As an old aircraft, industry and automation engineer I have three preferred ways for comunication.
CAN
TCP/IP
FIBER
Using CAN internal short distance within each unit.
TCP/IP unshielded between units or long distances within a unit.
FIBER for safest com. between any unit, no disturbance vath ever.
And self learning pug and play should be possible.
That’s essential if I have to send components to a customer for them to make self service.
CAN is aircraft is not used internally ever within a device, it is used over long runs for control of critical systems.
I2C is what you used internally to a device.
Reviving this great discussion:
We have been working with a TCP/IP network on some of our aircraft over the last year and it has been a significant advancement. It becomes much easier to integrate systems and move data between them. Right now our aircraft network (skynet) has a flat topography. The network is isolated to the aircraft and GCS only. As the network interfaces with more systems, or we introduce a gateway, security may become a concern.
Listed below are two small ethernet switches that might be of interest to anyone reading.
SwitchBlox Nano – 1 Inch Ethernet Switch
GigaBlox – Small GigaBit Switch
Well this is a nice shoutout! I’m Josh, the guy who designed GigaBlox and runs BotBlox.
If you have any feedback, don’t hestitate to let me know.
FYI on this post, I’d say single pair ethernet (1000BASE-T1) has the most potential for next generation drone comm busses (though it’s a point to point protocol, not really a bus), because it means 1Gbps speeds over two wires.