Design and Implementation of an Embedded Board for Vehicular Connectivity

Vehicular connectivity serves as a cornerstone in the rapid diffusion of intelligent transport systems and smart mobility. By rendering information exchange feasible between vehicles and networked devices, a shift towards more reliable, resource efficient and environmentally conscious traffic interactions is possible. Versatile, reliable hardware platforms supporting various interfaces play a pivotal role in the ongoing deployment of Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication protocols. To provide the physical infrastructure able to integrate different communication standards and allow for interoperability, a compact, custom, open source hardware platform has been tailored for this application. Starting from a set of initial specifications in terms of interfaces, storage, and physical dimensions, an embedded board has been designed to accommodate off-the-shelf modules and support wireless connectivity between vehicles and networked devices in general. The design revolves around a System-on-Module by Variscite (DART series) which functions as a core processing module equipped with interfaces for a standard V2X On-Board-Unit. The board includes multiple miniPCIe slots supporting Wi-Fi and cellular modules, ports for serial communication, CAN, Gigabit Ethernet and Automotive Ethernet, USB and several GPIOs to grant flexibility, in addition to multiple storage solutions. This thesis describes the board design process up to component placement. The work covers the specification refinement, schematic design, PCB stack-up and component placement, taking into account automotive environmental constraints such as power supply and thermal management. The electronic design has been implemented using KiCad EDA tools. Completion of signal routing and PCB manufacturing files for final prototype development will be carried out in future work.