EPN Automotive Electronics Blog

ABS for two wheels

In 2008, the number of motorcyclists involved in fatal accidents in the European Union amounted to 5520 – 14% of all road deaths. Since the introduction and standardization of ABS has lowered

Model truck

Inefficient driving techniques can increase carbon emissions and raise fuel consumption by as much as 10%. For a company with 20 trucks, each driven 120,000 kilometres a year, this translates to 200 tons

Sensitive for crash situations

More safety – less dead victims: Freescale Semiconductor expands its Xtrinsic sensing portfolio with “intelligent” radar technology. Using Silicon Germanium (SiGe) instead of Gallium Arsenid (GaAs), the 77 GHz chipset enables vehicles to sense potential crash situations, claims the company.

Compact cars stay on track

In 2009, the number of newly registered vehicles in Europe equipped with the electronic stability control program ESP/ESC rose from 55% to 60%. An evaluation of the new figures by Bosch shows that this was above all due to considerable growth in the compact car segment.

TriCore on the road

We’ve all heard about the 60, 80 or 100 microcontrollers in todays or tomorrows cars, controlling ignition timing, displaying virtualized tachometers or illuminating the front-seat passenger’s ashtray. Since the assigned functions are so varied, those automobiles usually are a very diverse ecosystem for many different MCU families from a large number of different manufacturers.

Sensor manufacturer chairs DASH7 AWG

The newly formed automotive working group within the DASH7 Alliance is co-chaired by the Belgian semiconductor company Melexis. The company’s mission as co-chair will be to craft a multi-year roadmap for bringing DASH7 into a variety of automotive applications and markets.

Safety for Safety

Camera systems have become an important automotive safety component, typically combining multiple camera modules with advanced image analysis to help drivers monitor road conditions, detect hazards and avoid collisions. These cameras need to be controlled with as less as possible delay and the transmitted data has to be checked for safety and security reasons, so fast and reliable connections are mandatory.

A tiny controller in a big car

More electronics, increasingly complex software: Modern cars are embedded systems on wheels. While communication between ECUs (Electronic control units) and other on-board systems has become more or less standardized with bus systems like CAN, LIN and sometimes already MOST and Flexray , there are still many proprietary communication solutions in the powertrain area.

“Energy-Efficient Driving 2014”

The complete supply chain around the automotive industry has joined the new research project called Energy-Efficient Driving 2014 (EFA 2014), bringing its expertise in direct co-operation. In fact, not many important brands are missing there: Audi, Audi Electronic Venture, BMW Group, Bosch, Continental Automotive, Elmos Semiconductor, Flextronics Automotive, FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik, Harman Automotive Division, Infineon Technologies and metaio . They are all focussing on the one and only target: cutting consumption by up to 10 % till 2014.

Steer and turn

Steering-angle sensors measure the steering wheel's actual position, the value which an increasing number of systems use to determine the direction the driver wants the vehicle to take. Bosch’s new sensor LWS6 measures relatively over an unlimited measuring range. Its typical signal resolution is 1.5°.