OEMsneedcentralisedplatformsforadas · of Toyota’s Mobility Teammate Concept for...

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IN THISISSUE

Page 2: Centralisedplatforms for adas

Page 3: Nissan fits200 cars in case

Page 5: ZF buysIbeo lidar tech

Page 8: EMBCbenchmark suite

Page 10: Delphiautonomous testin Singapore

Page 11: Automotiveradar measurements

Page 16: Mobilityand EMC testing

Page 19: Removingtest lab clutter

Page 23: RangeRover in focus

Page 27: Productnews

Page 32: Contactdetails

Issue 33September 2016

NEWS

Vehicle Electronics September 2016, Page 2

Forget smart connected cars, a San Francisco company has developed asmart bicycle. Volata Cycles built the $3500 bike, which is equipped with a6.1cm app-based embedded computer that seamlessly integrates into thehandlebar, allowing access to information such as performance, weatherforecast, turn-by-turn directions, heart rate and smartphone notification.The safety features include an integrated horn that creates awareness of cy-

clists in traffic, while the automated front and rear lights ensure visibilitythroughout the day.A GPS-based anti theft system including a motion detector informs the

owner if anyone tries to steal the bike. A front-hub dynamo automaticallycharges the internal battery, providing the cyclist with the luxury of neverworrying about recharging.“We knew we had to push the limits of design and performance, intro-

ducing native technology into the bicycle, and we wrapped it up in a stylishItalian design,” said Marco Salvioli, CEO of Volata. “As cars have evolved,also bikes need to evolve.”

From connected cars to connected bikes

Ford plans to have a high-volume, fully au-tonomous SAE level-four-capable vehicle incommercial operation in2021 in a ride-hailing orride-sharing service.The firm is investing in

or collaborating with fourstart-ups, doubling its Sil-icon Valley team andmore than doubling itsPalo Alto campus.“The next decade will

be defined by automationof the automobile, and wesee autonomous vehiclesas having as significantan impact on society asFord’s moving assemblyline did 100 years ago,”said Mark Fields, Ford

president and CEO.The four start-ups are

lidar sensor companyVelodyne, Israel-basedcomputer vision and ma-chine learning companySaips, machine visionfirm Nirenberg Neuro-science and 3D mappingexperts Civil Maps.Building on more than a

decade of autonomousvehicle research, Ford’sfirst autonomous vehiclewill be an SAE level-four-capable vehiclewithout a steering wheel,accelerator or brake ped-als. It is being designedfor commercial mobilityservices, such as ridesharing and ride hailing.

Ford targets 2021 forautonomous vehicles

“We have a strategic ad-vantage because of ourability to combine thesoftware and sensingtechnology with sophisti-cated engineering,” saidRaj Nair, Ford executivevice president.This year, Ford will

triple its autonomous ve-hicle test fleet, bringingthe number to about 30self-driving Fusion Hy-brid sedans on the roadsin California,Arizona andMichigan, and there areplans to triple it againnext year.Ford also is expanding

its Silicon Valley opera-tions, creating a dedicatedcampus in Palo Alto.Adding two new build-ings and 14,000 squaremetres of work and labspace next to the currentresearch and innovationcentre, the expandedcampus supports plans todouble the size of thePaloAlto team by the endof 2017.Ford plans fully autonomous vehicles by 2021

Automotive OEMs willneed to adopt new plat-forms based on cen-tralised processors andhigh-speed low-latencynetworking on the routeto autonomous vehicles,says ABI Research.As vehicles become in-

dependent and begin todrive and react to trafficon their own, autonomoussystems will aggregateand process data from avariety of on-board sen-sors and connected infra-structure. This forces theindustry to hit a hard reseton adas architectures,currently dominated bydistributed processingand smart sensors.ABI forecasts that 13

million vehicles with cen-tralised adas platformswill ship in 2025.“The distributed ap-

proach to adas will proveunsustainable as OEMslook to deliver highly au-tomated driving around2020,” said James Hodg-son, industry analyst atABI Research. “The newcentralised adas architec-tures will unify sensing,processing and actuationto deliver integrated deci-sion-making for smoothpath planning and effec-tive collision avoidance.”This transition should

present major opportuni-ties for vendors new tothe industry, as well asold incumbents, includingNVidia, NXP and Mobil-

OEMs need centralised platforms for adaseye, who all have an-nounced centralised au-tonomous platforms.While each is in a dif-

ferent stage of develop-ment, all have commonthemes, particularly in re-lation to processingpower. The platforms av-

erage between eight andtwelve teraflops, ordersof magnitude beyond thetypical smart sensor de-ployed in adas.Physical separation of

dumb sensors and cen-tralised processing willalso open opportunities

for in-vehicle network-ing. Ethernet-based prod-ucts from the likes ofMarvell Semiconductorand Valens are well posi-tioned to meet the needsof high bandwidth andautomotive requirementsat a low cost.

NEWS NEWS

Vehicle Electronics Vehicle ElectronicsPage 3, September 2016 September 2016, Page 4

Martin Banks with his briefcase

ANissan engineer has de-veloped a way to shareadvanced technologieswith colleagues abroad.He imagined a mobiletechnical centre, built it athome in his spare timeand fitted into an easy-to-carry briefcase.The idea was the brain-

child of Martin Banks,and it is now being usedto develop the next gen-eration of Nissan’scrossovers – the Qashqai,Juke and X-Trail.To the untrained eye the

briefcase looks low-tech,with its simple switchesand LED lights. But thisbox of tricks – smallenough to be transportedas aeroplane cabin lug-gage – can replicate theentire electrical architec-ture of up to 200 differentNissan model and trimcombinations. Banks’biggest problem now isgetting past the security

scanners at airports.“I travel to many meet-

ings with colleaguesaround the world, wherewe share ideas,” saidBanks, an electrical engi-neer from Nissan’s Euro-pean Technical Centre inCranfield, UK. “The issueis always demonstratingthe systems we have de-veloped when I’m awayfrom my desk, so I de-cided to create my ownsolution.”He did most of the de-

sign and development ofhis briefcase at home andin his spare time, evenmaking his own PCBs sothey performed exactly ashe wanted.“It looks very rudimen-

tary, but the LEDs showme if the circuits areworking properly,” hesaid. “This simple frame-work can test the in-carintegration of some ofNissan’s most advanced

Nissan engineer fits200 cars in briefcase

electrical features, such asthe driver assistance andSafety Shield technolo-gies.”The briefcase helps to

prove that electrical sys-tems and software fornext-generation Nissan

crossovers will work inharmony with the rest ofthe car and provide thefunctionality that driversrequire.Following table-top val-

idation using the brief-case, the set-up is built asa larger-scale prototypeand rigorously tested toensure a high-quality cus-tomer experience. Onlythen is it approved for in-clusion in a future model.

Link Motion is to use Qtto create an automotivecomputer platform. Fol-lowing a pilot project, thecompany has extendedthe use of Qt in the devel-opment of an integratedautomotive computer thatincludes infotainment andinstrument clusters.The computer supports

multiple displays, includ-ing central unit, clusterand HUD for a widerange of automotive cus-tomers. It was designedwith security built in.Using Qt technology in

the development of theuser interface is said to

Link turns to Qt for interface

provide opportunities fora better user experienceand flexible customisa-tion for each customerproject.“Qt is a great choice for

us in building an excel-lent and customisableuser experience,” said

Jouni Mikkonen, CEO ofLink Motion. “Thanks toits graphical capabilities,we are able to render vi-sually impressive, high-performance, hardwareaccelerated graphics ontwo or three screens atonce. Our cooperation

with Qt continues eventighter now after the firstsuccessful project.”Link chose to use Qt be-

cause of its ecosystemsupport, tool chain andability to create high per-formance (60frame/s) in-terfaces rapidly.“Tier-ones and OEMs

developing in-vehiclesystems for regular fam-ily cars, to electric vehi-cles, sports cars and supercars are turning to Qt toset the industry standardfor automotive cockpitdevelopment,” said TeroMarjamäki, head of auto-motive at Qt.

Link’s automotive computer platform

Panasonic has acquiredthe outstanding shares ofGerman company Open-Synergy, a specialist inembedded automotivesoftware for cockpits.OpenSynergy’s soft-

ware enables different op-erating systems to be usedin one system, making itpossible to integrate mul-timedia and driver sup-port functions.“Through making

OpenSynergy our sub-sidiary, we will realise anext-generation inte-grated cockpit and makea great step towards inte-grating cockpit systemand adas with a firm eyeon autonomous driving inthe future,” said HirotoshiUehara, executive officerat Panasonic.In addition to the soft-

ware technology, Open-Synergy provides a

Bluetooth stack to carmakers and tier-one sup-pliers. It will continue tooperate the business as anindependent companyunder the new ownership.“OpenSynergy’s mis-

sion has been to bring in-novative software to theautomotive industry andto enable the develop-ment of the next genera-tion of highly integratedvehicle systems, embrac-ing the specific safety andsecurity challenges of thevehicle environment,”said Stefaan SonckThiebaut, co-CEO ofOpenSynergy.His fellow co-CEO

Rolf Morich added:“Under its new owner-ship, OpenSynergy willkeep serving the entireautomotive ecosystem,tier-one suppliers andmanufacturers.”

Panasonic buysOpenSynergy forcockpit software

NEWS

Page 5, September 2016 Vehicle Electronics

ZF has acquired a 40%stake in Ibeo AutomotiveSystems. The Hamburg-based company, foundedin 2009, specialises inlidar technology and indeveloping environmen-tal recognition softwarewith a particular focus onapplications for au-tonomous driving. Ibeo’scustomers include severalmajor global vehiclemanufacturers.“Lidar gives us access

to a core technology forenvironmental and objectrecognition,” said StefanSommer, ZF’s chief exec-utive officer. “Lidar ex-

pands our current sensorportfolio of radar andcamera technologies and,moreover, Ibeo’s fusionof these three sensor tech-nologies provides out-standing results inenvironmental awarenessand forms the basis forautonomous driving.”The lidar generation de-

veloped in cooperationwith ZF aims to repro-duce a three-dimensionalimage of the environmentwithout the rotating mir-rors contained in currentlidar systems. Thanks tosolid-state technology,lidar technology should

become more compactand easier to integrateinto the vehicle.“We are gradually fill-

ing in the remaining gapsin our technology portfo-lio,” said Sommer. “Withlidar technology and sen-sor fusion, we are able tostrengthen the eyes andbrain of future genera-tions of vehicles and thusmove a step closer to re-alising the vision of acci-dent-free driving.”Ibeo’s roots date back to

1998. In the fast growingmarket of sensor systemsand environmental recog-nition, the company ex-

ZF buys Ibeo stake toaccess lidar technology

pects to increase its work-force from around 50 to250 employees in themedium term and also es-tablish an autonomousdriving competence cen-tre that will focus on thevolume production andmarketing of products forhighly automated and au-tonomous driving.“We are very much

looking forward to coop-erating with ZF,” saidIbeo’s CEO Ulrich Lages.“We have a very strongpartner that is shaping themegatrends of safety, ef-ficiency and autonomousdriving. With our com-prehensive know-how,we can enable all driverassistance applications upto highly automated driv-ing with 3D lidar.”

AT&T has selected Har-man’s TCU telematicscontrol unit for its mobilebroadband acceleratorprogramme. The pro-gramme streamlinesAT&T’s certificationprocess to ensure thatproducts and servicesreach customers morequickly.The TCU is an inte-

grated on-board telemat-ics and infotainment unitthat connects automotivesystems to the cloud. Itoffers high-speed connec-tivity for fast, automo-tive-grade connectivity

backed by security.“Connectivity is the

backbone for tomorrow’sincreasingly autonomousvehicles,” said Phil Eyler,executive VP at Harman.“They may run withoutfuel, but they will not runwithout connectivity.Harman’s work withAT&T reflects a sharedgoal and a mutual com-mitment to developingconnected car systemsthat enhance the drivingexperience.”The TCU enables GSM,

GPS, wifi hotspots andLTE connectivity.

AT&T choosesHarman telematics Taiwanese foundry

United Microelectronics(UMC) has verified onsilicon its 0.18µm bipolarcmos dmos (BCD)process for AEC-Q100grade 0 automotive ICs.The process is now

ready for mass produc-tion, with qualified FDKand IP available for auto-motive applications suchas power managementICs. The successful qual-ification enables UMCmanufactured chips to beused for high-reliabilityvehicle applicationswithin high temperatureenvironments, and fol-lows the foundry’s mass

production of AEC-Q100grade-1 automotive ICs.“Semiconductor con-

tent in vehicles continuesto increase at a rapid paceas auto electronics suchas adas, infotainment andnavigation constantlyevolve,” said SC Chien,senior vice president atUMC.Chien said the 0.18µm

BCD process made UMCone of the only foundriescompliant with AEC-Q100 grades 1 and 0.“We look forward to

helping more foundrycustomers gain entry intothe thriving automotiveIC market,” he said.

UMC hits AEC-Q100 grade 0

NEWS

Page 7, September 2016 Vehicle Electronics Vehicle Electronics September 2016, Page 8

NEWS

Infotainment and connectivity are key features of the Vauxhall Mokka XSUV, including IntelliLink and the personal connectivity and mobilityassistant OnStar. IntelliLink lets owners bring the world of smartphonesand apps into the vehicle.USB and Bluetooth connectivity allow for hands-free phone calls, audio

streaming and viewing photos and videos. It is also compatible withApple CarPlay and Android Auto.With the personal connectivity and service assistant OnStar, owners get

a guardian angel at their side. It automatically reacts in an emergency,alerting an OnStar advisor if the airbags are deployed in an accident.In addition to automatic crash response, the service remotely unlocks

doors, downloads destinations directly to the vehicle’s navigation system,sends emails on vehicle health and includes a 4G LTE wifi hotspot.Drivers can also call up data such as oil condition or tyre pressures.

Vauxhall brings connectivity to Mokka X

A team of 23 studentsfrom Eindhoven Univer-sity of Technology in theNetherlands set off lastmonth on electric motor-bikes to complete around-the-world journeyin 80 days while stayingconnected using CohdaMK5 on-board units.Aiming to cover

26,000km, the wirelessunits allow V2X commu-nications. As well asmonitoring performanceduring the journey, Cohdaplans to demonstrate howV2X systems can im-

Cohda keeps round-the-worldelectric bike tour connected

prove vehicle safety andtraffic efficiency in citieswith V2X infrastructureinstalled.

Cohda Wireless vicepresident Bernd Luebbensaid the company wasproud to sponsor this

trailblazing event.“We are supplying

Cohda MK5 units for themotorcycles and supportvehicles,” he said. “Theunits allow real-timecommunication to ensurethe motorbikes performaccording to design andmeet this demandingschedule. We also plan tosupport V2X demonstra-tions in cities such asShanghai where we haveV2X units installed.”The Storm World Tour

began in Eindhoven,starting a route that cir-cumnavigates the north-ern hemisphere, leavingEurope via central Asiaand then crossing NorthAmerica before returningto Eindhoven in Novem-ber. Each electric motor-bike has a top speed of160km/h and can travel380km before requiring arecharge.The student-designed

batteries – 24 separatecartridges that can store28.5kWh energy – can bereplaced by a fullycharged pack withinseven minutes. Each day,the students will rechargebatteries from the localpower grid at companies,universities or homes enroute. The team will alsotake part in events thatshow the potential ofelectric mobility.

Electric motorbike taking part in the tour

The Embedded Micro-processor BenchmarkConsortium (EMBC) hasreleased Autobench 2.0,an industry-developedbenchmark suite com-prised of automotiveworkloads that integratewith the consortium’sMultibench tool.Multibench lets proces-

sor and system designerstest and analyse the per-formance and scalabilityof multicore architecturesand platforms. With theincreasing adoption ofmulticore technology inautomotive applications,Autobench 2.0 can pro-vide an important per-formance metric forsystem designers testingthe efficacy of multicoreprocessors.“Beyond helping under-

stand and evaluate theperformance of specificprocessors and systems,Autobench 2.0 assessesthe impact of memorybottlenecks, efficiency ofthread synchronisationand other related func-tions in automotive sys-tems using multicoreprocessors so designerscan make informed deci-sions that optimise theirproducts,” said PeterTorelli, EMBC director ofsoftware engineering.It upgrades and turbo-

charges versions of thekernels contained in Au-tobench 1.1, includingangle-to-time conversion,

EMBC releases benchmark suiteCan remote-data request,matrix arithmetic, road-speed calculation, tooth-to-spark, and otheralgorithms commonlyemployed in automotive.Workloads can be indi-

vidually parameterised tovary the amount of con-currency being imple-mented by the kernels. Byapplying incrementally-

challenging workloads, ittests scalability.“Putting multiple exe-

cution cores into a singleprocessor does not by it-self guarantee greatermultiples of processingpower, and there is noprima facie reason to ex-pect that a multicoreprocessor will deliver adramatic increase in a

system’s capabilities,computing resources orthroughput,” said PaulTeich, principal analyst atTirias Research. “This iswhy Autobench 2.0 is sovaluable. It shows whenparallelisation and scalingcontribute to perform-ance, and, at least as im-portant, when and whythey don’t.”

The Japan Federation ofHire-Taxi Associationsand Toyota Motor are col-laborating to develop andintroduce the Japanesetaxi of the future.Toyota’s relationship

with the Japanese taxi in-dustry began in 1936,when the Toyota ModelAA was first used as ataxi. Since then, both par-ties have established alongstanding partnership.To enhance the urban

scenery in Japan, Toyotais developing a next-gen-eration taxi, where the de-sign reflects the spirit ofJapanese hospitality. This

taxi is scheduled to be-come available in 2017.The federation and Toy-

ota are joining hands inthis pursuit, to enhancethe convenience for abroad range of customersincluding the elderly,families with children andforeign tourists. At thesame time, they are aim-ing to build an inclusivecommunity that wel-comes all and, simultane-ously, contributes to thepromotion of Japan as atourist haven.The two parties will es-

tablish a task force thatwill meet regularly to dis-

cuss drawing up vehiclespecifications to meetthese goals as well as en-hancing safety systemsand providing services inmultiple languages.In the Tokyo area, both

will look at ways to col-laborate on developingand leveraging automateddriving technologies.They will also look at

using taxis to collect andanalyse information onthe road traffic environ-ment, and apply those re-sults to the developmentof Toyota’s MobilityTeammate Concept forautomated driving.

Toyota signs MoU to designJapan’s taxi of the future

NEWS

Page 9, September 2016 Vehicle Electronics Vehicle Electronics September 2016, Page 10

NEWS

The Singapore LandTransport Authority(LTA) has picked Delphias a strategic partner toimplement autonomousmobility concepts.Delphi will provide a

fleet of fully autonomousvehicles and develop acloud-based mobility-on-demand software suite.The company will con-duct a trial of an urban,point-to-point, low-speed,autonomous, mobility-on-demand service inSingapore’s autonomousvehicles test bed at a busi-ness park in the westernarea of the city.“We are honoured to

partner with the Singa-pore LTA on advancinginnovative mobility sys-tems, which will put Sin-

gapore at the forefront ofautonomous vehicleadoption,” said KevinClark, president and chiefexecutive officer at Del-phi. “This is a greatrecognition of Delphi’sleadership in advancedsafety technologies, auto-mated software, systemsintegration, as well as ourability to drive mobilityforward for our cus-tomers.”Delphi’s development

programme and au-tonomous vehicle demon-stration is part of theSingapore AutonomousVehicle Initiative (Savi),formed in 2014 to overseeand manage autonomousvehicle research, test-bed-ding, and the develop-ment of applications by

Delphi tests autonomousvehicles in Singapore

industry partners.Of particular interest to

the Singapore LTA is thepotential for automateddriving to make it easierfor commuters transitingthe first and last kilometrebetween a mass transitstation and their home orwork place. By address-ing this need, the usage ofthe mass transit systemscould increase, reducingoverall traffic congestionand vehicle emissions.“As a partner in Savi,

Delphi will use a founda-

tion of the same vehicletechnologies that enabledus to successfully com-plete the first coast-to-coast autonomous driveof the USA in 2015,” saidJeff Owens, Delphi CTO.The technology is vehi-

cle agnostic and can beapplied in passenger cars,buses, commercial vehi-cles, purpose-built mobil-ity pods and EVs.The pilot will last three

years with plans to transi-tion it into an operationalservice by 2022.

Delphi pilots autonomous vehicles in Singapore

Melexis is establishing anR&D centre in Dresden,Germany, to focus on theautomotive industry. Itwill initially have around25 to 30 engineers.Melexis already has

nine R&D centres, two inBelgium plus one each inBulgaria, France, Ger-many, Philippines,Switzerland, Ukraine andUSA. These support thecompany in creating

semiconductor technol-ogy to address the rapidlyevolving automotive, in-dustrial, medical, domes-tic appliance and buildingautomation sectors.“After careful consider-

ation we decided Dresdenpresented us with a greatopportunity to strengthenour engineering assets,”said Marc Biron, globaldevelopment manager forMelexis.

Novatek Microelectron-ics, Taiwan’s secondlargest fabless IC designhouse, has licensed anddeployed the Ceva-XM4intelligent vision DSP forits next-generation vi-sion-enabled SoCs target-ing markets requiringadvanced visual intelli-gence capabilities.The camera SoC line

for car DVR and surveil-lance systems integratesthe third generation Ceva-MM3101 imaging andvision DSP and is ship-ping in volume.

“Having successfullycollaborated with Ceva inthe past few years for vi-sion processing, we aredelighted to extend ourpartnership and leveragethe advances they havemade for our next-genera-tion SoCs,” saidAllen Lu,assistant vice president ofNovatek.By integrating the XM4

as a dedicated visionprocessor, Novatek andits customers can deployvision algorithms to en-able applications such assurveillance systems with

face detection and au-thentication, drone anti-collision systems andadas. These types of ap-plications are built usingCeva’s CDNN2 deepneural network, a propri-etary software frameworkthat enables deep learningtasks to run on the XM4.“Novatek has a strong

track record of bringinghigh-quality, feature-richand cost-effective cameraSoCs to the mass mar-ket,” said Ilan Yona, gen-eral manager of the visionbusiness unit at Ceva.

Melexis R&D hits Dresden

Novatek licenses Ceva for adas

Thanks to growth in auto-motive orders, AWSElectronics has an-nounced a further expan-sion at its low-costmanufacturing centre inNámestovo, Slovakia.This follows 25 per cent

annual growth at the elec-tronic manufacturingservices location.The £1m investment –

the third phase of devel-opment at the site – al-most doubles availableproduction space en-abling a second automo-tive line at the facility.While the automotivesector is a main contribu-tor to revenue growth atthe plant and a majordriver for the expansion,other sectors such as

AWS Electronics invests £1m in Slovakia factory

AWS Slovakia manufacturing centre

lighting, scientific instru-mentation, medical andgeneral industrial are alsoshowing healthy growth.“Our strategy of contin-

ually investing and ex-panding our Slovakianfacility in a region whichis physically close to sig-nificant existing and po-tential new customers isworking very well,” saidAWS Electronics’ CEOPaul Deehan. “Educationin Slovakia generally andlocally in Námestovo isof a very high standard,so our workforce there isextremely capable andwell qualified. They areworking to world classmanufacturing methods,procedures and interna-tional accreditations thatare standardised in ourUK site also.”

Nine years ago, thecompany started with 12people at a small facilityin Slovakia 2km fromwhere it is now located.“Now we have 250 staff

and they are excited to beworking with state-of-the-art production andtest equipment, which isthe same as the resourceavailable at the UK plantand operated using a cen-tral, company-wide, real-time manufacturingcontrol system,” saidDeehan.The Slovakian manu-

facturing centre carriesISO 9001, ISO 14001 andISO 13485 approvals andis working towards ISO/TS 16949 automotivecertification with comple-tion of final audits due atthe end of 2016.AWS provides services

for the whole electronicproduct life cycle fromdesign through manufac-ture, to whole life serviceand repair.These go from concept

design inputs to through-life product support andthe firm responds to thetechnical requirementsby offering design sup-port, rapid prototyping,complete product assem-bly and testing, high-endsurface mount capability,complex electro-mechan-ical assembly, cable andharness assembly, andthrough-life repair andmaintenance.

TEST & MEASUREMENT TEST & MEASUREMENT

Vehicle ElectronicsPage 11, September 2016 Vehicle Electronics September 2016, Page 12

The high resolution of auto-motive radar sensors re-quires signal bandwidths

up to the gigahertz range. For thisreason, frequency bands around77 and 79GHz are provided forthese applications. Until recently,harmonic mixers had to be usedfor test and measurement becauseno analyser was available thatcovered up to over 79GHz in asingle sweep. Fortunately, newsignal and spectrum analysers

Checking the signalsSteffen Heuel and Wolfgang Wendler explain how tomake simpler measurements on automotive radars

overcome these problems.Radar sensors measure therange, radial velocity and azimuthangle of targets in the vicinityunder any weather conditions.Thanks to good performance dataand low costs, they lay the foun-dations for more and more assis-tance and safety functions in

vehicles, nowadays even reachingthe compact class. Sensors for theautomotive sector operate in thefrequency bands around 24, 77and 79GHz.

Signal and spectrum analyser that cancover the frequency range from 2Hz to85GHz in one sweep


Vehicle Electronics September 2016, Page 14Vehicle ElectronicsPage 13, September 2016

The frequency bands, emittedpower level and test requirementsfor automotive radars are definedin various standards such as EN301091 v1.4.0. In Europe, somewideband automotive radars aretemporarily using the 24GHzband; however, this must be dis-continued by 2022. In its place,the internationally available79GHz band has been proposedby the European Commission.Use of this band is being dis-cussed and has already been ac-cepted in many countries owingto the significant advantages itoffers.Along with minimal limitationsregarding the emitted power leveland a smaller form factor for sen-sors, it offers wider signal band-width up to 4GHz and a higherrange resolution. For example,while a modulated signal band-width of 150MHz allows a rangeresolution of one metre to beachieved, ten times this resolutioncan be achieved at 1.5GHz. Widerbandwidth also allows the integra-tion of technical measures such as

frequency hopping into the sen-sors to reduce interference be-tween several radars.Higher frequencies are not onlyhelpful for the development ofsmaller sensors, they also help im-prove radial velocity resolution.Radial velocity resolution dependson the wavelength and the coher- Measurement of a 1GHz FM chirp signal; graphical depictions show the frequency versus time or

the power in the time domain, and a table lists the most important measurement parameters

ent processing interval of theradar waveform. If the coherentprocessing interval is kept equal,the radial velocity resolution im-proves by about a factor of threewhen the signal is emitted at79GHz instead of 24GHz.Chirp sequences are often usedin automotive radars. This re-quires several linearly frequency-modulated signals with a durationof about 100µs and a bandwidthof several hundred megahertz upto several gigahertz.

Twin challengeTo detect and resolve two adjacentobjects, the range resolution of thesensor must be higher than theseparation of the objects fromeach other. However, wide signalbandwidths are required for a highrange resolution. This is not just achallenge for signal generationand evaluation in the sensor, butalso requires high-end test andmeasurement equipment for de-velopment, verification and stan-

Today, radar sensors are used for numerous assistance and safetyfunctions; almost all of them require a high spatial resolution thatcan only be achieved with high bandwidths such as the bandsaround 79GHz

dard-compliant analyses. Themeasuring instruments must coverthe frequency range up to 81GHzand offer analysis bandwidths upto 2GHz. Signal and spectrumanalysers are typically used forthis task, but older technology canonly achieve bandwidths up to500MHz, and maximum inputfrequency usually comes nowherenear 81GHz.Given these limitations, the fre-quency ranges of analysers haveto be expanded with the help ofexternal harmonic mixers formeasurements in the 79GHz band.This setup, however, has no pre-selection. When the signal is

down-converted to an intermedi-ate frequency, the user sees boththe signal and its image. An addi-tional measurement is thereforerequired whereby the frequency ofthe local oscillator is shifted bydouble the intermediate fre-quency. This enables the analyserto detect and then remove un-wanted mixing products.However, this only works whenthe intermediate frequency ishigher than half of the signalbandwidth, otherwise the imageand signal overlap.Another factor is it is cumber-some to reduce the input level in asuitable manner when measuring

with harmonic mixers. Attenua-tors must be attached to the wave-guides and then re-adjusted foreach changing level.

Crossing frontiersIn recent years, test and measure-ment vendors have introducedfeatures that make such unwieldycompromises unnecessary. A keydevelopment is the ability to per-form measurements from 2Hz to85GHz in one sweep, enablingcomplete radar applications in the79GHz band. Integrated pre-selec-tion allows analysers to displaysignals without unwanted mixingproducts when measuring the

Modern automtive radar systems need the latest test equipment

available for recording signals upto 2GHz bandwidth and analysingthem automatically. Important pa-rameters such as chirp rate or de-viations from ideal linearbehaviour are measured and dis-played graphically or in tabularform. All the important parame-ters can also be measured and dis-played at the push of a buttonusing a software option cus-tomised for automotive radars.

Steffen Heuel(left) works intechnologymanagement atRohde &Schwarz

WolfgangWendler (right)is productmanager forspectrumanalysis atRohde &Schwarz



Typical profile of a radar signal (FMCW radar)

Frequency bands forautomotive radar in Europe

Frequency band Bandwidth24 to 24.25GHz 250MHz21 to 26GHz 5GHz76 to 77GHz 1GHz77 to 81GHz 4GHz

spectrum, even where this is sig-nificantly wider than double theintermediate frequency. In addi-tion, the inclusion of attenuatorsinside the signal and spectrumanalyser means signals with dif-ferent levels can be easilyanalysed without having to adjustthe input level using cumbersomeexternal attenuators.While an internal analysis band-width of up to 512MHz suitsmany automotive radar measure-ments, it is not sufficient for the79GHz band, where signals haveconsiderably larger bandwidth.For these applications, equippingthe instrument with a widebandanalysis option – fully controlledby the signal and spectrumanalyser – resamples, equalisesand down-converts the signal intodigital baseband. In combinationwith a suitable oscilloscope, it canperform measurements up to asignal bandwidth of 2GHz.Such analysers fully control theoscilloscope and transfer, process,equalise and analyse the digital

data. The signal path from theanalyser’s RF input to the oscillo-scope’s A-D converter is charac-terised with respect to amplitudeand phase response.In the latest generation of testand measurement instruments,connection of the oscilloscope tothe analyser is completely trans-parent for the user and measure-ment option operation is identicalin all cases whether using the A-Dconverter in the oscilloscope orthe one in the analyser.For wideband, linearly fre-quency-modulated and continuouswave signals such as those used inautomotive radars, customisedmeasurement applications are

Keep inTOUCH

Anthony Martindiscusses the impact intelligent

mobility is having on EMC testing

Intelligent mobility has becomean area of much debate anddevelopment among automo-

tive engineers over the past fewyears, with fully autonomous ve-hicles on the horizon. Hailed bysome as the greatest automotive

revolution since the developmentof the production line, intelligentmobility is set to change the faceof the automotive sector as weknow it.For test engineers this change isparticularly influential, especially

for those working in electromag-netic compatibility (EMC).With the advancements in intel-ligent mobility and intelligenttransport systems (ITS), there arefar greater EMC implicationsupon the safe requirement fortransport due to the high numberof devices required in the controlof autonomous and connectedvehicles and their need tocommunicate with each



Autonomous vehicles have a multitude of software devicesthat all require rigorous EMC testing

A vehicle undergoing EMC testing in an EMC chamber

other and the surrounding infra-structure. Driverless and con-nected vehicles will demand muchmore from EMC testing as thecomplexity of control systems in-creases along with their relianceon more and more sensor inputs.There are a significant numberof electronic systems fitted tomodern day vehicles but intelli-gent vehicles will bring a large in-crease in electronic content todeliver a feature rich and safejourney for occupants. However,all electronic systems will need tobe resilient against electromag-netic energy and have the abilityto operate together. Needless tosay, engineers have a task on theirhands to ensure EMC testing isrobust enough to handle thesechanges.

Changing requirementsIn-vehicle wireless technologies,including GSM, 3G, 4G, 5G,GNSS, wifi and Bluetooth, are thebackbone of the connected andautonomous car.Many of these digital technolo-gies rely heavily on external com-munications between vehicles on

the road and between the vehicleand surrounding infrastructure.These so-called V2X communica-tions are at the foundation of ITS,and their reach and reliability de-pend on the quality and radio fre-quency (RF) protection of theantennas, of which there are manyin the vehicle.The rapid increase in the levelof wireless technology withinvehicles allows for a multitude ofnew services to be realised, how-ever manufacturers will need toform robust strategies to accountfor the increased levels of soft-ware upgrades required. The im-plications on manufacturers maymean they require additional as-sistance from test organisations,with expertise in rapid softwarevalidation.At vehicle level, a great deal ofinnovation, through the use ofmoving targets and a number ofother intelligent test systems, isrequired to test vehicle automa-tion or vehicle assist functions inan EMC chamber. This will meanusing the latest test equipment andfacilities to guarantee test comple-tion to the highest standards.

For all vehicle systems, correctfunctionality must be ensured intheir intended EM environment.This means off-board threats suchas high power phone and TVtransmitters and on-board threatsincluding mobile devices and in-stalled transmitters. This verifica-tion is especially important forsafety-related systems that havefunctions that control or affect thesafe operation of a vehicle. Forthe autonomous car, the list ofsafety related systems will in-crease dramatically. For testing,this will mean a greater level ofdiagnostic information will be re-quired to understand exactlywhich systems are in error.For EMC engineers, a thoroughunderstanding of the safety, secu-rity and reliability requirements ofeach vehicle feature is a necessity.All vehicle control units, sensorsand actuators taking the place ofhuman functions will find them-selves on the safety related func-tion list, thus requiring higherlevels of engineering rigour. Un-derstanding the source of mal-functions will require a significantincrease in effort during the EMCengineering process.

Robust requirementsTo deliver these services with arobust level of performance, toprevent the customer from beingplagued with audio, video or datacorruption and dropouts, and thevehicle’s autonomous drivingfunctionality from being impaired,is a challenge. Issues such as fad-ing due to differing signal paths,shadowing where signals are ob-structed by a hill or a large build-ing, Doppler effect when receiverand transmitter are moving rela-tive to each other, and surface

clutter significantly complicatethe process; and poor antennacharacteristics and high levels ofvehicle RFI can be disastrous toreception and connectivity per-formance.For example, ITS enabled vehi-cles broadcast positional informa-tion and listen for similarmessages from other vehicles orroadside infrastructure. For trans-mitted messages, the vehicle an-tenna performance determines thearea in which the vehicle will beheard. The communication rangeof a vehicle fitted with a poor an-tenna system will be significantlyless than the same vehicle fittedwith a good antenna system. Thiscan be likened to trying to shoutwith your hand over your mouth.Similarly, an ITS vehicle with apoor antenna system and compo-nents that produce high levels ofRFI will only hear messagesbroadcast from other vehicles andinfrastructure at a very much re-duced distance than a vehicle witha good antenna and componentsthat produce low levels of RFI. Inthis instance, it can be likened totrying to listen with your fingersin your ears.When these issues are encoun-tered in vehicle designs. OEMsquickly become plagued withproblems relating to poor per-formance and the risk of customerdissatisfaction increases signifi-cantly. Highlighting performanceissues early, accurately and in-linewith customer perception to avoidover or under engineering is there-fore of key importance movingforward.

ImplicationsConsumers have historically beenused to a one-off payment when

purchasing a vehicle, howeverwith embedded data and voiceconnections, an additional con-tract with a network operator mayalso be required. To deliver voiceand data services with a robustlevel of performance is very diffi-cult and costly to realise. Withconsumers paying for connectiv-ity, it will be up to the networkoperators and vehicle manufactur-ers to deliver services that are per-ceived by the consumer to beadequate. While broadcast andnetwork operators maintain geo-graphical service coverage acrossurban and rural locations, it willbe down to vehicle manufacturersto optimise their integrated sys-tems such to limit service degra-dation. In addition, vehiclemanufacturers will need to ensuresignal loss and interferencesources inside the vehicle are keptto a minimum to ensure good con-nectivity for personal devices.

FutureThere is no doubt that the futureof the automotive industry is setto become significantly morecomplex with the development of

intelligent mobility in autonomousvehicles. This continuous devel-opment is driving industry stan-dards, particularly when it comesto EMC.A key indicator of the impact in-telligent mobility will have onEMC engineers is the complexityof the testing to be carried out.Training and awareness in the lat-est standards will constantly needupdating, while access to the cor-rect equipment and facilities usedwill be key to the development ofthe industry in the future.The fight to become the leaderin autonomy will continue amongmanufacturers, while newrelationships will need to beestablished with EMC test consul-tancies and engineers at the fore-front of their field to developadvanced test methods and robustsystems for the future.

Anthony Martinis EMC chiefengineer atHoriba Mira



Time to clean up the clutterTime to clean up the clutterMatthias Karcher proposesa simple concept for better

testing and validating ofdistributed electronic

systems in vehicles



Alook into the test, verifica-tion and system integra-tion labs of all vehicle

manufacturers and their suppliersleaves the same impression theworld over – measuring equip-ment, PCs and test units every-where. Overcrowded rooms fullwith test devices and electronicsfor automated tests put vehiclesystems or subsystems throughtheir paces around the clock.Although often well organised,it is hard to believe that in such amess system faults, faulty elec-tronics and software bugs can bedetected reliably to eliminatethem in production vehicles.The complexity of electrical andelectronic systems in vehicles isgrowing steadily to include built-in electrical and electronic devicesand the communications systemsthey are based on. In the mean-time, there are cars with up to 100different microcomputers andeach with their own performancelevels. These include the wholerange of microprocessors and mi-crocontrollers – from 8 to 32bit,single core to quad core, with or

without rtos, and with interfacesof all kinds.Additionally, all these deviceshave to communicate with eachother to represent properly and re-liably all the different functions ina car, from a simple windowopener to a high-end multimediasystem. Communications net-works such as Lin, Can, Can-FD,Flexray, Most and Ethernet are in-dispensable in today’s architec-tures. In the near future, evenmore networks will be imple-mented including A2B, Automo-tive Ethernet, CXPI, Sent andPSI5.It is easy to imagine that thistrend combined with the desire fora more comprehensive user expe-rience will increase the complex-ity of electrical and electronicssystems in cars not linearly butrather exponentially.To make things worse, in recentyears development cycles for carshave become increasingly shorterto keep up with the technologicaladvance of consumer electronics.A decade ago a complete vehicleplatform was developed within six

Engineers can quickly build a test and measurement mountain

Integration can reduce chaos in a test environment

years. The engineers, designersand planners of today have a timewindow of only four years maxi-mum. This is of course coupledwith a much larger and more ex-tensive range of models andmodel initiatives, which meansmore cars are developed and mar-keted in parallel.The product developmentprocess or the time to market isshorter despite increased com-plexity – of course at even lowercost and with the same if not bet-ter quality of the final product.This is not a simple nor a trivialtask. The time to adjust to thisissue and to come to terms with itwas short. Often, the developmentprocess was the focus and wasthen optimised and shortened bydifferent techniques such as scrumand agile development.But what happens with thehedging, test and validation ofsystems and devices? Some maydisagree, because today there area lot of techniques in this field, in-cluding automation, x-in-the-looptechnology and so on. However,the focus lies primarily, if not to-tally, on the test software.The hardware or the measuringequipment has improved onlyslightly and could hardly keeppace with the systems to be tested.A frequently observed phenome-non is that existing test equipmentwill be enhanced with new tech-nology, that is a new bus systemalthough the test equipment itselfis infrequently renewed.This has led to situations inwhich test laboratories turn intochaos. Large amounts of test de-vices, interface adapters andmeasuring units then build a testand measurement mountain con-fronting the engineers. Only ab-

solute experts will cope with thistask.Well, it is certainly understand-able that this problem will in-crease if further bus systems andgreater complexity add to this infuture. The chaos and confusionwill become even more over timeunless a clean-up happens. Afterthat, it holds back for a while untilthe next clean-up is due and per-haps some devices have to be dis-posed of every so often. It is aniterative and never-endingprocess, but it helps to have fur-ther development and increasingcomplexity under control.

IntegrationThis still relatively simple princi-ple should be applicable to testlabs. A regular clean-up and dis-posing helps a lot, however,higher integration on top of thathelps even more. What does thatmean for test devices and sys-tems? It is quite simple. Take thebasic systems and all extensionsthat have accumulated over thetime and put them in a new ex-panded core system. Suddenly, thelab will be cleaned up leavingspace for future extensions.It is certainly understandablethat such a clean-up has quite apositive and significant effect onother issues and parameters too. Atidy lab reduces the complexity ofthe test laboratories and thus theerror susceptibility of tests andtest equipment. Within a shorttime, quality can be realised fordevices and systems.Whether this is feasible at lowercost depends on the system andbusiness models of the test systemprovider. Discussions with thoseaffected clearly show that thereare many cases in which massive

cost savings can be achieved byinvesting in higher integrated testsystems. In that way the increasedcost pressure can be taken intoaccount.To clean up a test labs for dis-tributed electrical and electronicscommunications systems in theautomotive area, reduce complex-ity in the lab and exploit cost sav-ings, there are certainly severalstarting points. One very obviousapproach would be a hardware in-terface with a high integration ofcommunications networks. Thisinterface would clean up the labbecause previously a single devicewas present for every network.Such devices unite a large amountof automotive communicationsnetworks in a single product andthus reduce the complexity of testsystems as well as the chaos intest laboratories.Suddenly, with only one stepthere is more space and a betteroverview of the test system, alongwith fewer connections, powersupplies and wiring effort. Theimportant synchronous time stamp

for all messages, events and sig-nals on all networks will be main-tained. Looking at the costs, a lotof money can be saved with sucha system – both direct and indi-rect. Direct costs relate to the pur-chase costs because instead ofseveral test devices only one de-vice is needed, which is usuallycheaper than the sum of individualdevices. Indirect costs will be lessbecause the complexity of the testsystems decreases as well as thetest time.The reason for this is the scalingof the test software to support allbus systems continuously. Theconfiguration and test executioneffort is reduced massively. All inall, a very good way to handle in-creasing complexity, reduce costs,achieve a faster time to marketand increase quality. A clean-up isalways worth-while.

MatthiasKarcher issenior managerfor K2L

ON THE ROAD ON THE ROAD


For 2017, Jaguar Land Roveris giving the Range Rover asuite of advanced semi-au-

tonomous driving technologieswith the introduction of the SVAutobiography Dynamic. Thismodel is claimed to be the mostpowerful, most dynamic produc-tion Range Rover to date.The SVAutobiographyDynamic marries attention todetail with elegant and luxuriousmaterials including diamondquilted leather seats, contraststitching and a knurled finishrotary shift controller and pedals.Powered by a 550HP V8 super-charged engine, through speciallyconfigured suspension, it deliversa combination of performance andhandling without compromisingcomfort and refinement deliveringa 0 to 96km/hr time of 5.1s.Range Rover continues to ce-ment its all-terrain capabilitythrough a host of adas features.Standard driver assistance tech-

ADAS HAS LANDEDA look at the driver-assistance featureson the SV Autobiography DynamicRange Rover

nologies include rear park dis-tance control, cruise control andspeed limiter, lane departurewarning, and autonomous emer-gency braking. This intelligenttechnology uses a forward-facingcamera to detect a risk of collisionand warn the driver initiating fullemergency braking if the driverfails to respond.The additional Drive Pack in-cludes existing features such asblind spot monitor, traffic signrecognition and reverse traffic de-tection, and new technologies in-cluding intelligent speed limiter,which uses the traffic sign recog-nition hardware to adjust the vehi-cle speed automatically to meetthe prevailing speed limit.Also included in the Drive Packis a driver condition monitor thatanalyses data such as steering in-puts and road speed, as well astaking account of the time of day,to warn against driver fatigue.The Drive Pro Pack takes the

features of the Drive Pack andadds adaptive cruise control withqueue assist and intelligent emer-gency braking. Drive Pro Packalso provides blind spot assist,which automatically appliescounter steering if the driver be-gins to change lane into the pathof a following vehicle, and lanekeep assist provides gentle, cor-rective steering input if it detectsthe vehicle is drifting across thewhite lines.Tow assist takes any anxiety outof the difficult task of reversingwhile towing a trailer. Using thevehicle’s existing surround cam-era system, this technology letsdrivers guide a trailer into positionwith little effort. By following thetrajectory lines overlaid on animage from the rear-facing cameradisplayed on the central touch-screen, tow assist can steer the ve-hicle automatically to follow thepath selected by the driver usingthe dash-mounted rotary terrainresponse selector.

Low traction launch is a manu-ally selectable driving mode de-signed to assist drivers whenpulling away from a standstill onslippery surfaces such as wetgrass, snow or ice. By controllingthe amount of torque that can beapplied by the driver, the systemreduces the likelihood of wheel-spin to maintain traction and en-sure smooth acceleration.The feature can be accessed in-dependently through the centraltouchscreen and the driver is

prompted to engage low tractionlaunch whenever grass-gravel-snow mode is selected. The sys-tem remains active until thevehicle reaches 30km/h.

The introduction of Jaguar LandRover’s InControl Touch Pro info-tainment system delivers im-proved satellite navigation

ON THE ROAD ON THE ROAD


functionality and connectivity.The fast, intuitive operation isaugmented by the larger 25.6cmdual-view touchscreen display.Alternatively, users can choose toenhance their view of the naviga-tion system by selecting to con-vert the digital display behind thesteering wheel to a full-screenview of their route and map, in-creasing visibility and reducingdistraction from the road ahead.As part of the InControl Con-nect Pro pack, InControl TouchPro incorporates a series of newapp services to Range Rover. In-Control Remote Premium allowsdrivers to control remotely vehiclefunctions such as activating theclimate control to cool or heat thecar ready for departure, set anddeactivate the alarm, and evenstart the engine. The app will alertowners if their vehicle alarm hasbeen triggered.Additionally, it includes liveapps that can be downloaded toprovide information such as head-line news, weather reporting and

flight tracking.InControl Touch Pro also fea-tures door-to-door routing, an in-telligent, multi-device system thatnavigates users to their destinationwhether they be on foot or behindthe wheel, thanks to a LandRover-dedicated smartphone routeplanner app.Commute mode automaticallylearns frequently-used routes andrecommends the most efficientroute dependent on live trafficdata, then shares the driver’s des-tination, arrival time and currentlocation with friends, family andcolleagues via a live messagingsystem through the driver’s smart-phone.

Engine choiceIn addition to the existing engineline-up, some customers will havethe option of specifying JaguarLand Rover’s 3.0 litre V6 super-charged petrol engine. The V6achieves 340PS and 450Nm oftorque combined with CO2 emis-sions of 248g/km. Effortless ac-

Taste of luxury inside the SV Autobiography Dynamic

celeration and power delivery pro-duces a 0 to 96km/hr time of 7.1s.The 3.0 litre V6 engine haslightweight all-aluminium con-struction and combines super-charging with direct-injection andvariable intake, and exhaust valvetiming to improve throttle re-sponse, linear power delivery anda unique soundtrack. A single bal-ancer shaft enhances smooth run-ning and refinement.There are also 19 new colours togive customers more choice ofmetallic and pearlescent colours,widely available in either gloss orsatin matte finishes. The addi-tional palette ranges from tradi-tional shades to bolder, morecontemporary choices.

DetailThe SVAutobiography Dynamicis said to be the most powerfulproduction Range Rover to date.Its 550HP 5.0-litre V8 super-charged engine is shared with theacclaimed Range Rover SportSVR. The engine has been cali-brated and delivers 680Nm oftorque, powering the SVAutobi-ography Dynamic from 0 to96km/h in 5.1s with a top speed ofa 225km/hr. It is paired with ZF’seight-speed automatic transmis-sion for seamless gear changesand supreme performance.“The Range Rover SVAutobi-ography Dynamic has been spe-cially developed by the specialvehicle operations team to delivera more engaging driving experi-ence,” said Mark Stanton, directorof Jaguar Land Rover’s specialvehicle operations. “It delivers theultimate combination of perform-ance and Range Rover luxury, be-fitting its unique position in theportfolio.”Rear screens provide passenger entertainment

The SVO division has fine-tuned the suspension to achieve acombination of performance andcomfort. Revisions to the knuck-les, links, springs and dampersprovide a lower ride height –8mm lower than standard – andmore immediate responses.It also has two driver-focusedtechnologies designed to deliverimproved body control and agility.Dynamic response improves vehi-cle handling and occupant com-fort by reducing the amount ofbody lean during cornering. Thesystem controls the front and rearaxles independently, delivering in-creased low-speed agility, high-

speed stability and greater steer-ing precision. Adaptive dynamicsmonitors vehicle movements up to500 times a second, reacting todriver inputs and changes in theroad surface to provide greatercontrol without compromising re-finement.The side vents, bonnet finisher,grille, front bumper accents,Range Rover script and tailgatefinisher are all finished inGraphite Atlas. Users have achoice of alloy wheel designs, aswell as three finishes. It is also thefirst Range Rover available withred brake callipers and Brembobrake technology.

Inside, diamond quilted leatherseats with contrast stitching areavailable in four exclusive colour-ways, offset by Grand Black ve-neer front fascia and door casingsand flashes of red to interior de-tails and paddle shifters to denoteits dynamic characteristics.In addition, features, such as therotary shift controller, start stopbutton and pedals have a knurledfinish.In keeping with its more pur-poseful character, the SVAutobi-ography Dynamic has brightchrome quad tailpipes that havebeen optimised to enhance its dis-tinctive V8 soundtrack.

PRODUCTS

Vehicle Electronics Vehicle ElectronicsPage 27, September 2016 September 2016, Page 28

PRODUCTS

Hall sensors from Infi-neon Technologies canhelp automotive electron-ics meet environmentalstandards. The TLx496xare said to have preciseswitching points, stableoperation and low powerconsumption. They areavailable as latch andswitch-type sensors.

They consume no morethan 1.6mA, dropping to1.4mA for the 5V ver-sions.

All have an integratedHall element, voltage reg-ulator, choppers, oscilla-tor and output driver. Thevoltage regulator powers

Hall effect sensors targetenvironmental regulations

the Hall element and theactive circuits. The chop-per ensures the tempera-ture remains stable andreduces the effects ofprocess fluctuation

They are suitable forautomotive applicationswith an operating voltageof 3.0 to 5.5V, which gen-erally are not exposed toovercurrent. Target appli-cations are systems thatneed a precise Hall switchor latch for an expandedtemperature range of -40to +170˚C. These includepower windows and sun-roofs, boot locks, wind-shield wipers, seatbelts,

camshafts, shift leversand the controls used inBLDC motors.

The latches’ magneticbehaviour and switchingpoints make them suitablefor applications with pre-cise index counting for

pole wheels or the record-ing of the rotor positionand for BLDC motors.The switch is suitable forrecording switch andlever positions and de-tecting open and closedstates.

An engine from ConceptEngineering brings auto-matic schematic genera-tion, schematic viewingand automated system as-sembly to the web.

The Nlview JS visuali-sation engine is based onJavaScript and HTML5standards and enables in-teractive tools for designdebugging, design visual-isation and automated de-sign creation thatseamlessly run withinstandard web browsers onmobile devices or ondesktop systems.

Aimed at electronic de-signers in automation, au-tomotive and industrialmarkets, the engine pro-vides automatic genera-tion of schematicdiagrams for differentlevels of electronic cir-cuits, including gatelevel, RTL level andblock level. Optional en-gines are available for thesystem level (S-engine)and for the transistor level(T-engine).

It also brings design en-

gineers or service engi-neers the convenience ofusing web browsers to ac-cess remotely designdata, intellectual propertylibrary components orsystem diagrams withouthaving to install complexsoftware on their com-puter or mobile device.Web-based design anddebugging tools allowmultiple users to have ac-curate access to up-to-date, live system data andoffer interactive commu-nications with connecteddata servers.

Designers get the abilityto use company- and ap-plication-specific intranettools, without any need toinstall complex software.Pointing the browser tothe correct URL will pro-vide access to design andcritical up-to-date systemhealth information fromany location. Visualisa-tion features and debug-ging capabilities arecustomisable, allowingcompany-specific designand service platforms.

Engine automatesschematic generationand system assembly

Panasonic has released aseries of automotivegrade NTC thermistorsusing a multilayer, mono-lithic structure for harshautomotive, transporta-tion and heavy equipment

NTC thermistorsapplications.

The surface-mountERTJ-M componentshave an operating temper-ature from -40 to +150˚C.An integrated isolatinglayer reduces changingresistance value due tothe reflow and externalenvironmental influences.

The thermistors areavailable in 0402 and0603 case sizes. AEC-Q200 and RoHS compli-ant, the products are com-pletely lead free.

AEC-Q200 qualifiedclock oscillators meetingTS16949 for industrialand automotive applica-tions are available fromIQD.

The IQXO-54x Autoseries units are housed in2.0 by 1.6 by 0.8mm ce-ramic sealed packagewith frequencies from 4.0to 50MHz.

With stabilities down to±25ppm over -40 to+85˚C or ±50ppm over-40 to +125˚C, theseclock oscillators suit ex-treme environments in in-dustrial and automotiveapplications includingABS, airbag sensors,drive controls, keylessentry, navigation, securitysystems, solar panels, tyre

Clock oscillatorsmeet AEC-Q200

pressure monitoring re-ceivers, wifi and Wimax.

Three voltages areavailable – the IQXO-540operates at 3.3V, theIQXO-541 at 2.5V andthe IQXO-542 at 1.8V.All deliver a cmos outputalong with an enable-dis-able function.

With a current con-sumption down to 5mAand standby current of10µA (-40 to +85˚ C),these models are alsosuitable for battery-oper-ated equipment.

Cypress has added to itsTraveo automotive mi-crocontroller family withmore memory for pro-gramme code and graph-ics to support hybridinstrument clusters.

The integrated devicesin the S6J32xE series pro-vide a chip that can drivegraphics on head-up dis-plays or traditionalgauges, and provide scal-

ability with the firm’slow-pin-count Hyperbusmemory interface.

The devices have up to4Mbyte of embeddedflash, 512kbyte ram and2Mbyte of video ram,along with an Arm Cor-tex-R5 core at 240MHz.

The MCUs have up totwo 12-pin Hyperbusmemory interfaces thatimprove read and write

Memory added to MCUs for hybrid clustersperformance of graphicaldata and other data orcode. They can use a sin-gle Hyperbus interface toconnect to two memoriesfor firmware over-the-airupdates, which enableend-users to get new soft-ware fixes, features andapplications for their ve-hicles on-the-go.

The series includes alow-voltage differentialsignalling video output,providing an interface toattach external displayssuch as TFTs. The MCUssupport all in-vehicle net-working standards re-quired for instrument

clusters, including Can-FD and Ethernet AVB.

The MCUs include 50channels of 12bit ana-logue to digital convert-ers, 12 channels ofmulti-function serial in-terfaces and I2S interfacesand an audio DAC to out-put the complex, high-quality sounds required intoday’s instrument clus-ters.

They support an ambi-ent temperature of -40 to+105˚C. They are sam-pling now and will be inproduction early nextyear in TEQFP-208 andTEQFP-216 packages.

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Vehicle ElectronicsPage 29, September 2016

PRODUCTS


Resistors handlerepetitive surgesAnti-surge, high-powerthick-film chip resistorsfor automotive and indus-trial applications havebeen introduced byVishay Intertechnology.

For applications subjectto high and repetitivesurge pulses, devices inthe AEC-Q200-qualifiedDraloric RCS e3 seriesare said to have betterpulse load performanceand ESD surge character-istics compared with stan-dard chip resistors. Inaddition, the devices pro-vide power ratings up to0.4W.

The series resistors are

Development tool upgradedfor vehicle architecturesWith Preevision 8.0, Vec-tor supports the develop-ment of future-proofelectric and electronic ar-chitectures for vehicles.The release can be usedfor model-based develop-ment of automotiveEthernet networks andservice-oriented softwarearchitectures (SOAs).

SOAs have been usedfor years in the IT indus-try to describe and struc-ture distributed systems.This procedure is also in-creasing in the automo-tive industry to meettechnical challenges asso-ciated with autonomousdriving and V2X commu-nications.

The required electricand electronic architec-ture in the vehicle cannow be designed andmanaged with the devel-opment tool. In the cur-rent version, the requiredservices, the correspon-ding software compo-nents, all interfaces andthe communicationsnodes are modelled withSOA diagrams. They arebased on the UMLgraphic modelling lan-guage.

To realise suitablebandwidths for communi-cations in the vehicle,Ethernet technology is in-creasingly being used.

The corresponding com-munications design is de-veloped in Preevisionaccording to the Autosarmethod. Ethernet descrip-tions can be imported andexported as an Autosarfile without difficulty.

To model Ethernet net-works, it handles mixedtopologies: different bustechnologies such as Eth-ernet, Can, Lin andFlexray can be connectedto one another via a gate-way. A special cluster ap-proach ensures a clearoverview for complex ar-chitectures

The Ethernet topologyconnected via switchesdiffers from the classic

bus technologies in vehi-cles: here a bus can besubdivided into differentindependent networks.These virtual local areanetworks (vlans) play animportant role in cybersecurity. Vlans also en-able the management ofavailable bandwidth.They are developed usingdiagrams and tables andconfigured with switches.

A signal router createsan initial vlan structure asa starting point for devel-opment or considers pre-defined vlans in a givenstructure for the routing.The signal router auto-matically generates mostof the needed communi-

cations artefacts and thusfacilitates, for example,the socket configuration,usually a time-consumingand error-prone develop-ment task.

The integrated test engi-neering and test manage-ment, which waspreviously only availableas a product option, isnow available in all li-cences. The DBC-ECUextract limits the DBCexport to the data for oneECU and therefore sup-ports focused data ex-change between OEMand supplier. There arealso various programmestability and usability im-provements.

available in three casesizes – 0402, 0603 and0805. With its specifiedpower of 0.25W, theRCS0603 e3 resistor cov-ers the power ratings ofstandard 0603, 0805 and1206 resistors, allowing

designers to standardisecomponents.

Resistance is from 1Ωto 10MΩ with tolerancesof ±0.5%, ±1% and ±5%;TCR ±100ppm/K and±200ppm/K; and operat-ing voltage from 50 to150V.

Temperature range is-55 to +155˚C and theyare RoHS-compliant andhalogen-free.

At this month’s DVDmilitary vehicle show inthe UK, RFEL will be an-nouncing an HD-SDI andGVA generic vehicle ar-chitecture compliant mil-itary driver vision aid.

Called Trailblazer, it issaid to improve driverand crew effectiveness byextending the field ofview beyond the normalspectrum, even in adverseweather and low light .

Where primary vision isrestricted, such as in ar-moured vehicles withhatches down, the dual-channel daylight andinfra-red sensors, alongwith image processingtechnology, can give thedriver, crew and com-mander views from aheadand behind, in all weath-ers, day or night.

With front and rearcamera units as part of thesystem, this driver aiduses a sensor and opticalpackage to deliver multi-ple fields of views. Theinclusion of a long-waveinfra-red camera channelextends this capabilityacross the thermal scene.

An on-board processingpackage, including a dig-ital video fusion algo-rithm, means it deliverscontinuous manoeuvrecapability with threat andobstacle detection.

Offering multiple, inde-pendent channel outputson the network interface,

Improving vision for military vehicles

it can provide video tomore than one user on theplatform. Each user cancommand views fromfront and rear, includingwide-angle situationalawareness views in addi-tion to driving views and,by exploiting the underly-

ing higher resolution ofthe raw sensor, a highquality digital zoom capa-bility.

This can aid the driverin terrain negotiation andobstacle avoidance, routeselection and improvedmanoeuvrability, while

other crew members canhelp with surveillancetasks to ensure safe andeffective operation. Out-puts can be capped, fixedor shared over the avail-able bandwidth.

The first of the two in-terfaces is a native digitalvideo HD-SDI output, re-quiring coaxial cablingand a point-to-point in-stallation to create aclosed circuit driving aid,including connectivity tothe rear view unit. Thesecond is a GVA compli-ant DEF 00-082 Vivoevetronics infrastructurefor video over Ethernet.

Vehicle ElectronicsPage 31, September 2016

PRODUCTS

Editor and Publisher:Steve [email protected]

Advertising Manager:Diane [email protected]

Web Site Manager:Martin [email protected]

Published by: Vehicle Electronics Magazine,72 Westwood Road, Nottingham NG2 4FS, UK

Web site: vehicle-electronics.bizTwitter: @velectronicsmag

© 2016 Vehicle ElectronicsISSN 2055-1177

Vehicle Electronics is available to readers world-wide. It will be published approximately twelvetimes a year in a digital-only format. All rightsreserved. No part of Vehicle Electronics may bereproduced or transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic or mechanical, including photo-copying or recording on any information storagesystem, without the written consent of the pub-lisher. The publisher cannot be held responsiblefor loss or damge to unsolicited press releases orphotographs. Views of contributors and advertis-ers do not necessarily refelect the policy ofVehicle Electronics or those of the publisher.

PRODUCTS


An automotive AEC-Q100 qualified powermanagement IC from Al-legro Microsystems canimplement either a buckor buck-boost regulator toconvert automotive bat-tery voltages efficientlyinto a tightly regulatedvoltage, with seamlesstransition between thebuck and boost modes.

The A4450 is targetedat the automotive, indus-trial and instrumentationmarkets with end applica-tions to include infotain-ment, instrument clusters,telematics, amplifiers andcontrol modules.

The device suits auto-motive input environ-ments where battery inputvoltage supply can vary

PMIC converts batteryoutput to tight voltage

above and below the re-quired output voltage anda single-inductor, single-stage conversion is de-sired.

The input operatingvoltage range of 3 to 36Vmakes it suitable for auto-motive infotainment ap-plications and it canhandle idle stop-start,cold crank, double battery

and load dump condi-tions. A high-voltage bat-tery compatible enableinput accommodatesswitched battery input ap-plications.

Regulated output volt-age ranges from 3 to 8Vwith load current of up to1A DC. The PWMswitching frequency is250kHz to 2.4MHz, and

frequency dithering andcontrolled switching tran-sitions reduce EMI. Thedevice maintains stabilityeven when the input andoutput voltages are atnearly the same level aswell as through line andload transient events.

Protection features in-clude pulse-by-pulse cur-rent limit, hiccough modeshort-circuit protection,LX short-circuit protec-tion and missing free-wheeling diode. Theenable input is compati-ble with a high-voltagebattery level, and apower-on reset output isintegrated.

The device comes in a20-lead, 4 by 4mm QFNpackage.

Automotive actuators forhaptic accelerator pedalshave been introduced byTT Electronics. Theyhave a total weight lessthan 400g, said to be asignificant reduction fromthe weight of comparablepedals.

The actuators enablepower-efficient transmis-sion, consuming less than1W with an active actua-tor when it reaches apedal force increase of atleast 10N. The pedalforce the driver feels in-creases when the drive-train changes frombattery to combustion en-gine. The additional pedalforce can be customisedaccording to OEM speci-fication.

The actuator is said tohave a high degree of re-liability without long-term degradation across-40 to +80˚C.

Actuatorsfor hapticpedals

Compact PCI boardsuits fleet managementA Compact PCI Serialcarrier board for PCI Ex-press mini cards suitswireless data communi-cations.

The G227 from MENMikro provides space fortwo PCIe mini card slotsfor LTE, UMTS, GSM orHSPA, each with two an-tenna connectors at thefront, one PCI mini cardslot for wlan, telephony,

GPS or audio signals, andup to ten Micro Simcards.

The carrier board suitswireless applications suchas fleet management orpassenger information intrains and other mobilemarkets.

The card has three PCIemini card slots in total:two of them for commu-nications via LTE,

UMTS, GSM or HSPA –each with two front-sidedantenna connectors – andanother for wlan andGPS, for transmission ofaudio signals or as virtualsim card.

The integration ofGNSS signals with theconnection of an addi-tional antenna connectorat the front is also possi-ble via the third slot.

Particularly for use withfrequent location or rate-related network changes,ten Micro Sim cards canbe accommodated. Thesoftware provided allowsthe separate control andthe power up and down ofthe Micro Sims.

For use in harsh envi-ronments, it works in anoperating temperature of-40 to +85˚C, and theboard is coated againstdust and humidity.

In response to increaseddemand from the automo-tive market for conduitand fittings that workwith high temperaturecable wiring to ensureperformance near enginehot spots, Harnessflex haslaunched its TempGuardrange.

These conduit and fit-tings work with high-tem-perature cables, allowing

them to operate at up to+200˚C, and have under-gone long-term heataging, tensile and impactstrength testing.

The system protects androutes high temperaturewiring in and around hotspot areas of the engine.

It is said to increases thetemperature rating bymore than 60 per centover standard fittings in

the range.With various fittings

and conduits available,made from polyamideand co-polyester materi-als, the range includesHTC08 to HTC20 con-duit, with T and Y-piecefittings, straight andelbow joiners, along withbackshells for Amp,Bosch, Deutsch and FCIconnectors.

Conduit protects cables from heat

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