What is Automotive Ethernet Fundamentals TC10 (Open Alliance Standard)?

The Open Alliance is an industry organization established to promote the spread and development of Ethernet in automotive networks. It defines various standards called TC XX (where *XX is a number), and this article will focus on the TC10 standard.
The purpose of this TC10 standard is to support the sleep/wake-up specifications required for automobiles. The standard is being discussed and defined within the Open Alliance, chaired by Marvell and Broadcom.

As mentioned above, TC10 is an automotive Ethernet standard that defines the sleep and wake-up mechanism. Ethernet PHYs and SWITCHES that support this mechanism can be described SWITCHES TC10-compliant.
Compliance with the TC10 standard contributes to lower vehicle power consumption and ECU temperatures, which ultimately improves vehicle fuel efficiency and reduces battery power consumption.

The conventional sleep and wake-up functions had the following problems:

・When a device goes into sleep mode, there is no distinction between sleep mode and link down mode from the perspective of the other side of the communication.
・A separate signal line is required to wake up from sleep mode

The TC10 standard allows devices to shut down when not in operation and wake up when necessary, depending on the vehicle's operating environment. It also defines current consumption during sleep as below a certain value, providing clear standards. This will reduce power consumption throughout the vehicle and lead to the creation of an efficient network environment.
The sleep and wake-up signals no longer require dedicated signal lines and can now be communicated via an Ethernet CABLES, which contributes to reducing the number of components.

A sleep request is sent via an Ethernet CABLES. First, the host outputs a sleep request. When the link partner receives the sleep request, it stops outputting the idle signal and enters sleep mode. When the host detects that this idle signal has stopped, it also enters sleep mode.
Wake-up is achieved in two ways: first, local wake-up, where the wake pin of the PHY is driven high, and second, remote wake-up, where the wake-up signal is sent over the Ethernet CABLES.
OTHERS, detection times and state definitions are specified in detail, but for more details, please refer to the specifications provided within OpenAlliance.