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CONTENTS
News Diary Steve Rogerson reports from Novembers Advanced Automotive Electronics conference in Daventry Steve Rogerson looks at Linear Technologys claims to have raised the bar for battery monitoring
12 AAE Report
18 Power Technologies
Clive Davis, Kelvin Hagebeuk and Hafeez Najumudeen discuss how instruments can evolve to meet the latest automotive challenges Mark Forrest talks about how investment in todays field service management technology can help streamline business processes to lead to long-term efficiency, profitability and customer retention Siraj Ahmed Shaikh and Padmanabhan Krishnan describe safety analysis carried out for adaptive cruise control
30 Safety
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Published by: MT Publications Limited, Prudence Place, Proctor Way, Luton, Bedfordshire LU2 9PE, United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)1582 722460 Fax: +44 (0)1582 722470 Email: enquiries@automotiveelectronics.co.uk Web: www.automotive-electronics.co.uk ISSN: 1749-1819 Editor Steve Rogerson, Steve@automotive-electronics.co.uk Editorial Contributors: Clive Davis, Kelvin Hagebeuk, Hafeez Najumudeer, Mark Forrest, Siraj Ahmed Shaikh and Padmanabhan Krishan
35 Product News
Designer Victoria Wren, Victoria@automotive-electronics.co.uk Advertisement Manager David Williams, David@automotive-electronics.co.uk Circulation & Subscription Manager Wendy Magee, wmagee@circdata.com Accounts & Administration Manager Kim Hughes, Kim@automotive-electronics.co.uk Publishing Assistant Ruthanne Hornshaw, Ruthanne@automotive-electronics.co.uk Publisher David Williams, David@automotive-electronics.co.uk Automotive Electronics is available to readers in the United Kingdom not meeting the terms of control at an annual rate of 55. The overseas subscription rate is US$130. Automotive Electronics is published six times a year by MT Publications Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of Automotive Electronics may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording on any information storage system without the written consent of the publisher. The publisher cannot be held responsible for loss or damage to unsolicited press releases and/or photographs. Views of contributors and advertisers do not necessarily reflect the policy of Automotive Electronics or those of the publisher. Printed in the UK by Hastings Printing Company Ltd.
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4 NEWS
NEWS 5
said Ray Cornyn, Freescales vice president for automotive microcontrollers. The two firms have collaborated on a custom MCU programme called Quasar (for quad-core microcontroller for automotive safety and reliability) designed to provide the processing intelligence for Continentals nextgeneration EBS products. The
This underground car park has provided a good example of how well Aptinas image coprocessors work in automotive camera applications. The image on the right shows the building as captured using the firms AP0100AT image coprocessor and AR0132AT megapixel HDR (high dynamic range) sensor. The sensor performance is improved because the heat is lower when using a separate coprocessor chip. Our automotive OEMs need to deliver multiple camera products quickly and efficiently, said David Zimpfer, vice president and general manager for Aptinas automotive business. Meeting this challenge, Aptina created an advanced, flexible two-chip solution that combines megapixel resolution sensor support, superior image quality including HDR, and optimal heat dissipation. The AP0100AT and AP0101AT co-processors provide colour processing, auto-function support, noise reduction and adaptive local tone mapping to enhance HDR images. The AP0101AT is for digital surround view systems and the AP0100AT supports 185 fisheye lens distortion correction, perspective correction and multiple view options such as split side view and triptych.
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6 NEWS
Green Hills and Obigo are working together on web applications for the car
customers. The HTML5 platform consists of an HTML5 browser, web runtime, web applications and device API extensions. When combining Obigos product breadth and experience
with the Green Hills Platform for Digital Instruments, developers are enabled to design the most scalable vehicle HMI solutions while delivering the highest performance, security and reliabil-
More than 50,000 people around the world logged on to monitor the progress of Mike Perham, the youngest person to circumnavigate the world alone by land. From July to October, the 20-year-old travelled more than 37,000km across 20 countries to raise money for disaster relief charity Shelterbox. Leeds-based vehicle tracking company Remote Asset Management (Ram) provided the tracking kit for this feat, allowing thousands to log on and use real-time monitoring to keep up to date with Perhams progress minute by minute. During one moment on his trip, he was stuck in Alaska at -20C, at which point both his watch and mobile failed and his car battery froze solid. The vehicle tracking device remained working, ensuring family and friends knew he was still moving and safe. It has been an absolute pleasure to support Mike as he embarked on this worlds first, said James Taylor (standing) from Ram. Being part of something like this is brilliant and knowing we were playing an active part in not only Mikes safety, but also the joy of others tracking his progress was fantastic.
ity, said Dan Mender, vice president of business development for Green Hills Software. Obigo has extended its web offering to include automotivecentric device APIs that facilitate secure data sharing and control of vehicle diagnostic, sensor data and more over HTTP. The browser and web runtime, when combined with Integrity, deliver what is claimed to be the industrys first automotive-grade secured HTML5 web platform, providing secured device API access. When combined with Multivisor, the platform can be used as an HMI rendering engine that allows use of the same HMI engine in a guest os-agnostic manner. Obigo is pleased to be integrated with Green Hills industry-leading product offerings currently in use by the demanding automotive marketplace, said Obigo president David Hwang. We are excited to see this partnership address the difficult challenges around designing for maximum platform scalability, security and reliability while delivering next-generation, advanced HMI solutions to the car. Green Hills has announced the availability of an Autosar compatible API for the Integrity rtos.
ems s syst u b d ls: or te Supp d protoco ernet, th an E , IP, 826, , C AN 825 / n X / D 2 1 AF e 8 p / CANo C 429 ARIN erospace, CANa
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8 NEWS
NEWS 9
Power battle Audi and NXP form strategic partnership fo trucks Audi and NXP Semiconductors
Enocean is hoping its energy harvesting technology will win the day over solar power for a wireless warning sys- John Corbett: It tem being de- may go one way or another. veloped in the UK for trucks. The system will alert the driver of faulty bulbs anywhere on the truck, but the company developing the technology hasnt decided which technology to use to power the system. As the truck bumps along, you get vibrations to give enough power to give a signal, said John Corbett, Enoceans sales director, at the recent Electronica exhibition in Munich. This is still in development and they may go for solar power. It may go one way or another. He said it would be about nine months before the system would be on the market and thus couldnt name the company carrying out the development. He also said a company was looking at the technology for on-off switches in non-commercial domestic vehicles. have signed a strategic partnership focussing on automotive electronics application segments ranging from in-vehicle networking and car entertainment, to emerging technologies for the connected car. This includes carto-X communications, telematics, near field communications and high-voltage controls for electrical vehicles. The partnership is another milestone in our progressive semiconductor programme (PSCP) and underscores the mutual trust that both corporations have built over many years, said Ricky Hudi, chief executive engineer for electrics and electronics at Audi. In addition, NXPs strategy to provide the electronic interfaces for the connected car is smart and gives clear indications for Audis future plans. The PSCP is a semiconductor strategy aimed at intensifying the role of semiconductor companies in the processes of the German car manufacturer. Its a real honour to serve as a strategic innovation partner to Audi in the premium car market, and is a testament to the industry recognising NXPs excellent
less robust. There is also no on-device display, said Keen. It is also slower than our high-end model. But he said the two data loggers used the same software and set-up techniques. But if you want more data and higher speeds, then use the high-end data logger, he said.
customer support, commitment to deliver top quality solutions and above all our innovation power, said Kurt Sievers, general manager for NXPs automotive business. Our strong collaboration with Audi reinforces that NXPs focus on technologies for the connected car is spot on with where the industry is going. Harman has started deliveries
of its latest-generation automotive infotainment system to Audi. The MMI Navigation Plus platform is a fully integrated infotainment unit to facilitate high-quality playback of diverse music and video files through seamless connectivity via such devices as IPod, hard disk drive, smart phones and USB devices. The system will premiere aboard the 2013 Audi A3.
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10 NEWS
NEWS 11
application search
Mouser Electronics has added four block diagrams to its automotive applications web site. These should help design engineers find the latest automotive advancements. They can source product information via block diagram navigation, and pinpoint the technical resources. The site also has some of the latest products from manufacturers such as Texas Instruments, Murata, Molex, ST Microelectronics and Infineon. The four application diagrams cover braking systems (ABS), electric power steering, central body control and seat control. This is in addition to its focus of covering the instrument cluster, rear vision systems, keyless entry, plus other industry news and technical resources. The block diagram navigation and streamlined graphical interface is designed to speed navigation. Combined with the featured products section, engineers can quickly steer themselves to products and information based on defined parameters and engineering standards all centred on automotivespecific design needs. Engineers can review application notes, white papers and videos, as well as automotive-ready products. To learn more, visit www. mouser.com/automotive-applications.
Autosport International
10th-13th January 2013 Birmingham, UK www.autosportinternational.com
The company makes power management and networking products, which it says go well together in the likes of IP cameras. Key to this is its ripple
Automotive World
Paul Whittingham demonstrates how Busfile works
and email alerts. A compliance management feature can be used to prove all the maintenance has been done at a set time. An option is an electronic check system for drivers. Some drivers just sit in their cabins and tick boxes, said Whittingham. This system means they have to get up and walk round the vehicle. The driver has to scan in QR codes situated around the vehicle and then answer on a handheld device various safety questions related to that location. If the driver finds a defect, that
will send an email alert to the main system, he said. It will stay there until it has been dealt with. It can also be pushed direct to the workshop. Penny Lyon, managing director of Cumfybus, said: The comprehensive workshop system manages our scheduling and maintenance compliance, and we have introduced the drivers walk around check to manage the drivers first use inspection. As a management team, we can instantly see the checks as they are completed and can rectify defects efficiently, saving downtime.
Embedded World
26th-28th February 2013 Nuremberg, Germany www.embedded-world.de
McLaren Electronic Systems is to provide the electric engine, transmission and electronics for cars that will participate in the FIAs new Formula E series. McLaren will be a partner of Spark Racing Technology, which is led by Frdric Vasseur and is dedicated to the creation and assembly of the electric cars participating in Formula E. McLaren and Spark will work together to design and assemble the electric cars, which will soon be racing around cities across the globe. Im a passionate believer in the role that motorsport can play
in showcasing and spearheading the development of future technologies, and regard the Formula E concept as an exciting innovation for global motorsport, said Martin Whitmarsh, CEO of the McLaren Group. McLaren has worked with Frdric Vasseur for many years, and our association has been very successful. The Formula E Championship will be launched in 2014. It will only use electric powered cars, will run exclusively in major international cities and has the assets needed to reach a worldwide audience. As well as being
an urban race series, it will facilitate the development of electric car technology that could one day be used in mainstream road cars. I am proud and happy to give birth to this project that is innovative and extremely rewarding for a company both technically and philosophically, said Vasseur. Personally, I can write a new chapter, regardless of my other ventures in motorsport. Confidence and commitment from our partner McLaren is a guarantee of quality and reliability without which this project Central body control application would not have been possible. block diagram
Autotronics
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diary dates
12
AAE 2012 was held at the Daventry Court Hotel
13
Steve Rogerson reports from Novembers Advanced Automotive Electronics conference in Daventry
Mark Fowkes: We might have to see what accidents are caused before we can regulate.
if these sensors bombard the driver with all this information, does the driver spend more time looking at this information and thus damage the safety? Philip Clarke, business manager for DSpace, said it was a matter of how this information was presented to the driver. Is it giving the driver raw data or making it more intuitive? he said. The driver is processing enough raw data from looking out of the window. It is possible to misinterpret a complex image. It is a question of how the ECU interprets the information and presents it to the driver. An alternative problem is that if there is too much autonomous control, the driver may lose concentration because he or she starts to think the car can handle any situation. This is a problem that airlines have already come across. On long-distance airlines, they are finding that the pilots are going to sleep because all the senor information is being handled automatically, said Chris Hills, CTO of Phaedrus Systems. Could this happen with car drivers? Will the driver start fading out the information? Head-up displays are one way to help in that the driver can see the information from the car while still being focussed on the road. But your brain still has to process a lot of information, said Clarke. This raises the question of how to design a system that can suit all drivers with such a vast difference in skills and
concentration levels. It is important to understand the impact of new technology on drivers, said Mark Fowkes, senior engineer at Mira. People have a range of driving skills from the nave to the more experienced. If you allow the driver to tune the system, is it being done correctly? If someone else is tuning it, how do they know the driver? Hills also raised the question of how these systems will affect
the driving test. Will you have to have different driving tests? he said. You have to have them for geared and automatic cars. Maybe there will be tests for with and without a head-up display. But Fowkes said it was hard to regulate for these systems until we knew how drivers would use them. We might have to see what accidents are caused before we
can regulate, he said. There is also the Volvo factor, which happened in the 1980s when the Volvo cars were so solidly built that their drivers believed they couldnt be hurt and some drove accordingly giving the car the reputation of being the worse driven car in Britain. If people are aware they have safety systems, they tend to drive in a more reckless way, said Clarke.
Delegates were treated to a rare chance of experiencing a rather unusual DeLorean car with this full-scale replica of the vehicle made famous in the iconic Back to the Future films. Built by a former Nasa electrical engineer who used to work at Universal Studios, the car is not only screen accurate but can also perform some of the special effects. And they can all be activated wirelessly along with audio clips from the film. Sadly, though, the time travel function was disabled and all the delegates were still in 2012 at the end of the show. The car was provided by Fusion Time Travel.
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Alistair Robertson: The CPU is the most power hungry module in the core.
dont need dedicated hardware to support this. But the power savings are not as great as with partial networks. He said though there was a limit to what could be done within the microcontroller and that system-wide techniques had to be applied.
and EVs. It is forcing the market to do things differently, and one way is to electrify part of the drive train. If an electric vehicle has a 200 to 250V battery, a DC-DC converter is needed to bring that down to 12V for the legacy systems in a car. But if another DC-DC converter increases that to 500 to 600V for the motor, the current and the losses can be reduced. You can have smaller battery packs and use DC-DC conversion to boost the voltage for the motor, he said. This is the way it has gone on the Prius range. He said though there was no clear winner on finding a
is underneath. It is the simple high-level interface that is the important thing, he said. You have to build up all the blocks underneath that manage the data. And then you have to put it all together with all the faults. There is a lot. There can be 500 to 1000 faults. The target audience are system engineers and not software experts, so you need to hide all the software.
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Peter van Manen: Teams are making thousands of components each year.
It is quite an exciting stage, he said. One big difference will be that the processor will be partitioned in a way that will allow all the teams to write some of their own software. We will create a single version of the software that everyone uses but there will be elements that the teams can use, he said. It will be standard electronics with the flexibility the engineers will need when they build the new powertrains.
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18 Power Technologies
circuit. A controller then uses the cell data to compute the state of charge and state of health of the pack. The controller may command the battery monitor to charge or discharge certain cells to maintain a balanced state of charge within the pack. 16bit resolution and better than 0.04% accuracy. This is claimed to be four times more accurate than the predecessors. A key upgrade is the use of two 16bit ADCs rather than one 12bit circuit in the LTC6803. This means it will run at ten times the speed, said Soule. And Erik Soule: We are going to change the it lets us better synchronise voltage industry with this. and current measurements. You get closer time alignment between voltage and current and that is important for calculating an accurate state of charge. One difficulty the company had designing the chip was trying to make it work with a standard SPI interface. In the end, the designers opted for the proprietary IsoSPI interface, which means the device has to be used with the companion LTC6820 chip to translate signals to and from this environment. We tried to find a standard bus but failed, said Soule, so we designed our own IsoSPI. This is new. The voltage reference technology is completely different from the
Power Technologies 19
older chips to improve measurement accuracy and long-term stability. And there are more built-in self test circuits than the predecessors. Also important is that it has been engineered with ISO26262 in mind. There are features to help the system designer comply with the specification, said Soule. The use of burned Zener technology is said to improve time and temperature stability giving it references similar to that used in precision instruments. Nobody else is using this or even thinking of using it, said Soule. The company also plans to introduce the LTC3300 bidirectional active balancing device early next year, and this will be controllable by the LTC6804, which itself will be in full production during the first quarter of 2013. We have been sampling it with out customers and had tremendous interest, said Soule. The feedback has been unbelievable. We are going to change the industry with this. It is a whole bunch of little tricks all working together. l
Battery monitor
Balancingact
Steve Rogerson reports on Linear Technologys claims to have raised the bar for battery monitoring
Linear Technology has completely redesigned its high-voltage battery monitor chip in a move that it claims will raise the bar for stacked battery monitoring in hybrid and electric vehicles. The LTC6804 chip has had all aspects of the design changed from its predecessors the LTC6802 and LTC6803. This is the state of the art in terms of a stacked battery monitor, said Erik Soule, vice president and general manager of signal conditioning products. This comes from a lot of different things all working together. We have dealt with every issue we have been asked to improve. The chip will monitor a bank of 12 cells at voltages up to 4.2V with
ithium-ion batteries require considerable care if they are expected to operate reliably over a long period. They cannot be operated to the extreme end of their state-of-charge (SoC). The capacity of Li-ion cells diminish and diverge over time and usage, so every cell in a system must be managed to keep it within a constrained SoC. To provide sufficient power for a vehicle, tens or hundreds of battery cells are required. These cells must be configured in a long series; as much as 1kV and higher. The battery electronics must operate in this very high-voltage environment and reject common mode voltage effects, while differentially measuring and controlling each cell in these strings. The electronics must be able to translate information from the battery stack to a central point for processing.
information for determining the status of each cell. Secondly, the BMS must control the SoC for each cell in a system. This is done by controlling the charge, discharge and balancing of each cell in a system. The third requirement concerns safety. The BMS must know the electronics are properly working such that the battery information is valid. The golden rule is that no over voltage cell can appear as an Battery management The electronic system that measures OK voltage cell. To do this, the BMS has to communicate the status of all and manages the battery stack cells and the BMS electronics to the (also known as the BMS, or battery rest of the system. management system) has three key The key element in the battery requirements. management electronics is the First, the BMS must know the battery monitor IC. The battery health of each battery cell in the stack. Primarily, this is accomplished monitor performs the difficult task of accurately measuring the voltage, by estimating the SoC of each cell current and temperature of each cell in the battery system. The current SoC can be combined with historical and passing the data to a control
On top of these requirements, operating a high-voltage battery stack in a vehicle or other highpower applications imposes tough conditions, such as operation with significant electrical noise and wide operating temperatures. The battery management electronics are expected to increase operating range, lifetime, safety and reliability, while reducing cost, size and weight.
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Test Drive: The ESR, a Hybrid Instrument for the Modern Age
Andy Coombes, EMC Product Manager for Rohde & Schwarz UK, discusses why the companys latest EMI Test Receiver ideally suits automotive EMC testing. From an EMC perspective, benign the average car is not. With its combustion engine, alternator, wiper motors and other electro-mechanical components introducing broadband noise throughout the platform, automotive EMC testing has always been challenging. But the task is getting harder as more electrical/ electronic sub-components, sensors and modules for control, communications and entertainment are added to the system. Linked by high speed data, these systems fall victim to the inherent interference, before consideration of a vehicles compliance to EMC regulations is taken into account. Nowhere are these challenges more apparent than in Hybrid Electric Vehicles. Insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), the power inverters used to drive 3-phase AC motors from high voltage DC batteries, can create high levels of broadband noise. This phenomenon can readily knock out readings from the vehicles many sensors, necessitating immensely thorough diagnostic, as well as compliance EMC testing. Raymond Whinray, Integration Engineer for Hybrid & Electrification at Jaguar Land Rover: With the ESR as part of our toolset we make another step to avoid unexpected behaviour, rather than being reactive to these issues later in a development program. Within electric propulsion systems we have to analyse behaviour with a wide range of variables. We use test data early within our projects to correlate the CAE simulation data with real behaviour. We have used the ESR function for real-time display of frequency spectrum when analysing system-wide EMC effects. From this we can observe and replay the transient effects during mode changes that would be very easily missed using traditional spectrum analysers or digital oscilloscopes with FFT capability. The real-time aspect has proven very useful to match the RF behaviour with the system operation and mode transition events. Rohde & Schwarz has introduced a new EMI receiver designed with the above-mentioned challenges in mind. By combining a traditional EMC receiver and spectrum analyser with a time-domain scanning receiver and real-time spectrum analyser, the ESR EMI Test Receiver provides the means to perform high speed compliance tests, as well as advanced diagnostic measurements, all in one box. Insight and Speed The ESR has several features that ideally suit it to automotive EMC testing. First is the unrivalled insight provided by the optional real-time analyser. The spectrogram function allows for seamless spectrum display in the time domain, enabling all discrete interferers to be viewed even in the presence of broadband disturbances, such as wiper motors or hybrid drivetrains. A persistence diagram lets users see all of the signals, all of the time, whilst the spectogram mode (spectral histogram) which identifies pulsed and continuous disturbances has frequency mask triggering that will detect the most sporadic of spectral events.
Display of a broadband disturbance in conventional analyzer mode in this example caused by an electric motor with poor EMI suppression. The yellow trace represents the current spectrum, the blue trace Max Hold. Disturbance spectrum for the same motor in persistence mode. A second pulsed disturbance is clearly visible, while it cannot be identified in conventional analyzer mode (upper diagram) as it is hidden by the broadband disturbance.
ESR EMI Test Receiver. More speed. More insight. More intelligence.
Simultaneous display of disturbance spectrum in persistence mode (top) and as a spectrogram (bottom).
The ESR also offers a Time-Domain Scan option with unparalleled speed. This Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) based technology provides up to 30MHz bandwidth for FFT calculations and enables measurements up to 6000 times faster than conventional stepped frequency receivers. This makes the ESR EMI Test Receiver the fastest EMI measuring receiver on the market by some margin and ideally suits automotive component suppliers or EMC test houses, where time-consuming manufacturer-specific testing is the norm. One such customer is leading manufacturer of automotive climate, electronic, infotainment and lighting products, Visteon. Attesting to the ESRs impact on test times, Philip Page, Technical Fellow, EMC at Visteons European Test Operations says: Used correctly, the FFT capability has the potential to cut our test times for certain customers by 50 to 80%, and results in much faster development and troubleshooting time for our engineers. Hence, we are excited to have engaged with R&S with such a leading-edge product.
The ESR performs disturbance voltage measurements with quasi-peak and average weighting in just a few seconds.
Whilst outright speed of test and clinical levels of insight are important, ease of use is a key consideration for any test equipment that is used every day. Featuring an intuitive touchscreen interface that allows users to configure automated tests directly on the screen, the ESR offers standard consumer HMI features such as an onscreen keyboard, undo/redo keys and a built-in help function, to name but a few. A 21 cm screen enables up to six different traces to be simultaneously displayed. Meanwhile, a combined numeric and analog bargraph displays results for up to four detectors, allowing users to rapidly recognize the effect of changes made to the device under test.
The ESR allows users to configure automatic test sequences (preview measurement, data reduction, final measurement) quickly and easily and execute them at the press of a button. The final measurement can also be carried out interactively.
MIRA, a world class independent engineering and test consultancy, already has a suite of Rohde & Schwarz ESU test receivers and recently trialled the ESR. According to Mark Emery, EMC technical specialist: The ESR further enhanced our speed of testing, whilst features such as the spectrogram and real time analysis, persistence mode assisted our EMC engineers in discovering intermittent and masked emission content in a unique and intuitive way.
The ESR EMI test receiver has been designed to measure conducted and radiated disturbances in the 10 Hz to 7 GHz frequency range. It complies with CISPR 16-1-1 (Ed3 Amd1), as well as emissions to all OEM-specific EMC standards thanks to the availability of 6 dB resolution bandwidths in decade steps from 10 Hz to1 MHz. Having many of these features as options allows users to acquire them as and when needed, rather than pay for features that they wont necessarily use. And for those that use the ESR during the product development phase, the cost benefit is considerable from a combined test receiver and real-time spectrum analyzer in one. To find out more about the ESR, please visit www.rohde-schwarz.co.uk. Or, call Andy Coombes on +44 (0) 1252 81 88 88 to request a demonstration of the ESRs capabilities.
Keepingpace
Fig. 1: Eight-channel mixedsignal oscilloscopes provide comprehensive measurement and analysis capabilities for embedded, automotive, power and mechatronics applications
TPMS
Clive Davis, Kelvin Hagebeuk and Hafeez Najumudeen discuss how instruments can evolve to meet the latest automotive challenges
had four measurement channels, which is proving insufficient to address the challenges presented by todays automotive electronic systems. An increasing number of oscilloscope users are finding that the traditional four channels that have been the norm for decades are no longer sufficient. True, there are instruments he increased use of advanced the use of mixed-signal oscilloscopes available that provide eight or more electronic technologies in with increased channel count; and, channels, but these are normally modern cars poses considerable secondly, recent developments in the oscillographic recorders which do not challenges to the test and kers (kinetic energy recovery system) measurement engineer, both at technology used in modern racing cars offer sufficiently high bandwidth and sampling rate. the design debugging stage and has led to the need for high-accuracy Some users have created eightfor general-purpose performance power measurements. channel set-ups by combining two and maintenance purposes. The four-channel oscilloscopes, but this modern motor vehicle may contain ECUs approach requires the instruments sophisticated embedded systems linked Traditionally, the general-purpose to be synchronised: something that with the engine control unit as well test instrument of choice has is only normally possible in tightly as serial buses for communications been the oscilloscope, which has controlled laboratory conditions. information and control signals evolved from the early analogue In the words of one automotive throughout the vehicle. instruments to high-speed digital electronics engineer involved in In addition, measurements also need oscilloscopes with built-in storage developing ECUs: We need to to be made on physical parameters and processing capabilities. In recent observe the waveform details of from mechanical elements such years, the emergence of mixed-signal as motors and actuators and their oscilloscopes (MSOs) has enabled users more than four channels of engine interaction with multiple control to look at analogue and digital signals control unit signals, along with sensor signals, which can include analogue, together on the same display, allowing signals giving us parameters such as rotational speed, fuel injector pulse digital and high-power content. the interaction between the different times and crank angles, to name just Recent developments have led types of signal to be examined in a few. to modern test and measurement depth as an aid to determining the Not only are more IO signals used instruments aiding engineers in cause-and-effect sequence when as the control system becomes more automotive electronic developments. problems occur. sophisticated and complicated, there First, the debugging and test of the However, the first generation of is also a need for faster sampling and embedded electronics in engine MSOs suffered from a limitation in higher bandwidth because of the noise control units is greatly facilitated by some applications in that they only
Cost effective, fast and reliable Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) transmitter testing
A real-time spectrum analyzer can measure the burst FSK signals used by TPMS quickly and accurately, but it is far too expensive and has too many functions for a TPMS transmitter production line. Anritsu's MS2830A Signal Analyzer offers improved measurement speed and accuracy over a realtime spectrum analyzer with the added benefit of optimized functions such as a 10 MHz Analysis Bandwidth, ideal for testing TPMS transmitters. And this is all available at only one-third the cost of a general, real-time spectrum analyzer. Optimize your TPMS production line with the MS2830A: Inspection costs cut by 66% with improved speed and accuracy Inspection time cut by 1000 times to 0.1 secs using FFT technology The MS2830A Series - For cost effective, fast and reliable measurements - Anritsu wont let you down.
Scan the code and visit www.anritsu.com/ en-gb/tpms-ae
Sales Offices: Europe 44 (0) 1582-433433, USA and Canada 1-800-ANRITSU, Japan 81 (46) 223-1111, Asia-Pacific (852) 2301-4980, www.anritsu.com 2012 Anritsu Company
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Eight channels
Fig. 2: Users can find abnormal signals that might otherwise be overlooked
To address these challenges, the latest eight-channel oscilloscopes (Fig. 1) provide comprehensive measurement capabilities for embedded, automotive, power and mechatronics applications. The channels can be allocated as eight analogue channels or seven analogue channels plus one 8bit digital input. There are plans for such machines to have 16 more channels of logic to allow seven channels of analogue plus a 24bit digital input. Not only do such oscilloscopes provide enough channels for analogue applications such as three-phase voltage and current measurements, they also enable users to view the actual waveform shape of digital signals. This helps the digital debug process as glitches are often caused by such things as noise and crosstalk which are invisible when viewing just 1s and 0s. Some of these instruments have long memory (up to 62.5M points per channel and 125M points in interleave mode), allowing both long recordings and multiple waveforms to be acquired. A history memory function, which does not reduce the oscilloscopes waveform acquisition rate, can allow up to 20,000 previously captured waveforms to be saved in the acquisition memory, with any one or all of them displayed on screen for cursor measurements to be carried out. Waveforms can be displayed one at a time, in order, or automatically played back, paused,
Fig. 3: Analogue IO and digital serial bus controller signals can be tested together
fast-forwarded or rewound. The history memory in combination with the advanced waveform search feature enables users to capture and see the details of anomalies on individual waveforms when their characteristics are still unknown (Fig. 2). Advanced measurement and analysis features can include histogram and trending functions, digital filtering, zoom windows, userdefined mathematics, and serial bus analysis. The combination of an eightchannel analogue input at 500MHz bandwidth with a 16bit logic input makes it possible to carry out comprehensive and efficient measurements on many captured waveforms without changing the probe connection. Moreover, by capturing logic and bus signals in the analogue domain, users can evaluate signal-quality effects such as surge and noise, which often have a damaging effect on overall system reliability. As an added benefit, the analogue channel is psychologically more friendly than a logic display for many oscilloscope users.
Formula One
Formula One is a sport that has transformed over the years into a billion dollar business. The sport has become so popular and with a wide global audience base it has become an attraction for hundreds of multinational companies. Grand prix racing has a long-standing history of providing technological developments, which are applicable not only to fast racing cars but also to the general automotive industry. One of these developments is the kinetic energy recovery system (kers), also known as regenerative braking, which is becoming one of the most widely discussed subjects in technical universities and automobile companies. A Formula One car has kinetic energy when it runs, and when the brake is applied this kinetic energy is converted into a huge amount of heat energy, which would normally be wasted. This is not the case in a kers equipped car. With the kers system (Fig. 4), when the driver brakes, this kinetic energy is converted to electrical energy. Formula One cars have an electric motor and batteries setup that is used to convert and store this energy in the car. The electric motor is mounted at one end of the engine crankshaft. When the brakes are applied, this electric motor captures a portion of the rotational
force and converts the kinetic energy into electrical energy, which is stored in the battery bank. When the driver presses the kers or the boost button, the stored energy is converted back to kinetic energy, which gives the car additional power for a limited duration. The kers system was first introduced in 2009 and only a few F1 teams used the technology. In 2010, kers was banned, but it was reintroduced in 2011. It is now being used by most of the F1 teams. Even though the kers system adds an extra 35kg weight which gives a challenge to the balance of the car, it does provide the driver approximately 60kW extra for up to 6.7s per lap. This extra capacity can be released in one go or at different points, which gives the driver an added advantage during overtaking or defending positions. The kers system is not only intended to help in overtaking and defending to create additional excitement in the race, but also it is a step towards bringing the sport close to greenness.
Fig.4: Schematic of the kers system as used in Formula One racing cars
Testing kers
The F1 industry uses high-precision power analysers for the development and testing of kers system at both the R&D and production of stages. These power analysers (Fig. 5) are particularly suited to the measurement of electrical output, efficiency and losses in electric motors.
Fig. 5: Precision power analysers are ideally suited to the testing of kers and related systems in modern racing cars
The ability to connect six power inputs to a single analyser helps the users to evaluate the motor input and output efficiency. In addition, a motor evaluation function makes it possible to carry out simultaneous measurements of voltage, current and power as well as the rotation speed and torque changes. The input for torque and speed sensors helps in understanding the shaft power in electric motors, along with the direction of rotation. The six inputs of the analyser also help users to understand the battery characteristics by following the battery charge and discharge cycle and evaluating the inverter efficiency between the input and output.
posed new challenges for the test and measurement sector, but most of these challenges are being addressed by the latest generation of test instruments. As the automotive industry develops still further into the realms of electric and hybrid vehicles, electrical power trains and green initiatives to optimise performance and efficiency, so the test industry will respond by continuing to provide the appropriate measurement tools. l All three authors work for Yokogawa in Europe and Africa: Clive Davis is manager for test and measurement marketing; Kelvin Hagebeuk is product marketing manager for scope-corders and portable test instruments; and Hafeez Najumudeen is product marketing manager for power meters and analysers
Conclusion
These are just two areas in which advances in automotive systems have
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26 Telematics
Mobile workers can receive work assignments in real time, without returning to the office
Mark Forrest discusses how investment in todays field service management technology can help streamline business processes to lead to long-term efficiency, profitability and customer retention
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Field factors
n business today, operations managers face ever-mounting internal and external challenges to achieving business excellence. Customer expectations are at an all-time high, leading field services to play a major role in customer satisfaction, brand reputation and ultimately customer retention and profitability. Adding to this, unpredictable fuel prices, incoming legislative requirements and environmental concerns make today a challenging time to run a service operation. Maintaining efficient field-based operations is essential for any business to remain competitive and investment in technology is critical in helping to achieve this.
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28 Telematics
A method that boosts productivity while reducing costs ensures a business achieves a genuine return on investment (RoI). Unfortunately, there is often a lack of understanding of the huge cost savings field service management systems can deliver, alongside improvements in workforce productivity and customer satisfaction. An independent study among directors and senior managers operating large field-based work forces in the UK found that only 18% possess fully automated scheduling, dispatch and mobility tools. The majority are operating partly manual, partly automated systems, integrating a diverse mix of often incompatible legacy systems. This is preventing many organisations from realising the full potential of technology to increase workforce efficiency, a crucial factor A box fitted inside in achieving field service excellence. the vehicle can delivery performance and reduced customer complaints for late technicians or missed appointments. Once companies start comparing the information taken from field operations regularly, it is easy to see where improvements can be made or where patterns exist that can be planned for in advance to reduce the impact. need of the most improvement. Driver safety products enable managers to monitor driving behaviour and complete back office analysis of aggressive manoeuvres, such as hard acceleration, braking, turns and speed. With this data at hand, recommendations on training can be made for individual drivers, resulting in lower accidents and
Telematics 29
very conscious of managing these costs. Reducing fuel usage through data interpretation can result in significant cost savings and will additionally lead to a reduction in CO2 emissions. Lack of budget and cost are major barriers to rolling out new technology but the increased sustainability credentials derived from the financial and
Mitigating risk
Intelligent data
Fleet management and telematics have emerged as being powerful management tools and provide new levels of field service and vehicle fleet performance. Todays products integrate GPS with wireless communications and emerging technologies to enable every aspect of mobile operations to be identified, measured and analysed, delivering greater intelligence to fleet managers. The information provided typically includes the vehicle location, speed and time, but also may include work order information, driver behaviour and vehicle diagnostics data such as kilometres per litre, fuel use or vehicle faults, all determined by the in-vehicle telematics. As a result of the insight delivered, businesses can start to reduce direct expenses such as fuel costs by optimising route planning,
improving operational efficiencies and driving revenue generation through top quality customer service and flexibility. With the knowledge of where resources are, their status and time on site, businesses can make the real-time decisions required to keep their operations running as smoothly as possible. According to the independent research, this value is already being recognised with organisations running field-based workforces seeing one of the top priorities for future technology investment and upgrades to be within the area of fleet management. Fleet management and telematics can service all aspects of fleet operations to provide a 360 view of their use and performance. Particularly when deployed with other field service management tools for managing the work and the mobile worker, they are key elements to achieving efficiency, productivity and cost saving goals.
Operations managers require a clear understanding of what is happening in the field to monitor performance, and work management provides real-time job status of each mobile worker as well as alerts for proactively managing productivity. If a job is in danger of being missed or a customer emergency comes up, modern work management tools mean these are automatically highlighted by the technology and a proposed method put forward as to how to redeploy resources to meet the new requirements. The capabilities and benefits that can be achieved include: Optimising and automating mobile work schedules; Communicating to laptop or smart phone to view work details, provide current work status and receive work assignments without returning to the office; Monitoring arrival times, distances travelled, stops made and overtime usage; Comparing planned versus actual work done per day or shift; and Adjusting schedules and reassigning work. The above capabilities evidently lead directly to increased customer satisfaction due to such outcomes as increased on-time service
Health and safety are understandably high priorities for organisations with field-based workers, especially those doing a significant amount of driving out in the field. These individuals not only face greater risks than office-based employees, but can also expose members of the public to danger through aggressive and unsafe driving, with disastrous consequences for the companys reputation as well as the legal risks involved. As telematics have evolved, both the amount and type of data gathered have increased significantly. Driver behaviour and vehicle diagnostics information are now available that can identify how a vehicle is being driven and any faults that may affect performance. Taking steps to mitigate poor driving or proactively servicing underperforming vehicles not only significantly reduces on the road risk but cuts vehicle breakdowns or unscheduled downtime. The research discovered that 51% surveyed agree that the technology they are using to manage safety of their employees is in need of updating, with 44% stating that their risk assessment software is in
For field-based organisations, monitoring fuel consumption through telematics is a quickly achievable method of reaching environmentally friendly targets
liability therefore helping to manage the risks and costs associated with work-related driving. Essentially, telematics can be used to improve the efficiency of, rather than completely replace, health and safety policies, while also helping to increase efficiency, cut costs and help maintain a brands reputation of executing a safe driving culture.
Going green
Introduced and incoming legislation has placed mounting pressure on businesses to improve their sustainability and accelerate the move to meet green targets. For field-based organisations especially, monitoring fuel consumption through telematics is a quickly achievable method of reaching environmentally friendly targets. Fuel prices have seen a consistent increase over the years and business owners have become
environmental advantages are key benefits that influence business decisions. The recent research shows that nearly two thirds of respondents believe that sustainability plays a key role in their business plan and a further 64% feel sustainability will have a significant effect on their business moving forwards. The desire to become more sustainable is also largely driven by perception and company image, as being green, and being seen to be green in the public eye, is becoming increasingly important. Forwardthinking businesses are moving towards sustainability as a way of promoting their organisation and ultimately to attract and retain new customers. l Mark Forrest is general manager of field service management for Trimble
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With the knowledge of where resources are, their status and time on site, businesses can make the real-time decisions required to keep their operations running as smoothly as possible
automotive electronics | issue four 2012
CAN System Solutions Data Visualisation (MMI) Worldwide Monitoring & Diagnostics M2M Communication Object Tracking & Theft Protection Fleet Management
RM MICHAELIDES SOFTWARE & ELEKTRONIK GMBH Headquarters Donaustr. 14, 36043 Fulda, Germany Phone: +49 661 9490-0, Fax: -333 info@rmcan.com, www.rmcan.com
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30 safety
The human factor needs to be considered when designing safety systems
safety 31
benefit of the technology is not derived; and a fundamental change of task for the driver as it changes from monitoring the situation to monitoring the situation and automation. Our recent work has developed a modelling and analysis framework to model human behaviour and analyse the interaction to determine if any safety conditions are violated. A generic ACC system was modelled where the driver was part of the control system. Human factors were incorporated in the controllability analysis of the system. The focus was on the interaction between the user and the system; reliability of the system was not the focus here. The system model aimed to represent the features and behaviours of the vehicle system, incorporated within which is adas. A behaviour model was then used to demonstrate user actions driven by cognitive and emotional stimuli. The behaviour modelled was an abstraction of the users mental model and associated actions relevant to the interaction with the system. Traditionally, such models have been derived from cognitive science. However, it is increasingly feasible to look to human physiology to sense for driver perception and stress, given advances in sensors. An environment model aimed to account for operational factors external to the system and the user, and which remained unaffected by any interaction that resulted. This provided for a clear separation to study the potential impact on the driver and the system as they interacted with the environment. The various factors influencing each of the models were represented as a set of parameters. Assuming there were no circular dependencies, based on the inputs and the current state of the system, the outputs and the new state of the system was computed. A schematic description of this approach is given in Fig. 1 and the behaviour of the entire system was expressed using the standard control loop approach from discrete event simulation. All the models were developed in C with the safety properties written as assertions. CBMC (bounded model checker for C programmes) was used to validate the safety properties. This approach allowed the exploration of various scenarios where safe interaction between the driver and vehicle was critical. Given behaviour, vehicle and environment models, overall system states that led to safety violations was explored. Specific scenarios can be generated if the functions that represent the calculation of the model values return a unique value. The CBMC feature also allowed a function to return nondeterministic values, which effectively enabled the analysis of a class of behaviours. Putting this into practice, the system model had the key aspects of the ACC, mainly the control system, to maintain the speed of the vehicle, the separation from the vehicle in front and a notion of safe stopping distance to prevent accidents. The environment model had the terrain and hazards that were non-deterministically generated. The behaviour model considered was that of fatigue, which was calculated from the duration the driver had been in the vehicle and the complexity of the terrain. The drivers cognitive ability is influenced by fatigue and hazard perception. This, when combined with the mode to issue the commands, determined the reaction time. The current speed of the vehicle and the reaction time of the driver determined the safe stopping distance. Studies have demonstrated that ACC has the potential of causing delayed driver reaction, awkward handover and mode confusion with up to a third
Human factor
H
Siraj Ahmed Shaikh and Padmanabhan Krishnan report on safety analysis carried out for adaptive cruise control
automotive electronics | issue four 2012
uman failure is often a cause of accidents. However, while useful in many cases, increasing the level of automation in vehicles does not necessarily reduce the number of human failure related accidents. In the automotive world, the past decade has seen a rise in advanced driver assistance systems (adas) from rain-sensing wipers to lane departure warning to adaptive cruise control (ACC). For adas to be successful and safe, the human user must be aware of the automation and react to it appropriately. While promising driver and road safety, functional safety standards such as ISO26262 do not explicitly describe the role of the human user. ISO26262 focuses only on the reliability of the electronics and the human user is often ignored. Simply having reliable electronics is not sufficient to guarantee safety. This brings with it a variety of challenges. A common problem is mode error where the driver cannot recall what state the system is in. This gives rise to more complex challenges including: handover between manual and automated control during a task, which is critical as the driver needs to be able to judge when to reclaim control; inadequate feedback from the vehicle to the driver, with the consequence that the system fails on drivers expectations during a task and ultimately maximum
One of the men who created the R2D2 robot in the Star Wars movies is responsible for another automotive hightechnology spin-off from work at Coventry University. John Jostins, professor of sustainable transport design at Coventry University, is also managing director of Microcab, which has developed a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. The zero emission machine, the H2EV, is powered by a 3kW fuel cell which gives the car a 160km range. Hydrogen from a filling station is combined with oxygen from the air to create electricity (which drives the cars electric motors) and water (the cars only emission) in a reaction known as reverse electrolysis. This is part of the universitys Low Carbon Vehicles Grand Challenge Initiative an applied research programme through which the university works with businesses to explore the development of green automotive technologies.
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32 safety
of drivers having forgotten at some stage whether ACC was engaged. This has serious road safety risks and raises a question whether the design of such mechanisms would ultimately serve to be detrimental to the intended goal. In addition to the time on task effects, road conditions and terrain also significantly affect driver experience, and contribute to fatigue. Here are some examples that the research explored using this approach: per the operation of the ACC. The analysis revealed that the scenario failed to satisfy the desired property. To maintain the desired separation distance, the vehicle speed was reduced. This increased the duration of driving and led to increased driver fatigue. At the next point on the route, the safe separation may need to be increased owing to increased fatigue. This in turn further reduces the speed. After a few iterations, the vehicle speed was slowed to such a level that fatigue due to time on the road became unacceptable. over the choice operated. Driver fatigue was then a calculation based on various inputs from the behaviour and system models. Speed was also dependent on the choice of control mode and ultimately the driver, and so were the rest of the variables. The analysis revealed that the safe distance requirement can be violated. For instance, the driver was able to override ACC manually and increase vehicle speed, which resulted in an unsafe distance from the vehicle in front. A different possibility was where the driver switched over to manual mode and ultimately reached an unsafe state (due to fatigue for example). The fixed length of route meant that journey time was ultimately limited, even if speed was adapted (slowed) in response to driver fatigue. The fixed control mode helped to avoid any driver-led errors.
safety 33
Conclusion
One scenario dealt with an unexpected side effect of the ACC operation whereby the ability to adapt vehicle speed resulted in an increase in journey time, and hence fatigue. The system was configured such that the level of driver fatigue was derived by the system output. One aim was to check whether there was a route where the driver fatigue went past a threshold. The control mode remained enabled for ACC, and the safe stopping and desired separation distances also remained fixed. The speed of the vehicle was adjusted as
An alternative scenario was where the drivers ability to override ACC at any stage of the journey was acknowledged. This was essentially to model for cases where driver actions may have undesired consequences. A fixed route was considered; the safe stopping and desired separation distances also remained fixed. The control mode was allowed to be nondeterministic and have no control
In the final experiment, the parameters were controlled for a bestcase scenario: the route and control mode (ACC) were both fixed. Driver fatigue was calculated as influenced by a combination of system, behaviour and environmental models. All other parameters were calculated from the relevant model respectively. The safety properties were satisfied.
The main contribution of this work is an approach to modelling and design of human-in-the-loop systems. The approach takes into account real systems as well as cognitive models that are supported by empirical studies. By expressing the models in the C programming language, all empirical models were encoded without compromising on numerical accuracy. Informal discussions have taken place with practising engineers from the automotive domain and the general feedback is that the approach is accessible and intuitive. Their models are expressed as code fragments that can be translated quite easily to C; an advantage that this approach has for practising engineers in not using specific modelling languages.
This approach supports automatic verification of safety properties as well as systematic scenario exploration. The non-deterministic choices of the various functions in the behaviour sub-models document the assumptions that were made on the interaction between different aspects. These interactions are not supported
by empirical studies but occur in real systems. l Siraj Ahmed Shaikh is senior lecturer at the engineering and computing faculty at Coventry University and Padmanabhan Krishnan is a professor of the Centre for Software Assurance at Bond University, Australia.
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PRODUCTS 35
ment, the devices are compliant to RoHS directive 2011/65/EU and halogen-free according to Jedec JS709A. Vishay Intertechnology www.vishay.com. A combined car radio and audio system on an IC has been introduced by NXP. The SAF775x is the third generation of the companys car radio and audio DSP family and is claimed to be the first single-chip multi-tuner RF cmos IC with embedded AM, FM and Dab tuners. The IC includes an open Tensilica Hifi 2 audio DSP for users to programme features, or to run those of third-party software vendors. This gives car radio makers the flexibility to differentiate infotainment without resorting to external ICs. NXP Semiconductors www.nxp.com
A non-contact power steering torque sensor that is said to use less current and is smaller and lighter than existing products is available from TT Electronics. The device could help make elec-
Embedded multimedia
At Electronica, Micron Technology announced E-MMC embedded multimedia cards for the automotive segment. Earlier this year, the company expanded its E-MMC portfolio for industrial applications and other key embedded markets. They support navigation and infotainment applications, such as detailed maps with full 3D and building information, traffic monitoring, meteorological information, car radio and multimedia, satellite radio, e-call, and voice recognition. They are designed to replace the complex management of a stand-alone nand with an MMC. Micron www.micron.com
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36 PRODUCTS
PRODUCTS 37
Tailored connectors
The latest member of Fujitsu Semiconductors FCR4 family, the MB9DF125, nicknamed Atlas-L, is based on the Arm Cortex-R4 core and includes a She secure hardware extension module that is fully hardwareimplemented to ensure high levels of security. The MCU will enable driver information systems with larger feature sets that can run more sophisticated software while supporting Autosar. It can operate as a single chip for traditional instrument clusters without graphics or as a companion chip alongside the companys Emerald SoCs for hybrid or freelyprogrammable (virtual) automotive instrument clusters. Operating at up to 128MHz, the core has processing power of more than 200DMips, with 1Mbyte of flash memory and 128kbyte of ram. It comes in an
LQFP-176 package. The cryptographic module complies with v1.1, rev 439 of the She functional specification. It includes secure boot using a cipher-based message authentication code, plus the MiyaguchiPreneel compression function inside the She block. The MCU contains a random number generator, a separate storage area acting as a secure repository for non-volatile keys and ram keys (therefore also providing secure key management and update), plus dedicated logic for the encryption of data using the AES standard with a 128bit key length. Additional device security includes secure handling of the Trace and JTag ports, plus flash memory security. Fujitsu Semiconductor emea.fujitsu.com
navigation coverage in harsh environments and urban canyons, making it suitable for full-featured integrated navigation systems and location based services delivered through the cars infotainment system. Telit Wireless www.telit.com
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For general rectification, voltage blocking and clamping, power supplies, reliabilitycritical, automotive, aeronautics and aerospace, and down-hole applications, the XTR1N0415 and XTR1N0450 diodes from XRel have a reverse voltage above 55V while the XTR1N0815 and XTR1N0850 have a reverse voltage above 90V. Each part is composed of four electrically independent, wellmatched diodes in a single piece of silicon; the diodes can be used individually. All come with several packaging configurations and samples are available. Operating range is -60 to +230C. X-Rel Semiconductor www.x-relsemi.com
The LBEL6Z2TXC wireless combination module from Murata is aimed at automotive applications and uses an AEC-Q100 compliant chipset. Providing support for wireless lan, Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy in addition to providing an FM
radio receiver and GPS receiver, the module measures 24.6 by 18.0 by 3.0mm. The wlan feature is IEEE 802.11 b, g and n compliant and also supports Wifi Direct. Bluetooth 4.0 class two compliant support and H4 pro-
Provertha can produce user-specific connectors, battery leads and sensor cables for the automotive industry. This can include the production of a compact tuner assembly or the realisation of sensor connections and interfaces for control units in cars. The connectors combine SMT and THR contacts. A major criterion for the safe and reliable use of the connectors is the co-planarity of the SMT connections with a tolerance of 0.05mm maximum across all the contacts in the connection area. A corresponding automatic pick-and-place Murata system has been developed and www.murata.eu produced for single and multirow board-to-board connectors. For battery connecting leads with cable cross-sections of 10 draw on gate drives for driving power devices such as mosfets to 50mm2, an automatic system and IGBTs. They need isolation based on a cable assembly maamplifiers to sense high-voltage chine has been extended into bus levels and digital isolation a fully automated production to feedback status from the line through the use of various high-voltage side of the opto- processing modules. coupler to the microprocessor on the low-voltage side. Provertha Automotive They are rated for continuous www.provertha.com working voltages of 1140V or higher. They meet UL1577, CSA and IEC 60747-5-5 standards and are qualified to TS 16949 and AEC Q100.
are planned. The IC realises typical 2mV cell voltage measurement accuracy, improving the accuracy of battery state of charge detection
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38 PRODUCTS
Slave IC for Connectors aid pedestrian safety Lin-based RGB Claimed to be the first com- of the bonnet allows a softer immercially available range of pact zone to be created, reducLED control sealed squib connectors for use ing the risk of serious injury.
Claimed to be the industrys first Lin RGB LED slave to be incorporated onto a single semiconductor die, the MLX81106 from Melexis is a freely programmable IC that can drive directly up to four LEDs for automotive ambient lighting thanks to its integrated constant current sources. Every output can be programmed to a maximum current of 35mA through the built-in flash memory. All necessary components such as physical layer Lin transceiver, Lin controller, voltage regulator and 16bit risc-based microcontroller, as well as supporting functions such as ADC, 16bit PWM generation, constant current high-voltage capable outputs and LED threshold monitoring capability are on chip. Melexis www.melexis.com in environments such as pedestrian safety and battery cut-off systems within engine compartments, Delphis connectors suit a range of pedestrian safety systems currently being developed and implemented by major OEMs. These include bonnet lift applications, for vehicles where hard structures such as the engine block are located close to the bonnet. In the event of pedestrian collision, the use of pyrotechnic devices on both sides The company has also created the scoop-proof AK-2 standard, and a squib connector with an integrated grounding element, the AK-2+ electrostatic discharge (ESD) squib. Besides improving reliability and cutting assembly costs, the AK-2+ ESD squib eliminates potential misfiring caused by ESD with integrated grounding, thus allowing safe traceability of grounding. Delphi Automotive www.delphi.com
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