Mentor Blogs

  Engineers are adding more electronic features to cars, but at the same time engineers – not necessarily the same ones – are trying to reduce vehicle weight and improve mileage. I’ve been wondering how they do that. This week Freescale Semiconductor provided a clue. The company introduced a microcontroller (MCU) billed as a network gatekeeper (the Qorivva MPC5748G) and LIN and CAN satellite … Read More

CAN, Freescale Semiconductor, 'FlexRay, Wiring Harness, LI N, SafeAssure

  Sophisticated automotive electronics systems are moving down-market at a pretty fast clip thanks to a lot of hard work by automakers, suppliers, and in some cases, the spur of government mandates. Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), for example, are likely to get a boost from regulation in the not too far distant future. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) … Read More

New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), vehicle cameras, automotive electronics systems, CogniVue Corporation, advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), Freescale Semiconductor, image cognition processing, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)

I’m often if not always skeptical when a company says its product or service is an industry “first,” so I wanted some verification when Freescale Semiconductor said that its MP5643L microcontroller is the first such device to be certified by an independent accredited assessor (www.exida.com) as compliant with the relevant MCU requirements of the automotive functional safety standard ISO 26262. But … Read More

MPC5643L, antilock braking systems, ASIL-D, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, Freescale Semiconductor, ISO 26262, electric power steering, exida

Automotive application developers will expect to receive as much help as possible from suppliers as they contend with the requirements of ISO 26262. When Freescale Semiconductor launched its SafeAssure program last September it promised to make functional safety an integral part of its product development process to align to the requirements of ISO 26262 and IEC 61508. It said its products would … Read More

SafeAssure, IEC 61508, Qorivva MPC574xP microcontroller, ISO 26262, Freescale Technology Forum, Freescale Semiconductor, MC33906/7/8 system basis chip, ASIL-D

  They say you can’t do everything, and they’re right, whoever they are, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it. Two very promising conferences relevant to automotive electronics – telematics and sensors – are scheduled for the same days, June 6-7, about 300 miles apart. In Novi, Michigan, the 12th Telematics Detroit conference and exhibition, sponsored by Telematics Update, is expected to … Read More

HTML5, Freescale Semiconductor, intel, Yole Développement, V2X, STMicroelectronics, Dell, Suburban Collection Showplace, Telematics Detroit conference and exhibition, Analog Devices, Telematics Update, Liberty Mutual, Facebook, LTE connectivity, Ford, MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems), Delphi, Sensors Expo & Conference 2012, Donald E. Stephens convention center

Registration is now open at www.mentor.com/events/iesf/detroit for the 12th IESF Conference for Automotive EE Design – June 14th, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Dearborn, MI. Click to sign up if you haven’t already. I missed the last one and don’t want to miss this one – especially since this year I am on the program, speaking about automotive electronics reliability (shameless plug: http://books.sae.org/book-t-126) … Read More

LEONI Wiring Systems, Johnson Controls, system analysis, the GENIVI Alliance, Automotive EE Design, Hyatt Regency Hotel, The Hansen Report, automotive electronics reliability, IBM Rational, the Linux Foundation, wire harness engineering, 'FlexRay, CAN, electronic thermal design and measurement, Chrysler, AUTOSAR, Freescale Semiconductor, Bishop & Associates, GENIVI, Delphi Automotive Systems, Continental Automotive, E/E systems design, SAE International, LIN, power and signal design, NXP Semiconductors, Open Kernel Labs, Mentor Graphics, modeling and simulation, Linux, Mecel

SAE AS6802 – Time-Triggered Ethernet – is the new industry standard that establishes Ethernet as a deterministic networking technology. It’s available for download at http://standards.sae.org/. Although the source of the new standard, SAE International’s AS-2 Embedded Computing Systems Committee, is part of SAE International’s Avionic Systems Group, automakers and suppliers are known to … Read More

SAE, Renesas Electronics, SAE AS6802, CAN, 'FlexRay, time-triggered Ethernet, MOST, NXP Semiconductors, deterministic Ethernet, Freescale Semiconductor

Freescale, Infineon, and STMicroelectronics made major chip announcements this week all focused on improving fuel economy and reducing emissions. Freescale said its multicore Qorivva 32-bit MPC5676R MCU, built on Power Architecture® technology, provides four times the performance, double the memory space and more functionality than the previous-generation, single-core MPC5566 MCU. With two parallel … Read More

Infineon Technologies, L99PM72PXP, Freescale Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, TriCore processors, Power Architecture technology, Qorivva MPC5676R MCU

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vehicle accidents kill approximately 105,000 people annually in India, 96,000 in China, and 35,000 in Brazil. Seat belts save lives, and so do airbags, and to encourage development of airbags in emerging markets like India, China, and Brazil, chipmaker Freescale Semiconductor and systems developer Robert Bosch LLC are joining forces. The firms developed … Read More

Bosch automotive electronics, Bosch CG147 Airbag ASSP, airbag reference platform, Freescale Qorivva MPC560X microcontroller, Freescale Semiconductor

Features that not long ago were limited to luxury vehicles are working their way toward the mainstream. Increasingly powerful microcontrollers (MCUs), often integrating functions that were formerly discrete, are helping to make that happen. Take Freescale Semiconductor’s 32-bit Qorivva line, for example. Earlier this month Freescale launched the MPC5604E, targeting surround-camera parking assist systems, … Read More

MPC5645S, MPC560xD, MPC564xB/C, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, camera and radar-based ADAS applications, 32-bit Qorivva, next-generation automotive instrument cluster applications, MCP567xK, MPC5604E, cryprographic services engine, Freescale Semiconductor

Freescale Semiconductor has just introduced an intelligent battery sensor, and when I first heard about it I assumed that it was for lithium ion batteries. Not so. The MM912J637 measures the voltage, current and temperature of lead-acid batteries – the kind that will continue to be common in cars for who knows how many years. Product marketing manager Antonio Leone says intelligent battery sensors … Read More

Freescale Semiconductor, intelligent battery sensor, battery monitoring

One of the teams competing for the Progressive Automotive X-PRIZE asks in its literature what the computer industry would be like today if Wang, Data General and DEC were still the only manufacturers. Remember them? Future Vehicle Technologies (FVT) goes on to say that North America “desperately needs the inventors – the small groups of passionate people who push the envelope and bring disruptive innovations … Read More

Todd Pratt, regenerative braking, Linear Technology Corp., brushless DC motors, Data General, lithium polymer batteries, plug-in hybrid, Progressive Automotive X-PRIZE, battery management system, EIG, Freescale Semiconductor, Future Vehicle Technologies, electric drive system, FVT, DEC, high-speed CAN network, Digital Equipment Corp., eVaro, Energy Innovation Group, Ford F-150, Wang Laboratories

Mentor Graphics is acquiring the Virtual Garage software product line from Freescale Semiconductor and that brought two thoughts to mind: One, since the press announcement wasn’t very specific, what did Freescale say about the tools in its garage. Two, what nifty tools are there in my garage. Postponing an answer to #2 until sometime after the snow melts, I dug around in the archives and was impressed … Read More

Virtual Garage, Freescale Semiconductor, Mentor Graphics, CHS Software, VA-Harness, Virtual Architect, RAppID ToolBox, VA-Complexity Management

The automotive semiconductor market plunged 14% to $16.4 billion in 2009, according to Strategy Analytics, but should see a similar-size recovery – 14% to $18.7 billion – in 2010. According to the research firm, the dramatic fall in global vehicle production, with the exception of three of the four BRIC regions, resulted in the largest-ever fall in automotive semiconductor vendor revenues. The market … Read More

Freescale Semiconductor, Infineon, Databeans, Strategy Analytics, NEC, Renesas

Renesas Technology America recently introduced a new 32-bit microcomputer (SH72546R) for powertrain control, boasting of the size of its on-chip flash (3.75MB). It’s compatible with its predecessor, SJ72531, which has 1.25MB of on-chip flash. Performance is up to 400MIPS when operating at 200MHz. Ever larger on-chip flash is a significant trend in powertrain MCUs and suppliers are planning 4MB devices. … Read More

Infineon, On-Chip Flash, Freescale Semiconductor, Powertrain Control, Renesas Technology America