Automotive Electronics

Toshiba has announced an opto-isolated IGBT pre-driver IC for automotive inverters within electric and hybrid vehicles. Called TB9150FN, it includes a number of protection functions. with various enhanced protective functions “It integrates a photo-coupler that secures high-level isolation characteristic between control [primary side] and drive [secondary side]. It incorporates a precise IGBT temperature detection function, a fly-back transformer controller and ...

Allegro MicroSystems’ surface-mount magnetic speed sensor contains a compensating circuit that reduces the detrimental effects of magnet and system offsets. “Digital processing of the analogue signal provides zero-speed performance independent of air gap as well as dynamic adaptation of device performance to the typical operating conditions found in automotive applications, including reduced vibration sensitivity,” said the firm. Called A1667, to comes ...

u-blox of Switzerland has introduced a GPS receiver that works with inertial sensors to add dead-reckoning navigation when satellites signals are weak or before the receiver has locked-on. It requires an external MEMS inertial sensor and flash memory, and also works with other satellite navigation (GNSS) systems (list below). “EVA-M8E adapts automatically to installations anywhere within a vehicle. Dead-reckoning with ...

This morning, in Brussels, at Imec’s ITF2016, Imec and Infineon announced a cooperation in CMOS sensor chip development. Infineon and Imec are working on highly integrated CMOS-based 79 GHz sensor chips for automotive radar applications. Imec contributes its advanced expertise in high- frequency system, circuit and antenna design for radar applications thus complementing Infineon’s radar sensor chip knowledge. As an ...

Socionext, the Panasonic-Fujitsu SoC jv, has introduced an evaluation package for its 360° Wrap-Around View (WAV) system. The package combines the hardware, software and support services necessary for initial evaluation and development of the WAV system. Customers lacking resources to evaluate the system themselves can now develop their own customized systems with this new solution. Socionext aims to expand the ...

Electric vehicles will have electric suspension and other once mechanical systems which means a bigger market for power electronic devices, says market analyst IDTechEx. Electric vehicles are being designed with two motors per car not one now and that means many more motor controllers. Each vehicle has a charger and a battery management system on board, both using power electronics. ...

Autonomous vehicles are to be insured under normal policies in the UK. This was one of the government proposals announced in the Queen’s Speech. According to the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), this is an important step forward which will ultimately improve road safety and reduce congestion. But the IET warned the Government that it needs to introduce legislation ...

ST has launched a set of SiC power devices aimed at accelerating automotive electrification. A complete set of devices allows full conversion of auto power modules to SiC for greater vehicle range, convenience, and reliability ST is moving its SiC production to 6-inch wafers and has an AEC-Q101 qualification program to complete in early 2017, ready for new OEM product ...

Falling ASPs offset the strong unit growth in the automotive IC market last year, resulting in a 3% decline in value, reports IC . On a worldwide basis, automotive electronics represented 8.9% of the $1.42 trillion total 2015 worldwide electronic systems market, a slight increase from 8.6% in 2014. Automotive’s share of global electronic system production has increased only incrementally ...

Spirent Communications has styled itself as a design verification test firm for connected vehicles and it is working with Aston Martin Racing. The test systems supplier is working with Aston Martin Racing during testing to evaluate accuracy and performance of GPS receivers and interference monitoring on the 2016 V8 Vantage GTE race cars. These cars are set to be used ...