EPN Automotive Electronics Blog

Building a standard

It's a good thing when an official industry standard is constantly being developed and thus filled with life. However, when the standard evolves fast, there's always the problem that some implementers remain at an older version. This can lead to fragmentation, and the »standard« isn't a standard anymore.

Cars and more

In terms of software development, AUTOSAR sets rather good practices. Actually, it has a few advantages over general purpose SW development standards with its coverage of the full development cycle easily the most important. Unfortunately, the AUTOSAR development partnership isn’t too fond of allowing the software architecture outside of the automotive market. Now, they start opening up. A bit.

Safer ECUs

The ISO 26262 functional safety standard for road vehicles poses various problems for component manufacturers as well as for system integrators. Luckily, not all control units in a car are that safety critical, but the ones that need to comply require extensive checking and testing during all stages of product development.

Approved CAN bus coupler

In order to ensure reliable operation of motor vehicles on the road, German law requires a motor vehicle type approval (Allgemeine Betriebs-Erlaubnis, ABE) – also referred to as »e1« approval – for all components that are connected to the vehicle's electrical system. This is required even for the most unspectacular components.

MOST150 on a roll

While MOST certainly is the largest, most implemented multimedia network for automotive applications, it seems to have got a bit quiet around it lately. Alas, springtime is MOST Forum time, where news get spread around.

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

Hitch your car to a star

The Korean foundry Dongbu HiTek is reaching for the stars: Specialized on analog and mixed signal semiconductor technologies, it’s trying to expand its business into automotive ICs. Its process technologies have undergone high-quality automotive certifications and now they’re ready for more.

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.

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.

Easy standards

TÜV Süd has recently certified the tools Real-Time Workshop Embedded Coder, PolySpace Client for C/C++, and PolySpace Server for C/C++ from The Mathworks. The German certification authority certifies that the tools are suitable for developing safety-related software that conforms to IEC 61508, ISO 26262, or derivative standards.