. In this case, the owner doesn’t
will summon the assistance out of the new antees that every car manufacturer can ad- even need to drive to the service station.

Bosch Research Info Issue 4/2002


Giant Step for
Software Developers
■Vehicle stability programs, air-conditioning and navigation systems are milestones in
automotive safety and comfort. These functions would be unthinkable without electronics
and software, yet a growing number of technologies must now be linked together in order
to be useful. The solution from Bosch developers: An “open” service platform.
D
rivers who purchase a new car to-
day make a decision that will
have an impact over the next few
years. The extent of the vehicle’s equip-
ment is set at the date of purchase and will
not change very much during its lifetime of
10 to 15 years. So, although technical
progress will be making leaps and bounds
during this period, the car won’t be able to
benefit from them. New concepts are
needed to enable drivers and automakers
to keep up with the rapid development of
consumer electronics. The solution Bosch
is working on involves the combination of
a variety of technologies — from car radio,
CD/DVD player and mobile phone all the
way to the Internet, e-mail, and navigation
and air-conditioning system — into an inte-
grated network based on a shared software
platform. Such a system has a number of
advantages:
■ The platform is independent of the op-
erating system and the hardware being
used. This is achieved with a “middleware”
that separates the operating system from
The layered system makes applications inde-
pendent of operating systems.
the various services or applications. The
application programs for the car radio, e-
mail and navigation systems, all of which
are written in the Java programming lan-
guage, operate above this software level.
This eliminates the need for complicated
adjustments to the application software in
conjunction with the underlying operating
system and processor. As a result, less time
and expenses are required for develop-
ment.
■ The individual Java programs (applica-
tions) can communicate with one another
via predefined software interfaces. This is
ensured by an application framework that
complies to the OSGi standard. OSGi is an
industrial consortium in which Bosch re-
searchers are also involved. The applica-
tion framework guarantees that an e-mail
program or Web browser and a navigation
application “understand” each other — e.g.
that location coordinates can be transferred
from the Internet to the navigation device.
The key feature is that the OSGi standard
regulates not only the execution of Java
programs but also their downloading and
installation or deinstallation.
That’s how the software platform makes
it possible to add new functions after the
vehicle has been bought — to the cus-
tomer’s advantage. For instance, customers
can benefit from a better route algorithm
for the navigation system, new mobile of-
fice functions, or the latest games. Car
manufacturers can perform upgrading ac-
tivities efficiently and cheaply: For exam-
ple, drivers will be able to download new
functions for sensors or operating software
for control devices — without having to set
foot in a repair shop. The platform is open
for a whole range of new functions and ser-
vices (including those provided by third
party suppliers). Of course, the software
must be certified before it can be installed,
so that the stability and integrity of the sys-
tem as a whole is guaranteed. After all,
having the whole system crash — an expe-
rience all too familiar to PC users – is out
of the question when it comes to the com-
fort and safety features of an automobile.
Bosch Research Info Issue 4/2002
In Brief
■ High-Speed Material Wins Award
Data processing with computer
chips will soon be speeding up: Nor-
mally, data moves through glass
fibers at rates measured in Gbit/s —
and the electrical circuits in the
computer can’t keep up. The new
light-conducting special polymer
ORMOCER could revolutionize the
mounting and connection technol-
ogy of printed circuit boards and
chips, as well as making compact
optoelectronic chip designs possible.
Recently, 16 research institutes, in-
cluding Bosch (Dr. Jürgen Graf from
FV/FLD), were honored for this de-
velopment with the Science Prize
2002 from the Donors’ Association
for the Promotion of Sciences and
Humanities in Germany.
Dates
■ February 3 – 6, 2003
Karl Bendel will discuss “Extending
the Scope of Scanning Laser
Doppler Vibrometers to Tracking
Arbitrarily Moving Objects” at the
Conference on Structural Dynamics
in Kissimmee, Florida.
■ March 18 – 19, 2003
Stefan Arndt will focus on “Laser-
Optical Analysis of Mixture Forma-
tion in Gasoline Direct Injection” at
the 6th International Engine Com-
bustion Conference at the “Haus
der Technik” in Munich, Germany.
Masthead
■ Publisher
Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart
■ Responsible for content
Dr. Wolf-Dieter Haecker
President, Corporate Research and
Development
■ Editing and design
Medien-Service Wissenschaft, Stuttgart
■ Translation
TransForm GmbH, Cologne
■ Questions about the contents of this issue
Robert Bosch GmbH
Dr. Michael Bolle FV/SL2
Postfach 77 77 77
31132 Hildesheim, Germany
Tel.: +49 5121 49-2500
Fax: +49 5121 49-172500
■ Other questions about this issue
BFV21@de.bosch.com