DENSO, Freescale and TRW join forces to form Distributed System Interface (DSI) Consortium

DSI is the automotive industry’s most widely adopted bus standard used to connect remotely placed sensors to the main airbag electronic control unit (ECU) in automobiles. The consortium will actively seek broader industry participation to enhance the capability of bus systems, while also expanding the range of applications beyond automotive and into industrial control and networking. Consortium members will be free to use the DSI standard and will be able to influence the development of future generations of the DSI standard.

“With the establishment of this consortium, we expect acceleration in the development of advanced competitive DSI standards that have higher performances and lower costs, as well as help expand the DSI standard in the market,” said Mitsuhiko Masegi, DENSO’s managing officer responsible for the Information & Safety Systems Business Group.

With this announcement, the DSI Consortium unveils DSI 2.5, the next-generation standard. The consortium will also work to develop the DSI 3.0 standard, which will aim to increase bus performance such as electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) signature and transmission speed.

The DSI protocol has been adopted by the world’s leading supplemental restraint system (SRS) airbag manufacturers. Currently, more than a dozen automotive OEMs have included DSI-based systems in their vehicles. DSI-compliant products have been in production for many years. Demand for airbag-related systems is driven by legislation, consumer influences and automotive growth in emerging markets.

“As automotive airbag systems continue to become more sophisticated and require more collision detection sensors, car manufacturers face pressures to reduce cost while enhancing safety,” said Tom Deitrich, senior vice president and general manager of Freescale’s RF, Analog and Sensors Group. “This consortium will enable implementers of the DSI safety bus to participate in the evolution of the standard and to continue providing robust, high-speed communications for the growing number of collision sensors planned to be used in new vehicles.”

“As a global leader in the development of active and passive safety systems, TRW looks forward to the further development of advanced network protocols and is already at work on enhanced future generations for DSI,” said Martin Thoone, vice president of TRW Electronics Engineering.