Cable communication

Cable communication uses standard Ethernet cable (Cat 5, Cat 5e or Cat 6) to communicate with VDS protocol-based vehicles. The cable is connected from the VIDA workstation into the vehicle OBD-connector using a special adapter (VOE adapter) provided by Volvo Cars. Using Ethernet provides fast and robust communication with the vehicles, but is less flexible than the wireless vehicle communication solution.

There are two different setups for cable communication; Networked cable communication and Peer-to-peer cabel communication. These are explained below.

Networked cable communication

One way of handling communication with VDS protocol-based vehicles is by using Networked cable communication. This requires that a LAN infrastructure is established at the workshop to which the VDS protocol-based vehicles can be connected via standard Ethernet cables. A VDS protocol-based vehicle connected to the LAN infrastructure is then accessible from any VIDA workstation in the workshop.

Fig. 12: Networked cable communication

Peer-to-peer cabel communication

A standard Ethernet cable can be connected directly from the vehicle into the VIDA workstation. This is called Peer-to-peer cabel communication. This connection must be used for fault tracing while driving and is required in a few special repair cases (e.g. after replacement of the VCM control unit in a vehicle). The limitation of using the peer-to-peer solution is that only the one VIDA workstation that is connected the vehicle, can reach the vehicle.

Fig. 13: Peer-to-peer cabel communication

Note

This vehicle communication method does not require any LAN infrastructure or Wi-Fi network for communication with the vehicle. However, VIDA always needs an internet connection.

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Vehicle communication how-to's (VDS)