Automotive Electronics

Spansion is sampling its Traveo automotive microcontroller S6J3100 series with a CAN FD interface for in-vehicle networking.

AMS, the sensor specialist and analogue chip supplier, has announced a new series of integrated magnetic position sensors. Designed to provide very accurate angle measurements of rotors spinning at high speed, they are suited for motor control and angle measurement related applications. The “47 series” features the company’s DAEC system – dynamic angle error compensation – to help eliminate measurement ...

Motor isolation for Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) requirements can be met without electromechanical relays, claimed Allegro MicroSystems. To do it, it has introduced the A6861 for safety-critical automotive applications where motor isolation is an essential requirement – in electronic power steering and electric braking, for example. All the chip needs is three power mosfets, and a few passives. “This ...

Melexis Technologies has introduced a Hall-effect switch/latch device with an integrated voltage regulator and on-chip non-volatile memory. On-chip EEPROM is used to enable the various tolerances that need defining for a specific application to be set, via the device’s VDD pin, and if necessary readjusted, before finally being locked. “The range and resolution of programmable magnetic thresholds and thermal sensitivity coefficients allows the sensor working ...

Automotive suppliers must work with transport industries and government agencies to solve standards and security issues if connected and autonomous vehicles are to become ubiquitous. This was one of the messages from experts in the automotive and telecommunications industries speaking at the Cambridge Wireless conference this week. Speakers at the ‘State of the Nation’,  hosted by the Hethel Innovation Centre included Mike Short of Telefonica, Roger C. Lanctot, from Strategy Analytics, Ireri ...

GaN Systems will speak of lateral GaN power transistors in automotive appliations at PCIM next week. The paper ‘Lateral GaN transistors – A replacement for IGBT devices in automotive applications’ will discuss GaN devices in drive trains for hybrid and electric vehicles. “Worldwide, several groups of researchers are undertaking work on replacing silicon IGBTs in these applications,” said the firm. ...

Overall, 2014 is expected to be a great year for the supercapacitor industry. This is the prediction of technology market analyst IDTechEx which looked at last year’s industry results and estimated a 30% CAGR for the supercapacitor market in the next 10 years. The supercapacitor market will reach a value of $6bn in 2024. In an application segment such as ...

Electric superchargers and hybrid vehicles are amongst the subjects under discussion at the Niche Vehicle Network (NVN) annual symposium next week. “A number of important topics will be discussed during the day-long event, including the application of new control systems within electric vehicles, the development of new low carbon powertrains, the application of lightweight materials, and the design and development ...

Scaleo is sampling its automotive power-train chip, also aiming it at body control and driver information. Called Olea, it has two 300MHz 32bit ARM Cortex-R5F cores, one in lock-step configuration. There is also a Cortex-M0 for I/O processing. “OLEA is designed to face emission and fuel economy regulations such as the Euro 6/7 and CAFE standards,” said the firm. “It ...

XMOS is chasing automotive business by qualifying its multi-core microcontrollers to AEC-Q100. “The xCORE architecture is a fit for many applications in the automotive space, from infotainment and driver assistance to powertrain control,” said Dr Paul Neil, v-p of product management at the firm. “Completing AEC-Q100 qualification is a key step for us.” The architecture “lends itself to modular redundancy ...