Ethernet connection to ECU?

[koracing]

While I love the new G4x ability to log internally up to 512Mb - downloading the data takes quite a bit of time.  An ethernet/RJ45 or USB 3.0 connection would make this go a lot faster.   Any tips also appreciated to speed this up that I may be missing.

What about wireless wifi adaptation for ecu communication/tuning?  I found the thread by @Richard Hill using the mango wifi device, but is there a possibly of a more native device?

[Adamw]

There are definitely plans in the future to investigate other comms options for the next generation of ecu's, but with G4X we have stuck with USB so that PC Link didnt need a complete re-write as well (Months, if not years of work for our small team). The comms chipset that is in the G4X is capable of native high speed USB 2.0 as well - not only the virtual com port system that is being used at present so in theory it has the potential to be very fast.  I believe this is being worked on.

Ethernet is nice and robust, resilient to noise and makes wireless easy, but it has some significant negatives too.  You need a server running on you laptop which becomes quite complex -  especially as PC security gets stricter everyday around IP.  For example with most ECU's that use ethernet comms that I have used you need to assign a static IP to your ethernet port and you cant access internet or a network (via wifi) while connected to the ecu - so no saving files to a network location or retrieving from your onedrive etc.  We have many users that struggle to install a simple USB driver, so you can imagine the potential headache a more complex server install and configuring ethernet adapters, IP addresses etc could cause.  Not impossible if the software and documentation is done well (Motec is pretty easy setup for example), but still a potential big can of worms.

It is also not as fast as you think.  Fast Ethernet is 100Mbps theoretical max, the few ECU's I have experience with only get about 30Mbps max in real life.  USB2.0 is 480Mbps theoretical max.  USB3.0 is 5Gbps.