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Actuator and sensor control MCUs bring automotive control to the edge

Fri, Dec 17, 2021

Two microcontrollers (MCUs) released by Renesas Electronics are designed for automotive actuator and sensor control applications. The RL78/F24 and RL78/F23 have been added to the RL78 family of low power, 16-bit MCUs. The company says that, with these additions, the automotive portfolio offers customers reliable, high-performance devices for systems ranging from actuators to zone control.

Electrical and electronic (E/E) architecture is extending to include zone and domain control applications. This means control mechanisms have to evolve to accommodate body control for automotive systems such as lights, windows, and mirrors, motor control for engine pumps and fans and multiple sensor control. In future, high-speed and secure connectivity with zone and domain controllers will be mission critical for edge electronic control units (ECUs), advises Renesas. The RL78/F24 and RL78/F23 MCUs support the CAN FD high speed communication protocol (RL78/F24) and EVITA-Light security. They are also optimised for systems targeting ASIL-B levels under the ISO 26262 functional safety standard.

Using the actuator and sensor control MCUs enables developers to reuse most of their existing software assets, says Reneas, which reduces costs, yet still advances E/E architecture.

The future of automotive systems design lies in a vehicle-centralised, zone-oriented E/E architecture, the company maintains. This trend is creating higher demand for more advanced functionality and better performance in actuator controller applications. The RL78/F24 and RL78/F23 MCUs deliver up to approximately 70 per cent faster operating frequencies than the previous generation, which can more than double the performance in brushless DC (DLDC) motor control applications.

The hardware accelerator and timer functions for motor control have also been enhanced and a 12-bit ADC has been added.

The RL78/F24 and RL78/F23 MCUs have an operating frequency of 40MHz, on-chip flash memory capacity of 128 or 256kbytes and operate at temperatures up to 150 degrees C.

The MCUs support a selection of connectivity interfaces, including CAN FD (RL78/F24), LIN, SPI, and I2C. For security, there is support for EVITA-Light and for AES-128/192/256 encryption algorithms.

The additions to the RL78 family are pin-compatible and have the same energy efficiency.

Renesas also offers an RL78/F24 target board and is developing an RL78/F24 12V motor control evaluation system starter kit.

Sampling of the RL78/F24 and RL78/F23 MCUs will be available starting April 2022, with mass production scheduled to begin in the second half of 2023.

https://www.renesas.com

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S32G3 network processors extend to software-defined vehicle use

Wed, Dec 15, 2021

NXP Semiconductors has extended it S32G family of network processors with the S32G3 series. According to the company it now offers broad scalability from vehicle microcontrollers to higher-performance vehicle compute applications with software and pin compatibility.

There are four initial devices in the family, all software and pin-compatible with the S32G2 series which has been in full production since Q2 2021. They offer up to 2.5x more applications processing performance, on-chip system memory and networking than the current highest-performance S32G2 Series device. These capabilities allow them to enable more ECU consolidation and support intelligent software-defined vehicles, says NXP.

The S32G3 processors have more Ethernet bandwidth on two ports and on-chip system memory than the current S32G2 Series’ highest-performance device (S32G274A). They also double the number of isolation domains, which are critical for future ECU consolidation. The package pinout remains the same.

An EVB3 evaluation board, RDB3 reference design and GoldBox 3 rugged enclosure version, combined with a broad range of enablement software and the Vehicle Integration Platform (GoldVIP) for rapid connected gateway development are available to support evaluation, development, proof-of-concept and to accelerate time-to-market.

The addition of the new processors means that the S32G family now addresses a broader range of vehicle applications from safe microcontrollers to higher-performance domain controllers, safety processors and zonal vehicle compute applications.

The emerging domain and zonal architectures require the integration of more processing, memory, networking bandwidth and resource isolation to support software-defined vehicles, advises NXP. Intelligent connected vehicles demand more complex advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) safety and secure real-time and applications processing to offer vehicle and data-driven cloud services for smart cities and mobility.

The S32G family of devices is supported by a broad partner ecosystem offering operating systems, virtualisation, execution environments, applications software, boards, software tools, engineering services, deep-dive training and cloud services.

NXP helps customers design S32G system solutions with companion products. The SJA1110 multi-gigabit safe and secure automotive Ethernet switch is aligned to the latest TSN standards and offers integrated 100BASE-T1 PHYs, hardware-assisted security and safety capabilities and multi-gigabit interfaces. To ensure power management architecture and the safety concept scalability from S32G2 to S32G3, NXP developed the PF53 as a companion chip of the VR5510. The PF53 is a high-performance 12A core supply regulator with adaptive voltage positioning (AVP).

NXP also offers a range of in-vehicle network transceivers with CAN high-speed signal integrity and security innovations.

The initial S32G399A device has been sampled to lead customers with a production launch targeted for Q1 2023.

http://www.NXP.com

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Versatile automotive touchscreen controller includes functional safety support

Wed, Dec 01, 2021

Multiple communication options, ISO 26262 functional safety support and flexible RF emission control are offered in the maXTouch touchscreen controller, says Microchip Technology.

According to the company, it allows automotive designers to satisfy various aspect ratios for touch displays in cars and, in response to requests by OEMs, includes additional functional safety support.

The MXT1296M1T can reconfigure its driving and receiving touch channels to match the exact screen format, from 1:1 to 5:1 aspect ratio, i.e., including the popular 8:3 automotive aspect ratio. This allows the customer to efficiently use the number of touch channels available, without needing a larger, more expensive touch controller. Customers can save additional development and validation time, as well as resources, by reusing a common PCB design to support different touch sensor aspect ratios. The MXT1296M1T is believed to be an industry first in that it enables the sensor channel reconfiguration by parameters. Settings do not require firmware modification, which reduced the design risk and also the time to market.

Clayton Pillion director of the human machine interface (HMI) business unit at Microchip Technology, observed: “Products with enhanced diagnostic features are a significant advantage to customers who are designing with unique features and increasing ISO 26262 functional safety requirements in mind”.

The MXT1296M1T maXTouch touchscreen controller offers two communication interfaces operating simultaneously, which allow a bridgeless connection to the back channel of the LVDS video link for touch information and a connection to a local microcontroller. The bridgeless topology reduces touch latency to improve the user experience. It also guarantees compatibility with the maXTouch software driver, available for all major automotive operating systems, including Linux, Android and QNX.

When connected to an appropriate local microcontroller, the second interface offers a number of benefits. Firstly, it offers a redundancy link to the head unit through a CAN bus or 10BASE-T1S automotive Ethernet link for increased functional safety at the system level. There is also local access and control of the maXTouch touchscreen controller’s features, for example, capacitive keys report, live touch sensor diagnostics and raw data for external and custom post-processing.

Finally, there is over the air (OTA) and secure firmware update capability using Microchip’s TrustAnchor100 companion chip

The MXT1296M1T embeds various functional safety features to constantly check the integrity of the touch controller operation, as well as that of the connected touch sensors. The failure modes effects and diagnostic analysis (FMEDA) and functional safety manual support the customer in designing, building and certifying a system for Automotive Safety Integrity Level B (ASIL-B) applications to the ISO 26262 standard.

The MXT1296M1T allows for high resolution transmit waveform control to lower RF emissions and avoid interference with the car radio or RFID systems. As screen sizes increase in cars, RF emissions generated by the projected capacitive touch technology are growing. (Emission limits vary in amplitude, frequency and bandwidth for each major car manufacturer.) The MXT1296M1T uses a dedicated on-chip 64-level DAC to accurately shape the waveform of the transmitting lines. As a result, designers can precisely control the frequency response and optimise the harmonic emissions to meet specific OEM-defined limits.

The MXT1296M1T configuration and tuning is supported by the latest release of maXTouch Studio integrated development environment (IDE). Microchip also offers the

ATEVK-MXT1296M1T-A evaluation kit for order. This includes a development board with USB bridge, 12.3-inch / 8:3 format / 1.1mm OGS (one glass solution) touch panel, and touch key add-on boards for mutual and self-capacitance.

There is also the ATMXT1296M1T-I2C-PCB development board for connection to a customer’s touch sensor

The MXT1296M1T is now available in volume production. ISO 26262 FMEDA and Functional Safety Manual will be available for purchase Q1, 2022.

http://www.microchip.com

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GNSS modules positions vehicles within 500mm

Tue, Nov 30, 2021

High accuracy vehicle positioning which positions them to within 500mm without correction data is the claims for the UMSZ6 series of GNSS module, developed by Alps Alpine and Furuno.

Being able to realise accurate positioning to within 50cm without correction data is a first for automotive applications, says Alps Alpine. Typical roads are approximately three metres wide which enables the module to reliably position vehicles within a lane for V2X applications and autonomous driving. Mass production is scheduled for 2023 and in the time leading up to the commercial availability, the partners say they will be making efforts to enhance the performance with evaluations and demonstration testing.

In the autonomous driving domain, a growing number of vehicles on the road have Level 2 automated driving capability, allowing them to autonomously follow the vehicle in front under certain conditions while staying in their lane. Cars capable of Level 3 automated driving, where the system carries out all driving tasks but under restricted conditions, such as during motorway or low speed driving, have also been developed and some are already on the market, says Alps Alpine. The spread of Level 3 autonomous vehicles and further advances in autonomous driving functionality will depend on the availability of vehicle positioning that is more user-friendly and even more accurate, believes the company.

The UMSZ6 Series GNSS Module realises high-accuracy vehicle positioning to within 500mm even without having to use position correction data through the use of a multi-frequency GNSS receiver chip based on Furuno’s Extended Carrier Aiding technology. Running costs associated with RTK4 base stations, correction data receiving and correction data use are no longer needed.

The jointly developed module uses Alps Alpine’s expertise in module creation for the compact dimensions of 17.8 x 18.0 x 3.11mm.

Furuno has developed and supplies the eRideOPUS 9 (model ePV9000B) multi-frequency GNSS receiver chip and algorithm. Alps Alpine is using the chip before anyone else to create and commercialise the UMSZ6 series GNSS module. It will carry out evaluations within a real-car environment to assess performance and interoperability with V2X and other communication modules.

Hideo Izumi, vice president, device business, Alps Alpine, commented: “Relative vehicle positioning accuracy is constantly improving as a result of mmWave radar, lidar and camera technology. Achieving absolute position accuracy down to the lane level is essential for both V2X applications and genuine Level 3 automated driving, but system-related costs associated with RTK technology have been an obstacle” He believes the combination of the multi-frequency GNSS receiver chip based on Furuno’s Extended Carrier Aiding technology, will be a breakthrough in V2X and advanced autonomous driving technology.

The GNSS module can be used for telematics control units and V2X onboard units.

http://www.alpsalpine.com

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Actuator and sensor control MCUs bring automotive control to the edge

S32G3 network processors extend to software-defined vehicle use

Versatile automotive touchscreen controller includes functional safety support

GNSS modules positions vehicles within 500mm

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