LIN Consortium

At the initiative of BMW, Daimler-Benz (today: Daimler), Motorola (today: Freescale) and VCT (today: Mentor Graphics) began a working group at the end of 1998 to develop the new bus system. The members of this working group, which by then had grown to include Audi, Volvo and VW in addition to the initiators, were the founding members of the LIN Consortium, and they formed its Steering Committee.

New and cost efficient

With the definition of a simple and cost-effective physical layer, a lean communication protocol and a methodology for automated development of software in nodes and networks (Workflow), the Consortium defined the requirements for a new automotive bus system.

Use cases

LIN has since become established as a subbus and is found in nearly every vehicle. It is especially used in convenience applications such as climate control, seats, doors and mirror control modules. All sensors and actuators are, in contrast to conventional wiring (see figure: Conventional Networking), equipped with a bus interface and are connected to the central ECU over the bus (see figure: Networking in LIN). This ECU assumes the role of a CAN-LIN gateway.