vw and lg partner on connected cars - vehicle electronics · news page3,august2016...

The monthly magazine for automotive electronics engineers

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IN THISISSUE

Page 5: Adas codeof practice

Page 9: Chineseconnected road test

0: Cisco Livecar connectivity

Page 11: In-vehiclenetworking

Page 15: Deliveringwifi and Bluetooth

Page 19: Jaguarresearches off-roadautonomous driving

Page 22: NissanProPilot

Page 23: VW Tiguanunder the spotlight

Page 28: ZF lanechange project

Page 29: Productnews

Page 34: Contactdetails

Issue 32August 2016

NEWS

Vehicle Electronics August 2016, Page 2

This was the official opening of German company FEV’s vehicle andpowertrain development centre near Beijing.

“A great day for FEV,” said Ernst Scheid, executive vice president ofFEV. “With our competent engineers, software specialists and advancedtest facilities at the Beijing site, we are even better able to support ourcustomers in Europe and China with their product development. Thedrive systems of the future will be created here: highly efficient enginesand transmissions, electric motors, batteries and fuel cells. Clean air andhigh energy efficiency are the goals.”

The building is close to Beijing Airport in one of the automotive centresof China. The cornerstones of the first phase of construction include10,000 square metres of office space on a 30,000 square metre plot, eighttest benches for conventional and electric drives, 150 office workplaces aswell as an affiliated vehicle application facility.

FEV develops in China

Volkswagen and LGElectronics have signed amemorandum of under-standing on joint researchand development of anext-generation con-nected car service plat-form.The two companiesplan to work together onVolkswagen’s crossoverplatform, which is aimedat enhanced vehicle con-nectivity and conven-ience. Using cloudtechnology, it will offerdrivers seamless digitalaccess to features such assmart home and location-based services.Over the coming years,the two companies willconcentrate on develop-ing technologies thatbring together the con-nected car and smarthome so drivers can con-trol and monitor smart de-vices in their homes –such as lights, securitysystems and domestic ap-pliances – from the road.They aim to develop acontext-sensitive notifica-tion centre that can de-liver messages in anintuitive and safe mannerand provide recommen-dations to the driver inreal time. And they planto develop next-genera-tion infotainment technol-ogy for connected cars.“Volkswagen is press-ing on with the digitalisa-tion of its brand,” saidThomas Form, head of

VW and LG partner on connected carselectronics at VW. “Ourfocus in doing so is al-ways on our customers.For them, comfort, safetyand energy efficiencyplay a central role. LG isa strong, reliable partnerin implementating fea-tures and one of the driv-ers of innovation in thenetworked household.”LG was one of the first

electronics companies tocommit itself to the auto-motive industry. It hasbeen supplying audio-vi-sual products for vehiclessince 2007.“LG Electronics andVolkswagen are teamingup to develop the nextgeneration of connectedcar platform that allowswide integration with

smart home services andadoption of open IoT con-nectivity technologies,”said Richard Choi, headof LG’s cloud centre. “Wethink LG’s expertise insmart technology togetherwith Volkswagen’s lead-ership in the automotivesector will revolutionisethe way drivers interactwith their vehicles.”

Analog Devices is to ac-quire Linear Technologyfor roughly US$14.8bn ina move that will have sig-nificant impact on theautomotive sector.This was the secondmajor acquistion lastmonth, following the an-nouncement that theJapanese Softbank Groupis buying Arm for £24bn.Upon completion of themore recent acquisition,Analog Devices will haveapproximately $5bn inanticipated annual rev-enues.“The combination ofAnalog Devices and Lin-ear Technology brings to-gether two of thestrongest business andtechnology franchises inthe semiconductor indus-try,” said Vincent Roche,president and chief exec-utive officer of AnalogDevices.Both companies havebeen growing their auto-motive portfolio in thepast years and in the case

Analog Devices to acquireLinear Technology for $15bn

of Linear it tripled fromseven per cent of semi-conductor revenue to 21per cent from 2010 to2015.“For 35 years, LinearTechnology has had greatsuccess by growing itsbusiness organically,”said Bob Swanson, exec-utive chairman and co-founder of LinearTechnology. “However,this combination of Lin-ear Technology and Ana-log Devices has thepotential to create a com-bination where one plusone truly exceeds two.”This transaction hasbeen unanimously ap-proved by the boards ofdirectors of both compa-

nies. Closing of the trans-action is expected bymidway through nextyear.The plan is for Roche tocontinue as president ofthe combined company.The two companies antic-ipate a combined leader-ship team with strongrepresentation from both.The Linear Technologybrand will serve as abrand for Analog De-vices’ power manage-ment offerings.“We are creating an un-

paralleled innovation andsupport partner for our in-dustrial, automotive andcommunications infra-structure customers,” saidRoche.

NEWS

Vehicle ElectronicsPage 3, August 2016

The automotive head-updisplay market will ex-ceed 16 million installedunits by the end of 2021,with the market antici-pated to expand fourfoldfrom 2016 to 2021, saysJuniper Research.The research predictedincreased adoption inmass-market vehicles,with growth boosted byaftermarket sales. Juniperbelieves the market willbegin to accelerate in2017 as more OEMs inte-grate HUDs into theirmedium segment cars andpredicts that around onein eight new vehicles willcome with an OEM-fittedHUD by 2021.The biggest opportuni-ties for AR (augmentedreality) are in navigation

and adas safety warnings.The availability of so-phisticated AR contentcould be a game changerleading to an upswing inHUD installations if driv-ers perceive value to thetechnology.However, cost and tech-nical difficulties remainwhich, coupled with pro-duction delays, mean thatAR-HUDs will accountfor less than six per centof the OEM HUD marketby 2021.As more content isadded, there is a dangerof information overloadfor the driver, particularlyin the case of smart-phone-based aftermarketHUDs, where vendorsseem keen to add info-tainment-type content in a

bid to make their productslook as appealing as pos-sible.“At present, there is alegal void with respect towhat type of contentshould or should not bedisplayed on HUDs,” saidresearch author GarethOwen. “The NHTSA iscurrently studying HUDdisplays and plans toissue guidelines soonwhich could hit aftermar-ket HUD sales in thecoming years.”Growth in the automo-tive HUD market couldbe impacted by ARglasses, particularly inlower cost vehicles.Juniper anticipates thatAR-HUDs could replacethe centre-dash stack inthe long term.

Heads up for sharp increase

Formula Student TeamDelft, one of Delft Uni-versity of Technology’s14 student project teams,has unveiled the first For-mula Student electric racecar to be designed, builtand tested with DassaultSystèmes’ 3DExperienceplatform on the cloud. Ineight months, 75 teammembers completed thecar by using the samecloud-based design, engi-neering and collaborativeapplications used in in-dustry worldwide.The DUT16 single-seatcar weighs 160kg and ac-celerates from zero to100km/h in 2.2s. Its de-sign features a wing onthe front that is automati-cally adjusted by the sus-pension, as well as amotor, transmission andbrake system in eachwheel that optimise thecar’s weight, speed andperformance under wet ordry conditions.Using the platform, FSTeam Delft seamlesslycollaborated on projectexecution, saving timeand costs related to IT in-frastructure and adminis-tration, all whileexperiencing the techni-cal benefits of the cloud.Multi-disciplinary teammembers had secure ac-cess to the platform at anytime, whether on site, at

Dassault backs studentsin race car challenge

DUT16 single-seat race car

home, during suppliermeetings or during test-ing. The platform’s ease

of use and intuitive inter-face enabled students tograsp mechanical, kine-

matics, composites andelectrical applications andaddress complex designchallenges before build-ing the physical car.“Without Dassault Sys-tèmes’ 3DExperienceplatform and Catia appli-cations on the cloud, theDUT16 wouldn’t havebeen possible,” said Basaan de Stegge, team man-ager for FS Team Delft.“Our team of industrialdesign, applied sciences,and aerospace, mechani-cal and electrical engi-neering students has onlyone goal: win all FormulaStudent competitions.”

NEWS

Page 5, August 2016 Vehicle Electronics Vehicle Electronics August 2016, Page 6

NEWS

Roke Manor Researchhas demonstrated a viable3D black box technologyfor vehicles, using just asingle dashboard camera.Fitted to an autonomousToyota Prius, it capturesvia vision processingtechnology data thatcould be used to providea precise 3D reconstruc-tion following a road in-cident. It’s set to offerinsurers, drivers and, inthe case of autonomousvehicles, manufacturersindependent evidence ofwhat happened. This maynot just lead to safer vehi-cles but also help to buildpublic trust in driverlessvehicles.“Unlike current dash-cams, the technology wetested today uses com-puter vision algorithms toenable the precise posi-tion and orientation of

Black box could improvetrust in driverless vehicles

any vehicle – car, bike,lorry or autonomous vehi-cle,” said James Revell,consultant engineer atRoke. “This allows fornear-perfect 3D recon-struction of any accidentto be created even if thevehicle loses completecontrol.”Early iterations of thistechnology were first de-veloped by Roke for sol-diers in research

undertaken for the UKgovernment’s DefenceScience & TechnologyLaboratory. Over the pastyear, Roke has been de-veloping and miniaturis-ing the technology withthe help of funding fromInnovate UK.“The funding from In-novate UK is essential inhelping Roke remain atthe forefront of au-tonomous and sensing

technology,” said DavidCole, managing directorof Roke. “With 60 yearsof research under ourbelt, the money investedhas the benefit of world-class engineers with ex-perience across thedefence, commercial andnational security sectors.”Roland Meister, head oftransport for Innovate UKadded: “The industry ledfeasibility studies such asRoke’s black box aregreat examples of UK ca-pability in this area andwe expect to supportmany more projects overthe coming years.”With further invest-ment, the technology isnot just limited to acci-dent reconstruction butcould also prove usefulfor sports coaching ormeet wider needs in thetransport industry.

James Revell with the black box device

Visteon has completedthe acquisition of AllGoEmbedded Systems, anIndia-based supplier ofembedded multimediaand smartphone connec-tivity software to the au-tomotive industry.The business acquiredsupports Visteon’s globalvehicle cockpit electron-ics business and lets itoffer an integrated prod-uct to car makers that in-cludes multimediasoftware, codecs andsmartphone connectivity.The transaction in-cludes AllGo’s technol-ogy assets andautomotive business andapproximately 140 em-ployees, mostly softwareengineers based in India,supported by sales officesin the USA, Europe andAsia.

“AllGo brings industry-leading multimedia play-back and smartphoneconnectivity software ex-pertise on Linux, QNXand Android-based oper-ating systems, which willgreatly strengthen Vis-teon’s capabilities in de-veloping next-generationinfotainment systems,”said Sachin Lawande,Visteon’s president andCEO. “Multimedia play-back and smartphoneconnectivity features suchas CarPlay, Android AutoandMirrorLink are essen-tial for all infotainmentand display audio systemsand this acquisition posi-tions Visteon uniquely inthe industry.” AllGoserves a wide range ofglobal car makers andtier-one suppliers withparticularly strong rela-

tionships inAsia. Follow-ing its acquisition by Vis-teon, AllGo will continueto support and grow itsexisting customer basewhile also offering itsproducts and services toVisteon’s customers.“The acquisition createsa new global multimediaand smartphone connec-tivity supplier benefitingfrom AllGo’s entrepre-neurial approach and Vis-teon’s global scale,” saidK Srinivasan, directorand CEO of AllGoSystems. “AllGo’s ready-to-use intellectual prop-erty-protected portfolio,combined with Visteon’sexpertise in infotainmentand global automakerreach, positions us as theleaders in multimediaand smartphone connec-tivity.”

Visteon completes AllGo buy

Vehicle safety and repaircompany Thatcham Re-search has issued a volun-tary code of practice toprovide clear guidance onthe recalibration of adassafety technology duringthe replacement or refit ofwindscreens.The Adas RepairGroup, led by ThatchamResearch and includingcompanies active in auto-motive glazing replace-

ment such as NationalWindscreens, Autoglassand Nationwide CrashRepair Centres, have is-sued a code of practiceaimed at addressing con-cerns around the level ofindustry knowledge relat-ing to the recalibration ofadas technology.The code provides arecommended set ofguidelines for replacingor refitting windscreens

on vehicles fitted withadas sensors, while ensur-ing that the safety of thevehicle owner is not com-promised in any way.Adas sensors and cam-eras are usually mountedinside the windscreen andprovide a view of the im-mediate surroundings toenable a range of assisteddriving safety features,such as autonomousemergency braking.

Thatcham issues code of practice on adasrecalibration following windscreen repair

Safety experts agreethat this technology isfundamental to prevent-ing crashes and savinglives; a report released byEuro NCap in 2015 foundthat autonomous emer-gency braking was re-sponsible for a 38 percent reduction in real-world rear-end crashes.Windscreen mountedadas technology is fittedto approximately six percent of vehicles on theroad, although it’sthought that this figurecould be more like 40 percent by 2020. However,without a robust processfor recalibration, systemperformance could be ad-versely affected.The step-by-step ap-proach to recalibrationcovered by the code in-cludes the initial identifi-cation of different adastechnologies, best prac-tice for ensuring full andtransparent communica-tions with the customer,and a guide to calibrationoptions, scheduling andpricing.“Adas has become anintegral feature on cars,with motorists increas-ingly putting their trust inthe additional layer ofsafety that this technol-ogy provides,” said An-drew Miller, chieftechnology officer atThatcham Research.

NEWS


NEWS

Renault has unveiled an advertising campaign for the Mégane that targetsdrivers stationary at traffic lights with customised messages using vehiclerecognition technology. Developed and tested over the past year by adver-tising firm Ocean, it made its debut in west London.

The technology uses cameras to identify the make, model and colour ofstationary vehicles from their number plates and then serves the driverand passengers messages based on specific audience demographics anddata relevant to that vehicle.

The technology activates when a specific vehicle is stationary at thelocation, allowing the messages to be displayed in real time. All vehicledetails are matched with an anonymised vehicle specification databasethat does not store or record any personal data.

Vehicle recognition helps target ads

New concepts in personaltransport built on digitaltechnologies could reducethe amount of cars neededon urban roads globallyby up to 20 million vehi-cles per year in 2025, ac-cording to BritishTelecom and Frost & Sul-livan.The research suggestsconsumer trends towardson-demand access ratherthan product ownership isprompting car manufac-turers to consider ride-on-demand business models.When combined with theintegration of smart vehi-cles, roads and cities, allconnected, these businessmodels will lead to fewerand more efficient jour-neys, reducing journeysin private cars overall by360 billion kilometres peryear within the nextdecade.These developmentsstand to reduce carbondioxide (CO2) emissionsby 56 megatonnes peryear in 2025.A further re-duction of 121 mega-tonnes of CO2 equivalentemissions could beachieved by reducing theglobal car output by 20million vehicles per year.Sustainable productionmethods could cut an-other 89 megatonnes ofCO2 equivalent.The research suggests

Digital technology could take 20million cars of the road, says BT

these mobility businessmodels have a user-cen-tric, service-led approachto delivery and lead to apotential shift away fromcar ownership to mobilityservices in several cases.“These findings showthat IoT will transform

the entire industry,” saidHubertus von Roenne,vice president of globalindustry practices at BT.“Traditional car manufac-turers are rethinking theirbusiness models and willbecome personal mobilityservice providers.”

Changing needs andhabits of a young, al-ways-on generation in-creasingly open to usingmobility as a service, andless likely to own a car,pose a challenge to tradi-tional automotive compa-nies.

Valens has selected Imag-ination’s Mips multi-threaded CPUs for itsHDbaseT Automotivechipsets.HDbaseT Automotiveprovides infrastructurefor in-vehicle connectiv-ity, optimising system de-sign and enhancingend-user experience. It issaid to bring better effi-ciency and cost-savingsin several vehicle applica-tions, such as infotain-ment and adas.“Mips CPUs have astrong presence in auto-motive, and are found in-side the large majority ofadas in the market today,”said Jim Nicholas, EVP atImagination. ‘We are de-lighted that Mips CPUsplay a key role in Valens’new HDbaseT chipset asit takes this revolutionarytechnology into the auto-motive sector.”The chipset enables upto 6Gbit/s tunnelling ofvideo and data, Ethernet,controls, USB and power,with native networkingcapabilities, over a singleunshielded twisted-paircable for up to 15m. Thiscombination of highbandwidth, performance,features and low-cost ex-isting infrastructureboosts HDbaseT use forin-vehicle connectivityIn the chipset, Valens

Valens picks Imaginationfor HDbaseT chipset

uses the multi-threadingcapability in the MipsCPU to separates dataplane-driven applicationsfrom the control plane,simplifying and stream-lining system and soft-ware development.

“Valens HDbaseT tech-nology is important forthe automotive industry,since it dramatically sim-plifies and reduces costsfor in-vehicle connectiv-ity infrastructure,” saidMicha Risling, senior

vice president at Valens.“Mips CPUs provide theefficiency, performanceand the hardware multi-threading capability thatwe need.”Automotive companiesincluding General Mo-tors, Daimler, Delphi andHarman have joined theHDbaseTAlliance to pro-mote the technology inthe automotive sector.

Location cloud companyHere has submitted thedesign for a universaldata format called Sen-soris to Ertico-ITS, theEuropean public and pri-vate partnership for intel-ligent transport systems,which has agreed toevolve it into a standardinterface specification foruse broadly across the au-tomotive industry.Eleven automotive andsupplier companies havejoined the Sensoris Inno-vation Platform. They areAisin, Robert Bosch,Continental, Daimler,Elektrobit, Harman, Here,LG Electronics, NavInfo,Pioneer and TomTom.Sensoris was initiatedby Here last year whenthe company publishedthe first open specifica-tion for how vehicle sen-sor data gathered byconnected cars could besent to the cloud for pro-cessing and analysis. Ve-hicle sensor data exist in

multiple different formatsacross car makers.“Our goal was alwaysto find a home for thisspecification that is open,accessible to all andglobal,” said DietmarRabel, head of au-tonomous driving productmanagement at Here.“This is a vital step alongthe path to creating ashared information net-work for safer roads. If acar around the next cornerhits the brakes becausethere’s an obstruction,that information could beused to signal to the driv-ers behind to slow downahead of time, resulting insmoother, more efficientjourneys and a lower riskof accidents. But that canonly work if all cars canspeak and understand thesame language.”Here believes poolinganalogous vehicle datafrom millions of vehicleswill be a key enabler forhighly and fully auto-

mated driving, ensuringthat each vehicle has anear real-time view ofroad conditions and haz-ards that can lead to betterdriving decisions.“Defining a standard-ised interface for ex-changing informationbetween the in-vehiclesensors and a dedicatedcloud as well as betweenclouds will enable broadaccess, delivery and pro-cessing of vehicle sensordata,” said HermannMeyer, chief executiveofficer at Ertico. “It willenable easy exchange ofvehicle sensor data be-tween all players, and fi-nally enable enrichedlocation based serviceswhich are key for mobil-ity services as well as forautomated driving.”Here is developing lo-cation cloud technologythat can detect andprocess changes in thereal world as they happenon an industrial scale.

Here puts Sensoris to Ertico

NEWS


NEWS

A demonstration of howthe same connected cartechnology can be usedacross a range of vehiclesfrom mass transportationto school buses was oneof the highlights of theexhibition at last month’sCisco Live in Las Vegas.This follows the com-pany’s launch last year ofa connected roadway ar-chitecture to help tacklethe infrastructure side ofthe equation“We have tested andvalidated this and know italready works,” saidBarry Einsig, globaltransportation executiveat Cisco. “It is very faralong in the Netherlandsand they are going to beworking with the UK onthe programme.”Other countries alreadyusing the same networkinfrastructure, he said, in-cluded Austria, Japan,Singapore and the USA.On the car side will be aCisco router capable ofdriving V2V and V2Xcommunications. Thedemonstration showedhow it could link withtraffic lights so theyfavoured emergency ve-hicles racing to an inci-dent.“Vehicles can also talkto the infrastructure to seewhich roads are clear, getweather information and

How Cisco connectivity spansfrom light vehicles to school buses

real-time traffic reports,”said Einsig. “They arelooking at having dedi-cated short-range radio inevery vehicle in the USA.This will apply initiallyfrom 2018 to new lightvehicles but some compa-nies, such as Cadillac andToyota, are already doingit.”Similar technology canalso be used in masstransportation vehicles,but here it can be ex-tended to cover ticketing,people counters, passen-ger wifi and so on.“There are buses withas many as twelve radio

Barry Einsig: “There is a need to bring all thistogether.”

technologies,” said Ein-sig, “so there is a need tobring all this together.School buses are less

complex but you stillneed to track them andyou need wifi plus videofor security.”

Japanese operator KDDIhas selected Gemalto toprovide its LinqUs on-de-mand connectivity(ODC) subscription man-agement and embeddedsims to enable secureconnectivity for cars.As aresult, KDDI can provi-sion any requested opera-tor’s profile on connectedcars equipped with pre-embedded sims, lettingcar makers offer seamlessremote subscription overthe air throughout thelifecycle of the car.Motorists can access

real-time informationabout traffic and ameni-ties, navigation, vehiclediagnostics, and emer-gency services.Based on GSMA speci-fications, it should sim-plify logistics for OEMsand car makers. The ODCis integrated to severalIoT platforms, offeringflexibility to KDDI.“Based on interoperableGSMA standards, it willprovide a common andconsistent way to connectdevices in the future,”said Keiichi Mori, execu-

tive officer at KDDI.“With relationships withover 500 mobile opera-tors worldwide and alocal presence, they canhelp us expand services toother IoT applications, toobtain rapid growth in theconnected world.”Michael Au, presidentfor Gemalto in the region,added: “With simplifiedsubscription manage-ment, KDDI is positionedalongside Japanese carmanufacturers to take alead in this relatively newmarket worldwide.”

KDDI picks Gemalto forconnected car security

NXP, Cohda and Tongji University startChinese road test for connected vehiclesNXPSemiconductors andTongji University are im-plementing China’s firstever large-scale road testinitiative for intelligentconnected vehiclesthrough the NXP-TongjiUniversity Joint Lab.As part of the ShanghaiIntelligent & ConnectedVehicle DemonstrationProgramme, the road test-ing initiative will serve asa foundation for China’sdevelopment of smarttransportation and vehi-cle-to-vehicle communi-cations standards.NXP and its partnerCohda Wireless will pro-vide secure vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X)communications for carsand roadside infrastruc-ture. Road testing willcollect V2X communica-tions data in real timefrom multiple test scenar-ios, including measuresof active safety, trafficmanagement and infor-mation services.The launch of road test-ing represents a signifi-cant milestone for the

programme. Launched inOctober 2015, the firstphase of this programmenow will involve approx-imately 200 vehicles fromthe Shanghai AutomotiveIndustry Corporation(SAIC), one of China’slargest domestic automo-tive manufacturers, aswell as from other partic-ipating car makers.“SAIC was one of thefirst companies to deployintelligent and connectedvehicles, and has beenactively promoting thedevelopment and applica-tion of V2X technologyin China,” said ZouQingquan, SAIC’s headof the intelligent and con-nected vehicle pro-gramme. “We lookforward to working withour industry partners toadvance the developmentof the programme.”As additional car mak-ers join the programme,the aim is to have 1000intelligent and connectedvehicles by 2017, 5000vehicles by the end of2019, and 10,000 vehiclesby 2020.

“Developing intelligenttransportation systems

is vital for buildingsustainable cities”

Li Zheng, NXP China

Both the vehicles andtransportation infrastruc-ture units involved in theroad tests use the latestgeneration of NXP’sRoadLink technologybased on the IEEE802.11p wireless commu-nications protocol. It isproven by ten years oftesting by multiple Euro-pean and US governmentand professional institu-tions. Using the 802.11pwireless protocol insteadof slower and less reliablecellular networks, Road-Link delivers determinis-tic performance forsafety-critical applica-tions, while also provid-ing higher levels ofsecurity and privacy pro-tection.“We are pleased to part-ner with SAIC and TongjiUniversity to further ad-vance the programme,”said Li Zheng, presidentof NXP Greater China.“Developing intelligenttransportation systems isvital for building sustain-able cities. As a globalleader in secure con-nected vehicle and au-tonomous driving, NXPis truly honoured to offerthe proven reliability ofRoadLink technology andour deep automotive ex-pertise for the creation ofworld-class intelligenttransportation systems inChina.”

Wang Ping, director ofthe programme at TongjiUniversity, added: “Alarge-scale road test is asignificant step in theprogress of the demon-stration programme. Wewill continue cooperatingwith NXP and SAIC tosatisfy the demands of theChinese market, and tosupport the developmentof the intelligent vehicleindustry in China.”RoadLink has beenwidely acknowledged forits level of security, scala-bility and interoperability,with verified road test re-sults in major global mar-kets including the USAand Europe, and morethan one million test kilo-metres driven. In March2016, NXP was named apartner of the US Depart-ment of Transportation toprovide V2X for theSmart City Challenge.And in April, RoadLink-equipped automatedlorries successfullydemonstrated self-drivingtechnology during the Eu-ropean Truck PlatooningChallenge in four out ofsix OEM truck platoons.Furthermore, NXP andCohda Wireless will sup-ply their V2X technologyto Delphi for implementa-tion in the first V2X-equipped productionvehicles in the USAplanned for later this year.

VEHICLE NETWORKS VEHICLE NETWORKS

Vehicle ElectronicsPage 11, August 2016 Vehicle Electronics August 2016, Page 12

There is a wealth of func-tionality now being incor-porated into automobiles,

for comfort, infotainment, safetyand various other purposes. Datatransfer levels have, as a result,

Networking opportunitiesDeres Eshete explores the potential for moreadvanced in-vehicle networking technology

been raised considerably in recentyears and this is putting a greatdeal of strain on the network in-frastructure currently in place.

It is clear from this that existingcommunications protocols need to

be revamped and, in addition, newprotocols must be explored. Fur-thermore, there are major implica-tions for the supportingsemiconductor technology. Table1 summarises the properties of the

major interface technologies.The complement of electronic

control units (ECUs) that make upa modern automobile design is al-most double what it was a decadeago. It is not uncommon now for aluxury model to have more than100 ECUs installed. For all theseunits there needs to be adequateprovision for them to communi-

cate with one another in a fully ef-fective manner.

Existing technologiesThere are at least 400 million in-vehicle network nodes in the carmodels being driven on our roads.The average automobile todaywill have a minimum of eight toten nodes. The vast majority ofthese will be based on controllerarea network (Can) and local in-terconnect network (Lin) proto-cols.

Can is regarded as the founda-tion of any vehicle’s internal com-munications resource. This deeplyentrenched protocol offers event-triggered, asynchronous operationat relatively high speed (transfer-ring data at 1Mbit/s across itstwisted pair cables), as well aspossessing a respectable band-width capacity. Can is also veryrobust, with reliability enhancedthanks to its built-in automaticerror detection feature.

Can is accompanied by Lin in-frastructure, which only supportsquite modest data rates (20kbit/s),so it is really just suitable for la-tency tolerant applications such asclimate control, interior lightingcontrol, seat positioning and vehi-cle entry systems. Lin may lackbandwidth, but it is very easy toimplement and to scale up, with

the adding of additional nodesbeing relatively simple to accom-plish – though it must be notedthat it can only support approxi-mately half the number of nodesthat are possible with Can (50compared with 100). In addition itis extremely cost effective, pre-senting a very low investment pernode.

Emerging networksWith Can infrastructure edgingever closer to its capacity ceiling,there is growing demand for ahigher performance version of thisprotocol to be deployed in auto-motive designs. With Can FlexibleData-Rate (Can FD), the core ar-chitecture used in normal Can im-plementations remains, but thebandwidth overhead is raised sig-nificantly. Can FD is able to sup-port 8Mbit/s – almost an order ofmagnitude greater than conven-tional Can – thanks to the employ-ment of dual bit data transfer andextended data lengths. Its compat-ibility with legacy Can infrastruc-ture means there is already awell-defined migration path inplace.

Targeted mainly at safety relatedapplications, Flexray can deliver10Mbit/s data transfer capacity. Italso offers time-triggered andevent-triggered behaviour, plus re-

Modern vehicles, such as the Bentley Mulsanne,make increasing use of vehicle networks

Table 1: Comparison of different in-vehicle networking protocols

VEHICLE NETWORKS VEHICLE NETWORKS

Vehicle Electronics August 2016, Page 14Vehicle ElectronicsPage 13, August 2016

dundancy. Flexray is able todeliver the error tolerance, as wellas the speed-time-determinismperformance needed for x-by-wiredeployment in next generation ve-hicles. However, though it hasbeen hyped up considerably, thisin-vehicle networking protocol isstill to make any serious impacton the automotive industry.Among the main reasons for thisare the higher costs associatedwith it, along with the difficultiesinvolved in scaling the networkup, as there is very little scope foradding further resources after theinitial implementation.

Flexray may as a result becomemarginalised, with Can FD able todeliver very similar bandwidthlevels, but without any of the in-convenience.

There seems to be a great dealof opportunity for Ethernet, whichis already commonly used in thecomputing and telecoms sectors,to be deployed within automobilesin the future. With 100Mbit/s datarates achievable, this could pro-vide the bandwidth needed to dealwith all manner of data-intensiveautomotive applications. It seemsthere will be quite a few car mod-els featuring Ethernet technologydestined to hit the market in the

2016-17timeframe.

It can be em-ployed in both infotainment andsafety applications, dealing withthe transfer of imaging data andso on. The longer term goal willbe to install 1Gbit/s data rate Eth-ernet however, as this will be ofvalue as cars start to be fitted withvarious advanced driver assistancesystem (adas) components deliv-ering an abundance of informationto processing units for enhancedsafety and functionality.

Other interconnect technologiesinclude media-oriented systemstransport (Most) and single edgenibble transmission (Sent). In-tended for the transfer of high-res-olution multimedia data, theseoffer impressive bandwidths(150Mbit/s in the case of Most),though so far, just like Flexray,they have only witnessed rela-tively low market uptake. This isbecause the implementation costsfor each of these are quite high.

There is a strong possibility thatEthernet, which can support datarates almost as high while stillbeing simple and economical toput into operation, may prove to Adas is putting more demands on vehicle networks

be a more attractive alterna-tive.

With the cost per node that isless than for other protocols, com-bined with the obvious advantagesof backwards compatibility, itseems certain that Can and CanFD will play a big part in vehiclenetworking for a long time intothe future. The prospects for therest of the protocol technologiesdiscussed are a little harder to pre-dict.

ProtectionWith the on-going reduction in themechanical elements of automo-bile designs, to lower weight andthereby improve fuel economy,we are rapidly reaching a stagewhere in-vehicle networks willbecome the backbone of mostmodern cars. Gateway moduleswithin vehicles will integrate mul-tiple nodes supporting a plethoraof different standards. These willneed to talk simultaneously to thevarious network structures.

Every effort must be made, de-spite this intensified degree of in-tricacy, to ensure that data qualityis maintained at the highest levels,

otherwise operational perform-ance could be compromised andthe safety of vehicle occupantsmight be placed in jeopardy.

With highly sensitive semicon-ductor components needed to sup-port the array of in-vehiclenetworking protocols outlinedhere, sufficient measures must betaken to safeguard them againstthe effects that automotive de-ployment can have on perform-ance and operational longevity.The ICs specified need to be ableto cope with noisy environmentsand have sufficient protectionagainst voltage transients.

The automotive industry mustbe adequately armed to combatthe threat posed by electro-mag-netic interference (EMI) and elec-tro-static discharge (ESD). With amultitude of nodes in these gate-way modules, component densi-ties are increasing and availablespace is in short ration. It is vital,

therefore, that the protection com-ponents that are addressing suchimplementations are extremelycompact in form.

At the elevated data rates thatwill now start to be supported byin-vehicle networks, tighter ca-pacitance matching between high-speed paired cables such as thosefor Can FD will be necessary sothat acceptable signal-to-noiselevels can be maintained. Low ca-pacitance of the protection diodeswill be mandated throughout theentire signal voltage range.

Likewise, the clamping voltagewill have to be constrainedthroughout the full spectrum ofpossible ESD and transient condi-tions. Support for flow-throughrouting is going to be called for toreduce sharp turns and facilitatebetter impedance matching.

Flexray and Ethernet protocolsboth have quite effective capaci-tance matching and lower capaci-

tance level requirements. Thistranslates into the need for im-proved protection products thatprovide the low on state resistanceto ensure the needed protectionwhile having low capacitance nec-essary for high signal integrity.

There is a heightening complex-ity of electronic circuitry withinautomobiles, as a broader spec-trum of tasks is tackled, and thereis no doubt connectivity require-ments will continue to increase.This means current in-vehicle net-working technologies are begin-ning to reach their limits. A moresophisticated approach to protect-ing the semiconductor hardwareinvolved is thusobligatory.

Deres Eshete isautomotivebusiness unitleader at OnSemiconductor

In-vehicle networksare expanding

WIRELESS WIRELESS


MODULE APPROACHMODULE APPROACHKilian Frank looks at delivering nextgeneration wifi and Bluetoothconnectivity to the car

Apple CarPlay is gainingpopularity as seen inthe Hyundai Sonata

WIRELESS WIRELESS


We all take access to wificonnectivity forgranted. Whether in our

office, at home or at our favouritecoffee shop, wifi offers us com-puting and communications mo-bility. As wifi consumers we havealso started to expect it on themove.

In-car wifi connectivity is start-ing to become a lot more popularas a way of connecting both built-in and occupant-owned devices.But it is not only wifi that’s in thecar. The Bluetooth standard hasbeen used for many years to con-nect the smartphone to a vehicle’shands-free function.

Bluetooth is set to continue as akey enabler for a number of in-ve-hicle applications, from audiostreaming to the car’s stereo sys-tem, to using a smartphone to un-lock the car doors. For thesereasons, when designing wirelessconnectivity for automotive appli-cations, both wifi and Bluetoothare key.

Aside from pure telephony ap-plications, where Bluetooth has

historically been preferred, themain area of growth has comefrom serving up media content forthe occupants from an infotain-ment system. For that, wifi hasbeen put to good use. Fig. 1 illus-trates some application examples.

Wifi can now be used to streamvideo content, to provide naviga-tion maps to an in-car display, andeven to connect a rear-view cam-era. As these functions, in additionto wifi screen applications basedon Apple CarPlay, Android Autoand MirrorLink, become moreubiquitous, high-speed wifi willbecome a fundamental part of au-

Fig. 3: Evaluation board fordual-mode multi-radio module

Fig. 1: Automotive wifi andBluetooth applications insidethe car

Fig. 2: Table of differences between 802.11n and 802.11ac

tomotive electronics rather thanbeing considered a mere luxury.

Published in late 2009, the802.11n standard has become thede-facto wifi connection, addingmuch improved network through-put over the previous 802.11a and802.11g standards. Increasing thetheoretical maximum throughputfrom 54 to 600Mbit/s, it was alsothe first standard to add supportfor multiple-in multiple-out(mimo) streams, frame aggrega-tion and several security improve-ments. It can be used on both 2.4and 5GHz bands.

Technically, 802.11n siso canprovide data rates up to 150Mbit/sthat for today’s growing needs isnot sufficient. Gaining approval inearly 2014, the 802.11ac standardis designed solely for 5GHz oper-ation and has a stated maximummulti-station throughput of justover 1Gbit/s and a practical singlelink speed approaching

450Mbit/s. Fig. 2 illustrates themajor differences between the.11n and .11ac standards.

Faced with implementing bothwifi and Bluetooth and gettingproducts to market quickly, theagile development team will mostlikely opt to select a multi-radiomodule for their design. Creatinga discrete transceiver design is al-ways a possibility, but modulesoffer a pre-certified approach thatwould most likely mean an engi-neer could have a design workingat a prototype stage before finish-ing a discrete specification.

When selecting a module for au-tomotive wifi and Bluetooth ap-plications, engineers need toconsider a number of key criteria.High wifi data rates and the abil-ity to operate concurrently as wifiaccess point (AP), station (STA)or in direct mode (P2P) are keycriteria.

Needless to say that simultane-ous wifi and Bluetooth operationwill also be a key requirement.For optimal performance and co-existence of the two standards, themodule should have separatefront-ends for wifi and Bluetooth,and allow for designs with sepa-rate wifi and Bluetooth antennas.

For Bluetooth, the module

should offer Bluetooth v4.2 dualmode since this enables connec-tivity to both Bluetooth Classicand Bluetooth LE devices and en-ables the implementation of futureLE use-cases, such as key-lessentry.

From a regulatory perspective,the designer needs to be aware ofthe markets that their systemmight end up in. A module typeapproved in all the markets ac-cepting modular approvals willsecure confidence, should themarketing specification suddenlychange to include other areas notpreviously deemed necessary.

For automotive applications,using components that meet or ex-ceed the AEC-Q100 componentquality specification by the Auto-motive Electronics Council (AEC)is key. Likewise, product qualifi-cation against the ISO 16750-4standard that stipulates the envi-ronmental and climatic conditionstypically encountered by electricaland electronic equipment installedin automobiles is also vital. Froma broader manufacturing and sup-ply chain viewpoint, the moduleshould be manufactured in an en-vironment that meets the guide-lines of the ISO/TS 16949 qualitymanagement system.

Evaluations boards are alsoavailable to speed the design ofthe end-system, see Fig. 3. Suchboards act as a prototyping plat-form to connect to the host appli-cation by providing full access toall the modules interfaces. SMAsockets allow mounting of anten-nas to both wifi and Bluetoothtransceivers and an integratedNFC antenna can be mounted onthe board.

ConclusionThe 802.11ac standard promisesto help unleash a raft of new ap-plications in our cars. Automotiveand aftermarket manufacturerswill be keen to get their productsinto market as soon as possible.The availability of compact multi-band radio modules and support-ing evaluation kits and driverswill ensure engineers have thetools to deliver against such goalsin the shortest time available.

KilianFrank isseniormanagerfor productstrategy atU-Blox

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES


One of the big questions onfuture autonomous vehi-cles is how they will han-

dle off-road conditions. To try toanswer this, Jaguar Land Roverhas demonstrated a range of re-search technologies that wouldallow such a car to drive itselfover any surface or terrain.

The multi-million pound au-tonomous all-terrain driving re-search project aims to make theself-driving car viable in the

When the going gets tough…

A Jaguar research project aims tomake off-road driving feasible forautonomous vehicles

widest range of real life, on- andoff-road driving environments andweather conditions.

“Our all-terrain autonomy re-search isn’t just about the car driv-ing itself on a motorway or inextreme off-road situations,” saidTony Harper, head of research atJaguar Land Rover. “It’s abouthelping both the driven and au-tonomous car make their waysafely through any terrain or driv-ing situation. We don’t want to

limit future highly automated andfully autonomous technologies totarmac.”

He said when the driver turnedoff the road, the support and assis-tance should continue.

“In the future, if you enjoy thebenefits of autonomous lane keep-ing on a motorway at the start ofyour journey, we want to ensureyou can use this all the way toyour destination, even if this is viaa rough track or gravel road,” hesaid. “So whether it’s a road underconstruction with cones and acontraflow, a snow-covered roadin the mountains or a muddy for-est track, this advanced capabilitywould be available to both the

driver and the autonomous car,with the driver able to let the cartake control if they were unsurehow best to tackle an obstacle orhazard ahead. We are alreadyworld-leaders in all-terrain tech-nologies: these research projectswill extend that lead still further.”

To enable this level ofautonomous all-terrain capability,researchers are developing next-generation sensing technologiesthat will be the eyes of the futureautonomous car. Because the sen-sors are always active and can seebetter than the driver, this ad-vanced sensing will ultimatelygive a vehicle the high levels ofartificial intelligence required for

the car to think for itself and planthe route it should take, on anysurface.

Surface identification and 3Dpath sensing research combinescamera, ultrasonic, radar and lidarsensors to give the car a 360 de-gree view of the world around it,with sensors so advanced that thecar could determine surface char-acteristics, down to the width of atyre, even in rain and fallingsnow, to plan its route.

“The key enabler forautonomous driving on any terrainis to give the car the ability tosense and predict the 3D path it isgoing to drive through,” saidHarper. “This means being able to

scan and analyse both the surfaceto be driven on, as well as anyhazards above and to the sides ofthe path ahead. This might includecar park barriers, tree roots andboulders or overhanging branches,as well as the materials and topog-raphy to be driven on.”

Ultrasonic sensors can identifysurface conditions by scanning upto five metres ahead of the car, soterrain response settings could beautomatically changed before thecar drives from tarmac to snow, orfrom grass to sand.

This will optimise all-terrainperformance, without loss of mo-mentum or control.

To complete the 3D path,

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES


branches overhanging a track, or acar park overhead barrier wouldalso need to be identified to deter-mine if the route ahead is clear.Overhead clearance assist usesstereo camera technology to scanahead for overhead obstructions.The driver programmes the sys-tem with the vehicle’s height,which can include roof boxes orbicycles, and the car will warn thedriver with a simple message inthe infotainment touchscreen ifthere is insufficient clearance.

Sensors could also be used toscan the roughness of the road ortrack ahead and adjust vehiclespeed. Terrain-based speed adap-tion uses cameras to sense bumpyterrain including uneven and un-dulating surfaces and washboardroads, potholes and even standingwater.

It is then intelligent enough topredict the potential impact ofthese surfaces on the car’s rideand automatically adjust speed tokeep passengers comfortable.

Another key element of success-ful all-terrain autonomous drivingis the ability for vehicles to com-municate with each other, espe-cially if they are out of sightaround a bend or on the other side

The system can warn of changing road conditions

Two Range Rovers have been connected using short-range communications

of an off-road obstacle.In what is claimed to be a

world-first off-road demonstra-tion, Jaguar Land Rover has con-nected two Range Rover Sportstogether using dedicated short-range communications technologyto create an off-road connectedconvoy. This wireless vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communicationssystem shares information includ-ing vehicle location, wheel-slip,changes to suspension height andwheel articulation, as well as all-terrain progress control and ter-rain response settings instantlybetween the two vehicles.

“This V2V communications sys-

tem can seamlessly link a convoyof vehicles in any off-road envi-ronment,” said Harper. “If a vehi-cle has stopped, other vehicles inthe convoy will be alerted – if thewheels drop into a hole, or per-haps slip on a difficult boulder,this information is transmitted toall of the other vehicles. In the fu-ture, a convoy of autonomous ve-hicles would use this informationto automatically adjust their set-tings or even change their route tohelp them tackle the obstacle.”

The project used Cohda Wire-less MK5 on-board units, softwarestacks and applications to deploythe V2X and V2V systems.

Nissan Motor’s new Serena,scheduled to go on sale inJapan in late August, willcome equipped with thecompany’s ProPilot au-tonomous drive technology,with the aim of offeringconvenience and peace ofmind during highway mo-bility.ProPilot is designed for

highway use in single-lanetraffic. Nissan is the firstJapanese car maker to in-troduce a combination of steering, acceleratorand braking that can be operated in full auto-matic mode, easing driver workload in heavyhighway traffic and long commutes.Employing image-processing technology, the

system understands road and traffic situationsand executes precise steering, enabling the vehi-cle to perform naturally. The technology is saidto be extremely user-friendly, thanks to aswitch on the steering wheel that allows thedriver to activate and deactivate the system.The fit-to-drive interface includes a personaldisplay showing the operating status.The accelerator, brakes and steering are con-

trolled based on information obtained througha mono camera equipped with image process-ing software. The camera can quickly recognisein three-dimensional depth both preceding vehi-cles and lane markers.Once activated, it automatically controls the

distance between the vehicle and the precedingvehicle, using a speed pre-set by the driver be-tween approximately 30 and 100km/h. Thesystem also keeps the car in the middle of thehighway lane by reading lane markers and con-trolling steering, even through curves.If the car in front stops, it automatically ap-

plies the brakes to bring the vehicle to a fullstop. After coming to a full stop, the vehiclewill remain in place even if the driver’s foot isoff the brake pedal. When ready to resumedriving, ProPilot is activated when the drivertouches the switch again or lightly presses theaccelerator.Nissan is carrying out studies of driving con-

ditions in various regions so that ProPilot willbe well suited to the conditions in the marketsin which it will be launched. The systemequipped on the Serena in Japan was developedin pursuit of an easy-to-use technology forhighway driving conditions in Japan.Nissan is proactively working on vehicle intel-

ligence and vehicle electrification to make itscorporate visions of zero emissions and zerofatalities a reality.ProPilot will be introduced into other vehi-

cles, including the Qashqai in Europe in 2017.There are also plans for the technology to beintroduced in the USA and China. A multi-laneautonomous driving technology will enableautomatic lane changes on highways and isplanned for introduction in 2018 whileautonomous driving on urban roads and inintersections is planned for launch in 2020.

Nissan brings autonomousfeature to Japan’s highways

ON THE ROAD ON THE ROAD


HIGH CLIMBERA look at the connectivity andother technology features on theVolkswagen Tiguan

ON THE ROAD ON THE ROAD


The need to integrate today’sconsumer technologiessuch as smartphones seam-

lessly into homes, offices and carsis becoming essential for many.Recognising this trend, whendesigning the Tiguan, Volkswagenengineers ensured the car waspacked with the latest featuresthat support connectivity andfunctionality.

The Tiguan’s connected naturelets its driver and passengers stayin touch while on the move.Whether it’s getting the latest traf-fic information, streaming somemusic or dictating a text hands-free, the SUV is equipped for thetask.

The basic features include thecar maker’s Composition Mediasystem. This includes a 20.5cm

colour touch-screen, Dab radio re-ceiver, CD player, USB connec-tion and the simultaneous pairing,via Bluetooth, of two compatiblemobile phone devices.

Once a smartphone is pairedwith the Tiguan, the driver or pas-senger can make and receivephone calls via the car’s built-inmicrophone and infotainmentspeakers. When the car is station-ary, the driver or passenger caneven read and reply to SMS textmessages using the touch-screendisplay, if they have an Androidsmartphone.

Internet on the moveOf course mobile phones now doso much more than merely text orcall contacts. This is where VW’sCar-Net comes in. Car-Net refers

In-cabin controls on Tiguan R line

The head-up display projects driving information, includingcurrent speed and the speed limit, onto a retractable screen

to in-car internet connectivity andit brings the functions of a smart-phone – entertainment and con-venience – into the Tiguan, simplyand securely.

Various services are available,but for access to the full function-ality drivers need to set up an ac-count at the car maker’s web siteand download the Car-Net app totheir smartphones.

Car-Net kicks off with the App-Connect system. Available onentry-level S trim, and standardon all other trims, App-Connectlets the display screen of a smart-phone be mirrored on the Tiguan’sComposition Media touch-screenby connecting the phone via aUSB cable. This is compatiblewith smartphones that run Apple,Google and Android operatingsystems, meaning the function isavailable to almost every smart-phone user.

Crucially, the Tiguan also allowsthe use of certified apps on its in-fotainment touch-screen. And ifthe app supports voice controlthen that will work in the car too.With safety in mind, only certainapps can be used while the car’swheels are in motion.

One such app is MirrorLink’sCam Connect. This allows the in-fotainment display to be con-nected to a GoPro camera, whichcan be mounted in the vehicle orin a trailer that’s being towed bythe Tiguan. This is useful if thereis a dog in the rear of the vehicle,or if the car is towing a horse boxand the driver wants to check onthe animal without having to pullover.

In the fast-moving world of dig-ital development, the list of appsthat are accessible while on themove is growing all the time.

Apple’s CarPlay supports Spotify;the music streaming service,Stitcher, which offers a variety ofradio shows and podcasts; and thevideo calling app Skype. AndroidAuto works with various apps, in-cluding instant messengersWhatsApp and Kik, and GoogleHangouts as well. These apps arenavigated using the car’s steeringwheel controls.

Volkswagen’s Guide & Informsystem is claimed to be the nextstep in bringing the online worldinto the vehicle. It operates viaVolkswagen’s Discover Naviga-tion system and opens up accessto a wide range of information, in-cluding traffic conditions, fuel lo-cation and pricing, parking spaceavailability, the weather at thedestination and customisable news

feeds. A press of the point-of-in-terest button in the navigationmenu provides options to find theinformation required. For exam-ple, a list of petrol stations can besorted by the distance from the caror even by the price of the fuel.

Alternatively, the driver cansearch for points of interest on theweb site while at home or at work.The destination-import functionthen allows drivers to send the in-formation to the car’s navigationsystem. Complete routes can besent to the car so the driver simplygets in, downloads the journeyand starts driving.

Once under way, the car willknow if traffic is building upalong the route and will re-calcu-late the journey to find the fastestoption. The live traffic informa-

tion is based on the Traffic Mes-sage Channel, which supplies con-tinuously updated traffic datathroughout Europe. Alternativeroutes are automatically chosenand the corresponding estimatedtime of arrival is updated accord-ingly.

All Car-Net Guide & Informservices are standard equipmenton trims from SE Navigation andabove, and are optional on theTiguan S. A three-year subscrip-tion to the Guide & Inform serv-ice is included, so the maps areconstantly updated too.

Active informationThe most comprehensive mobileconnectivity available in theTiguan is Car-Net Guide & In-form Plus. Optional on S, SE

ON THE ROAD DRIVER ASSISTANCE


Birds-eye view image system

Navigation, SEL and R line trims,Guide & Inform Plus adds voiceactivation technology to Guide &Inform. It brings Google Earthinto the car, while Google StreetView can also be displayed on thecolour touch-screen.

A crucial feature of Car-Net isthe way in which the Car-Net app

Navigation display on Tiguan R line

acts as an e-remote for the Tiguan.Before the driver gets into the car,he or she can use the Car-Net e-remote to pre-set the air condi-tioning so the cabin is at theirpreferred temperature. The e-re-mote also displays the vehicle’smileage and last parking position,and will even inform the driver if

Advanced partially auto-mated driving capabilitiesare being demonstrated at

ZF’s Driver Assist Systems facil-ity in Brest, France. Drivers canexperience a highway driving as-sist multi-lane feature that com-bines environmental sensing,automatic steering, braking andacceleration to help maintainvehicle control.

The system can support auto-matic, driver initiated lanechanges, detecting the lane typeand presence of vehicles in neigh-bouring lanes.

“Enabling the next generation ofvehicles to see, think and act inincreasingly integrated and intelli-gent ways will help redefine thefuture of mobility, and automatedfunctions will be applied acrossthe broad spectrum of the trans-portation sector,” said Karl-HeinzGlander, chief engineering man-

ANY LANEager at ZF. “For vehicles on thehighway it will be a significantstep forward to add multi-lanefeatures such as overtaking assis-tance to existing longitudinal andlateral control functions, furthersupporting driver safety and com-fort.”

The combination of perception,decision making, planning and ve-hicle control helps to enablehands-free and feet-free highwaydriving at speeds from 0 to130km/h, including automateddriver-initiated or vehicle-pro-posed and driver-confirmed lanechanges.

The demonstration vehicle inte-grates ZF TRW’s AC1000 radarsand next generation camera sys-tems with its electrically poweredsteering belt drive and electronicstability control. It combines auto-mated longitudinal control withautomated lateral control func-

tionalities and adds short rangeradars on the corners of the vehi-cle to support, for example, theovertake feature.

Automated longitudinal controlhelps keep the vehicle at a setspeed and/or safe distance fromthe vehicle in front, while the lat-eral controller helps keep the carin the centre of the lane. When aslower moving vehicle is encoun-tered, the side facing radars candetect vehicles in adjacent lanesand determine if there is a suffi-cient gap to overtake safely.

If so, the automated driving sys-tem can signal to the driver theoption to overtake the slower ve-hicle via the HMI interface. Thedriver can accept the recommen-dation by activating the turn indi-cator.

The lateral controller and vehi-cle steering system then executesthe lane change manoeuvre. Thedriver can override the system atany time.

“The new lane change feature isanother milestone on the roadmapto automated driving, and the 360˚sensor system also could supportfurther safety and comfort en-hancements such as blind spot de-tection, collision avoidance andautomated parking,” said Glander.“The system can also be com-bined with advanced vehicle con-trol systems such as activekinematic control for rear wheelsteering manoeuvrability andcontinuous damping controlallowing for improved comfortand safety from the activesuspension system.”

ZF is investing another €2.9min the facility for new equipment,tooling and components, as wellas a 500 square metre expansionof the warehouse.

Automated lane changing is being testedat ZF’s driver assist facility in France

the headlights are on or not.The connectivity is said to make

it one of the most advanced carsin its class, but it’s far from a one-trick SUV. Another technologicalhighlight is the Active Info Dis-play, a 31.5cm high resolutionTFT display screen in the instru-ment binnacle. It offers a digitalspeedo and tachometer, and thedisplay can be customised to showalmost any of the car’s other pa-rameters. Particularly useful is thewide-screen navigation display,which replicates the informationon the TFT display in the centreconsole. Active Info Display isavailable on trims from SE andup, and is standard on the SELand R line models.

Another key feature is the head-up display that projects driving in-formation, including current speedand the speed limit, onto a re-tractable screen within the driver’sfield of vision. This fighter jet-in-spired technology is an option onTiguans from SE and above.

PRODUCTS

Vehicle Electronics Vehicle ElectronicsPage 29, August 2016 August 2016, Page 30

PRODUCTS

Automotive grade radialaluminium capacitorsfrom Vishay Intertechnol-ogy operate at up to+150˚C and have a usefullife of 2000 hours at+150˚C to provide stabil-ity and reliability for au-tomotive and industrialapplications.

The BC components160 RLA series is avail-able in ten case sizes from10 by 12mm to 18 by35mm.

For reliability, the AEC-Q200-qualified capacitors

Aluminium capacitors up to 150˚C

have impedance down to23mΩ at 100kHz, a ratedripple current to 2000mAat +150˚C, and a capaci-

tance from 33 to 3300µFover a voltage range of 16to 50V.

As polarised aluminium

electrolytic capacitorswith non-solid elec-trolytes, self-healing di-electrics and radial leads,the devices are specifiedfor smoothing, filteringand buffering in SMPSand DC-DC supplies.

The RoHS-compliantcapacitors have a cylin-drical aluminium casewith pressure relief – in-sulated with a blue PETsleeve – and are charge-and discharge-proof, sothere is no peak currentlimitation.

Light sensor monitors headlamp outputEach MLX75305 lightsensor IC from Melexishas a photodiode, trans-impedance amplifier andoutput stage in responseto the emergence of laser-powered automotive frontlighting systems.

The device is AEC-

Q100 qualified and sup-ports an operational tem-perature from -40 to+125˚C. Supplied in aSOIC8 package, it pro-vides engineers with asingle chip for accuratelymonitoring headlampoutput, requiring few ex-

ternal components andtaking up little boardspace.

Covering a spectralbandwidth of 500 to1000nm, the IC maintains±2% linearity across itswhole output voltagerange with a typical

responsiveness of 70mV/(µW/cm2).

Front lighting based onlaser diodes is destined tosee deployment within agrowing number of high-end vehicles. By usingthis technology, increasesin illumination can bewitnessed, thus enablinglong-range sight, while atthe same time loweringthe power budget. Laser-powered front lightingprovides a way for carmanufacturers to improvesafety for road users with-out affecting vehicle fuelefficiency.

The increased luminousflux means that head-lamps can be reduced insize, enhancing the vehi-cle’s aesthetics and itsaerodynamic properties.

Embedded SLC NANDflash from Micron Tech-nology has been opti-mised for next generationautomotive applications.Available with differinginterfaces to accommo-date design, the serial(SPI) NAND and parallelSLC NAND is said to pro-vide the industry’s best-in-class reliability andread and programme per-formance, ease of designand security features.

It has a 133MHz SPI in-terface and ten-year un-

cycled data retention at+85˚C and 100k P/E. It isfor small form factor fan-less designs and robuststorage of critical bootcode in environments in-cluding automotive.

On-die error correctioncode is supported for par-allel NAND and SPI inter-faces.

Security features in-clude permanent blocklocking and one time pro-grammable data capabil-ity to ensure protection atthe deepest level of con-

nected industrial, con-sumer, home and automo-tive applications.

However, Micron saysthat no hardware, soft-ware or system can pro-vide absolute securityunder all conditions. Thecompany therefore as-sumes no liability for lost,stolen or corrupted dataarising from the use ofproducts that incorporatethese security features.

Available densities are1, 2, and 4Gbit in SPI andparallel NAND.

Flash varies interfacesfor flexible design

Two series of aluminiumelectrolytic capacitors tomeet the market demandsfor higher ripple currenthandling are availablefrom Panasonic.

Developed from the V-TP series components,the V-TC and V-TCU se-ries have from 1.2 to 1.5times higher ripple cur-rent capabilities at+125˚C, V-TC 300mA forD8 can size up to 750mAfor G can size and V-TCU400mA for F can size upto 750mA for G can size.

In addition, V-TCUparts also have 1.2 to 2.2times larger capacitancevalues – 220 to 680µF –while downsizing by onecan size, G to F size or Fto D8 size.

For applications such asautomotive ECUs in DC-DC filtering and outputripple smoothing, thecan-shape surface-mountcapacitors have a foot-print from 6.3 by 7.7mmto 10 by 10.2mm and alifetime of 2000 hours forsmaller can sizes and3000 hours for larger cansizes.

Capacitorshandlehigher ripple

The H series of MLCCsfrom Syfer are made froma stable, X8G High Q ce-ramic dielectric to pro-vide low ESR, with low

loss performance and lowpower consumption, inhigh environmental tem-perature and high fre-quency systems. They

MLCCs remain stableexhibit no ageing effects,with stability under volt-age and low drift.

The electrode system isoptimised for low ESRand provides low metallosses that result in flatterperformance curves andreduced losses at higherfrequencies.

An operating range of-55 to +150˚C accommo-dates modern high-density microelectronicsrequirements where envi-ronmental temperaturecould be high, includingautomotive.

Case sizes 0603 and0805 have been releasedwith 0402 size followingsoon.

PRODUCTS


PRODUCTS


A Can controller that sup-ports the rapidly emerg-ing Can FD protocol hasbeen added to Silvaco’sportfolio of productionproven IP cores.

FlexCan is part of thecompany’s IPextremeportfolio of IP cores de-veloped with major semi-conductor companiesbased on the same proven

technology used in theirown products.

The Can FD protocolextension provides an av-erage data rate increase of2.5x using existing Cantransceivers, and aneightfold gain whennewer high-speed trans-ceivers are deployed.

The FlexCan core canalso perform standard

Can operations and inter-face with traditional Cancontrollers.

With backwards com-patibility, improved per-formance and a provensilicon heritage fromNXP Semiconductor, it issaid to let users quicklyparticipate in the automo-tive semiconductor mar-ket.

LED packages usingchip-scale packaging andflexible circuit boardtechnology are availablefrom Samsung Electron-ics for use in automotivelighting applications.

The Fx-CSP lets car de-signers use a variety ofchip arrangements suchas a single chip, a one-by-four, or a two-by-sixmulti-chip arrangement tosuit different lightingconfigurations.

The use of a flexiblecircuit board also letsmore heat dissipate, lead-ing to lower resistanceand brings about a greaterdegree of lumen-per-wattefficiency than using aceramic board.

The devices can be usedin automotive lighting in-cluding position lamps,daytime running lampsand headlamps that re-quire higher luminousflux and reliability thanother automotive lamps.

The line consists of sin-gle packages, Fx1M andFx1L, with 1 to 3W each,as well as packages witha 14W high voltage array,Fx4, and a 40W highvoltage array, Fx2x6. Thevariation in wattage lev-els allows LED lightingpackages to work with arange of exterior automo-tive lighting.

LEDs come on flexible circuitsand in chip-scale packages

The Fx1M 1x1 devicehas a luminous flux of120 typical at 350mA andconsumes 1W. The Fx1L1x1 device has a lumi-nous flux of 300 typical at1A and consumes 3W.The Fx4 1x4 device has aluminous flux of 1200typical at 1A and con-sumes 14W. The Fx2x62x6 device has a lumi-nous flux of 300 (onechip) typical at 1A andconsumes 3W.

The chip-scale packageis a combination of flip

chip technology andphosphor coating technol-ogy. A CSP chip can becreated by flipping over

blue LED chips and thenimmediately coatingthem with a phosphorsubstance.

IP core meets Can FD protocol

AEC-Q101 qualifiedtransient voltage suppres-sion (TVS) diodes fromLittelfuse can protect sen-sitive automotive elec-tronic equipment from

voltage transients inducedby load dump and othertransient voltage events.

The TPSMF4L diodesprovide 400W of peakpulse power dissipation in

TVS diodes meet AEC-Q101a surface mount, flat-leadSOD-123FL plastic pack-age with a height of0.98mm.

The diodes are bestsuited for DC power pro-tection and ESD protec-tion in electronic controlunits, sensors, entertain-ment systems and bodycontrol modules.

The 400W is at10/1000µs peak pulsepower dissipation. Stan-dard voltages from 5 to85V are available.

They comply with61000-4-2 and IEC61000-4-4 standards andare sold in quantities of3000 in tape and reel(8mm tape) packaging.

The G403 3U CompactPCI serial board fromMEN Mikro has 16 bidi-rectional digital IO chan-nels for modern railwayapplications, such asdoor-locking control andinterior lighting.

The IO channels are or-ganised into four opti-cally isolated groups withfour channels in eachgroup.

In addition to an accom-modating configurationas either an input or out-put, each channel has anindividual edge-triggeredinterrupt.

A voltage range of 14.4to 154V DC with a cur-rent output of 1A at 24Vcomplies with EN50155,making the board readyfor train applications, aswell as to handle digitalIO signals with differentvoltage levels and groundreferences.

The four front connec-tors use spring cage ter-minal blocks facilitatinglow wiring outlay and en-abling fast installation,while ensuring a secureconnection.

On-board safety meas-ures include voltage andtemperature supervisionas well as read-back ofoutputs and conformalcoating against dust andhumidity.

CompactPCI boardon the rails

For driving three-phasebrushless DC motors inautomotive applications,the STK984-190-E powerintegrated module fromOn Semiconductor con-tains six 40V, 30A mos-fets configured as athree-phase bridge withan additional 40V, 30Ahigh-side reverse batteryprotection mosfet.

The mosfets aremounted onto a directbonded copper (DBC)substrate to improve ther-mal performance.

The module is suitablefor use in 12V automotiveelectric motor drive appli-cations with power rat-ings up to 300W, such aselectric pumps, fans andwindscreen wipers. Usedwith motor controllerssuch as the LV8907UW,designers can buildBLDC products withbuilt in diagnostics on asmall PCB.

The DBC substrate re-

Module drives brushless motors

duces the thermal resist-ance, which lowers theoperating temperature ofthe mosfets. This reducespower losses and in-creases reliability due to asmaller change in temper-ature during thermal cy-cling. Reliability is alsoimproved by the isolation

provided by the substrate.Specified operationaltemperature is -40 to+150˚C.

The integrated mosfetsare all AEC-Q101 quali-fied.

It is supplied in a Pb-free DIP-S3, measuring29.6 by 18.2 by 4.3mm.


PRODUCTS

Editor and Publisher:Steve [email protected]

Advertising Manager:Diane [email protected]

Web Site Manager:Martin [email protected]

Published by: Vehicle Electronics Magazine,72 Westwood Road, Nottingham NG2 4FS, UK

Web site: vehicle-electronics.bizTwitter: @velectronicsmag

© 2016 Vehicle ElectronicsISSN 2055-1177

Vehicle Electronics is available to readers world-wide. It will be published approximately twelvetimes a year in a digital-only format. All rightsreserved. No part of Vehicle Electronics may bereproduced or transmitted in any form or by anymeans, electronic or mechanical, including photo-copying or recording on any information storagesystem, without the written consent of the pub-lisher. The publisher cannot be held responsiblefor loss or damge to unsolicited press releases orphotographs. Views of contributors and advertis-ers do not necessarily refelect the policy ofVehicle Electronics or those of the publisher.

PRODUCTS


A PCB mounted speedsensor IC with an ad-vanced sensing algorithmis available from AllegroMicrosystems. TheA1667 comes in a sur-face-mount soic-8 pack-age and is a user-friendlydevice for highly compactring magnet applicationsusing PCB mounting.

Applications includeautomotive transmissionsand industrial equipment.

The device incorporatesa dual-element Hall ICthat switches in responseto differential magneticsignals created by a ringmagnet. The IC containsa compensating circuitdesigned to eliminate thedetrimental effects ofmagnet and system off-sets.

Digital processing ofthe analogue signal pro-vides zero-speed per-formance independent of

PCB-mounted IC senses speed

air gap as well as dy-namic adaptation of de-vice performance to thetypical operating condi-tions found in automotiveapplications, includingreduced vibration sensi-tivity.

High-resolution peakdetecting DACs are usedto set the adaptive switch-

ing thresholds of the de-vice.

Hysteresis in the thresh-olds reduces the negativeeffects of any anomaliesin the magnetic signal as-sociated with the targetsused in many automotiveapplications.

The open-drain outputis configured for three-

wire applications.In addition to the eight-

pin soic surface mountpackage (suffix L), thedevice is also available ina four-pin sip through-hole package (suffix K).Both packages are lead(Pb) free with 100 percent matt-tin-plated leadframes.

Infor has announced en-hancements to its Cloud-Suite Automotive to helpmanufacturers achieve astronger return on tech-nology investments. Thelatest release, version11.3, includes several lay-ered functionality enrich-ments to streamline therepetitive, schedule-basedmanufacturing process.

The suite now includesimproved analytics, local-isation updates and pre-defined workbenches tosupport automotive in-dustry roles and businessprocesses. At its core, itprovides software withdeep industry functional-ity and a flexible, sub-scription-based deliverymodel through AmazonWeb Services to reduceupfront IT expenditure.

Among the enhance-ments are improvementsto the repetitive, sched-ule-based manufacturingprocesses, which are acore function for automo-tive companies and sup-pliers. By updating thesefeatures, users are betterable to extend and man-age everyday capabilitiesfrom shop floor planningand operations down towork and repair cells.

The suite was initiallydesigned to deliver indus-try specific analytics

through a robust user in-terface to highlight in-sights on finance and keymetrics of the business.The latest version buildson these functionalitiesand introduces more than40 key performance indi-cators and ten quality sta-tistical process controlcapabilities.

It is built to work wellwith complementary ap-plications and compo-nents such as Infor Ion, apurpose-built middle-ware, and Ming.le, a so-cial collaboration enginethat supports internal andexternal communicationsbetween customers andtheir suppliers. The latestversion includes optionalproduct lifecycle and cus-tomer relationship man-agement capabilities tocreate a unified technol-ogy structure that simpli-fies the development andmanufacturing processes.

The suite lets OEMsand top tier supplierselectronically share datasuch as demand, supplyand delivery information.It also provides a directpath to reduce the totalcost of ownership, asusers are not required topurchase onsite servers orhardware, and can dimin-ish the need for additionalIT support.

Manufacturingsuite brings layeredfunctionality

A step-down DC-DCµModule regulator with a40V input voltage rating(42V maximum) and3.5A of continuous (6Apeak) output current isavailable from LinearTechnology.

The LTM8003’s pinoutis FMEA (failure modeeffects analysis) compli-ant, so the output voltagestays at or below the reg-ulation voltage in theevent of short-circuit toground, short-circuit to aneighbouring pin or if apin is left floating. Themaximum junction tem-perature of the H-gradeversion is +150˚C, suit-able for high temperatureor high power automotiveapplications.

Input voltage range is3.4 to 40V and it has anadjustable output range of0.97 to 18V. The switch-ing frequency is ad-justable via an externalresistor or can be syn-chronised to an external

clock from 200kHz to3MHz.

There are four operationmodes – burst mode,pulse skip mode, pulseskip mode with spreadspectrum and externalsynch mode.

The quiescent current inburst mode is 25µA max-imum, so it is suitable forbattery operated systems,specifically keep-alivesystems.

The efficiency at 12Vinto 3.3Vout is 90% and thedevice delivers 3.5A ofoutput current up to+100˚C ambient withouta heat sink or airflow. Itincludes a switching reg-ulator, inductor and othersupporting components ina 6.25 by 9 by 3.32mmBGA package.

Only the bulk input andoutput capacitors and afew resistors are requiredto complete the design.

Operating temperatureis either -40 to +125˚C or-40 to +150˚C.

DC-DC step-downregulator handleshigh temperature

vw and lg partner on connected cars - vehicle electronics · news page3,august2016...

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