Infineon Launches The AURIX Family Of Microcontrollers, A Big Innovation In Car Electrification And Digitization

At the heart of mobility going forward will be carbon-neutral, autonomous, fully connected, and cyber secure vehicles. Infineon believes that microelectronics are at the heart of that process of innovation. To that end, they are launching the AURIX family of microcontrollers meant to reach the heart of the transformative auto design and bring it forward to the present, and for decades to come.

This series of the AURIX family of microcontrollers is the TC4x series. The TC4x is meant to encourage trends in eMobility, advanced driver assist systems (ADAS), and automotive electric-electronic (E/E) architecture. The trends in this sector will also include more affordable artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Additionally, the scalable family concept fosters a common software architecture allowing for significant platform savings, for software development and execution.

Some of the latest challenges facing the automotive market can be readily addressed with the TC4x family of MCUs.

• Innovations in E/E architecture focused on domain and zone control
• Increased safety and automated driving
• Accelerated shift from conventional powertrains to xEV

The TC4x family of MCU’s are presently addressing these issues, with real-world solutions.

The AURIX TC4x cybersecurity innovation has been instrumental in advancing communication capabilities within the automobile industry, by developing the cybersecurity cluster, (CSx).

It will essentially secure the vehicle inside and out. The four main areas that must be addressed are listed below.

• Secure the platform
• Secure onboard communication
• Secure Network separation
• Secure external communication

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The cybersecurity cluster will support new features and algorithms, as well as offer the latest in hardware acceleration. The cybersecurity cluster will increase performance and resolve bottlenecks.

The two main modules in the cybersecurity cluster are:

• Cybersecurity real-time cluster (CSRM)
• Cybersecurity satellite (CSS)

Other areas that are of interest to the development of the automotive industry include Visualizer Development Kit, advanced C++ compiler, Lauterbach VT debugger, the AURIX SW ecosystem for model-based software development, and many more.

There are right now, leading car manufacturers that will have at least 35 AURIX MCUs in their vehicles by the mid-2020s. The TC4x family of microcontrollers supports eMobility and the advancement of automated driving.  Furthermore, the new SOTA (software-over-the-air) features will help secure car-to-cloud connections. Enabling field updates, in-the-field diagnostics, and analysis while the vehicle is in use.

The safety features that can come from these advancements are head-on collision avoidance, lane drifting deterrence, real-time traffic information, avoiding bottlenecks, long trip planning, stopping the weaving in and out of traffic, short distance braking from high speed, and many more.

STMicroelectronics Launches The Stellar E MCU Line Dedicated To EV Applications

STMicroelectronics has unveiled a new line of automotive MCUs, the Stellar E Microcontrollers. This line of MCUs is focused on the automotive industry, optimizing EVs and centralized domain and zone electronic architecture. This makes EVs more affordable, go further on a single charge, and charge faster.

Up until now, EVs have used high-efficiency SiC-based (Silicon carbide) power modules. This provided the greatest driving range and faster charging. They required high-speed signal processors that were dedicated just to that function, that controlled the advanced SiC power chips.

The Stellar E MCUs are designed for next-generation software-defined EVs. These MCUs integrate high-speed control-loop processing on-chip. The entire module can be controlled by one MCU. The results are simplified module design, cost savings, and help with compliance with automotive safety and security standards.

The E series of MCUs, extend STs ARM-based Stellar family. The MCUs are designed from the ground up with the car as the platform focus.  The MCUs are a powerful centralized domain and zone controller, which simplifies automotive architectures for increased flexibility, safety, and power. The Stellar family of MCUs all integrate ARM Cortex cores, delivering high performance. The system offers lock-step redundancy and supports real-time hardware virtualization.

This is tantamount to automating the entire vehicle. The EV would essentially drive further, faster, and charge more efficiently. The internal systems would allow for head-on collision avoidance, high-speed stopping, and lane adherence. Cyber security would be for all systems involved in control, such as steering and braking, and driver interfaces. All while maintaining a safe and secure connection to the cloud, from a centralized domain and zone control system.

All Stellar devices are built for software upgradability through secure over-the-air updates.

The full title of the MCUs is the Stellar Electrification Microcontrollers. The series provides automotive-qualified MCUs that perform high-speed control-loop processing, while also working alongside general control all on the same chip. The bill of materials is streamlined, and the overall design is simplified.

The Stellar E series supports the leading automotive standards for functional safety ISO 26262 ASIL-D, security HSM – and industry-standard SW interoperability. The OTA is secure as well.

These MCUs can control multiple power converters and leverage such features as high-speed analog-digital converters, highly accurate pulse-width modulation (PWM) controller, and fast-acting protection circuitry.