How to use digital signal controllers to build better automotive and electric vehicle systems

Update: July 2, 2023

Both traditional automobile and electric vehicle systems rely on the effective operation of countless electronic devices to realize convenient functions and mission-critical functional safety functions. Although various requirements are put forward, these different applications are fundamentally required to be able to operate under extreme conditions while providing reliable, high-performance real-time response.

Both traditional automobile and electric vehicle systems rely on the effective operation of countless electronic devices to realize convenient functions and mission-critical functional safety functions. Although various requirements are put forward, these different applications are fundamentally required to be able to operate under extreme conditions while providing reliable, high-performance real-time response.

As a result, developers have a growing need for a consistent, powerful, well-supported, and scalable platform that can help simplify the design and development of ever-expanding automotive and electric vehicle use cases.

This article discusses a series of Microchip Technology’s digital signal controllers (DSC), which can meet these requirements, and introduces the application of these DSCs in reference designs for essential functions in automotive and electric vehicle systems.

Diverse design challenges require flexible solutions

Whether designing for traditional vehicles or electric vehicles, developers need to solve more and more application problems, including power conversion subsystems, in-vehicle wireless charging, digital lighting systems and motor control systems, from relatively simple stepper motor applications to Complex regenerative braking systems in electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). With the mission-critical requirements for functional safety, as automakers strive to cope with consumer demand and competitive pressures, it is required to design floor space and bill of materials (BOM) in terms of higher safety, convenience, functionality, and performance. ) The importance of requirements continues to increase.

To meet these requirements, the industry has sharply shifted to digital solutions in almost every vehicle subsystem. The subsystems of traditional passenger cars already rely on microcontrollers (MCUs), which run four times the software code of commercial aircraft.[1].

Microchip Technology’s dsPIC33 DSC family is designed to meet these different requirements, using family members with dedicated functions. The newest member of this series, dsPIC33C, expands the performance and functions of dsPIC33E and dsPIC33F DSC, and is suitable for developers who face more complex applications.

These DSCs are based on a digital signal processor (DSP) core that combines the simplicity of an MCU with the performance of a DSP to meet the ever-changing requirements for high-performance, low-latency, and real-time functions, while maintaining a minimum footprint and BOM. Utilizing Microchip’s extensive ecosystem of dsPIC33 development boards, reference designs, and software development tools, developers can use different members of the dsPIC33 family to extend their designs to provide a wide range of applications at the core of automotive and electric vehicle systems.

Provide a more effective hardware foundation for car and electric vehicle design

Microchip’s dsPIC33C family is specifically designed to reduce the delay and speed up execution of the high-speed software-based digital control loops at the bottom of many automotive subsystems. To achieve this feature, these devices integrate DSP engines, high-speed registers, and tightly coupled peripherals, including multiple analog-to-digital converters (ADC), digital-to-analog converters (DAC), analog comparators, and operational amplifiers.

The DSP engine’s single-cycle 16 x 16 multiply accumulation (MAC) and 40-bit accumulator, zero-overhead loop, and barrel shift features ensure high-speed execution of digital control loops. Peripheral functions such as 150 picosecond (ps) resolution pulse width modulator (PWM), capture/compare/PWM (CCP) timer, peripheral trigger generator and user-programmable configurable logic unit can realize precision control loop Independent operation of the interface.

These devices are available in packages as small as 5 x 5 millimeters (mm) and have a wide range of on-chip features that can help developers achieve the smallest size and BOM to meet the requirements for smaller devices in fashionable automotive systems. These devices further simplify automotive design and support multiple communication interfaces, including controller area network (CAN), local interconnect network (LIN), and digital multiplexing (DMX) used in advanced automotive systems. In addition, these devices have different memory sizes in single-core and dual-core configurations, providing scalable solutions required for advanced automotive and electric vehicle applications.

These devices are suitable for harsh automotive environments, comply with AEC-Q100 Class 0 standards, can meet the stringent requirements of operation under the hood, and support

Both traditional automobile and electric vehicle systems rely on the effective operation of countless electronic devices to realize convenient functions and mission-critical functional safety functions. Although various requirements are put forward, these different applications are fundamentally required to be able to operate under extreme conditions while providing reliable, high-performance real-time response.

As a result, developers have a growing need for a consistent, powerful, well-supported, and scalable platform that can help simplify the design and development of ever-expanding automotive and electric vehicle use cases.

This article discusses a series of Microchip Technology’s digital signal controllers (DSC), which can meet these requirements, and introduces the application of these DSCs in reference designs for essential functions in automotive and electric vehicle systems.

Diverse design challenges require flexible solutions

Whether designing for traditional vehicles or electric vehicles, developers need to solve more and more application problems, including power conversion subsystems, in-vehicle wireless charging, digital lighting systems and motor control systems, from relatively simple stepper motor applications to Complex regenerative braking systems in electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). With the mission-critical requirements for functional safety, as automakers strive to cope with consumer demand and competitive pressures, it is required to design floor space and bill of materials (BOM) in terms of higher safety, convenience, functionality, and performance. ) The importance of requirements continues to increase.

To meet these requirements, the industry has sharply shifted to digital solutions in almost every vehicle subsystem. The subsystems of traditional passenger cars already rely on microcontrollers (MCUs), which run four times the software code of commercial aircraft.[1].

Microchip Technology’s dsPIC33 DSC family is designed to meet these different requirements, using family members with dedicated functions. The newest member of this series, dsPIC33C, expands the performance and functions of dsPIC33E and dsPIC33F DSC, and is suitable for developers who face more complex applications.

Based on a digital signal processor (DSP) core, these DSCs combine the simplicity of an MCU with the performance of a DSP to meet the ever-changing requirements for high-performance, low-latency, and real-time functions, while maintaining a minimum footprint and BOM. Utilizing Microchip’s extensive ecosystem of dsPIC33 development boards, reference designs, and software development tools, developers can use different members of the dsPIC33 family to extend their designs to provide a wide range of applications at the core of automotive and electric vehicle systems.

Provide a more effective hardware foundation for car and electric vehicle design

Microchip’s dsPIC33C family is specifically designed to reduce the delay and speed up execution of the high-speed software-based digital control loops at the bottom of many automotive subsystems. To achieve this feature, these devices integrate DSP engines, high-speed registers, and tightly coupled peripherals, including multiple analog-to-digital converters (ADC), digital-to-analog converters (DAC), analog comparators, and operational amplifiers.

The DSP engine’s single-cycle 16 x 16 multiply accumulation (MAC) and 40-bit accumulator, zero-overhead loop, and barrel shift features ensure high-speed execution of digital control loops. Peripheral functions such as 150 picosecond (ps) resolution pulse width modulator (PWM), capture/compare/PWM (CCP) timer, peripheral trigger generator and user-programmable configurable logic unit can realize precision control loop Independent operation of the interface.

These devices are available in packages as small as 5 x 5 millimeters (mm) and have a wide range of on-chip features that can help developers achieve the smallest size and BOM to meet the requirements for smaller devices in fashionable automotive systems. These devices further simplify automotive design and support multiple communication interfaces, including controller area network (CAN), local interconnect network (LIN), and digital multiplexing (DMX) used in advanced automotive systems. In addition, these devices have different memory sizes in single-core and dual-core configurations, providing scalable solutions required for advanced automotive and electric vehicle applications.

These devices are suitable for harsh automotive environments, comply with AEC-Q100 Class 0 standards, can meet the stringent requirements of operation under the hood, and support

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