Microchip is innovating All in Automotive

Microchip is fully supporting automotive applications and will showcase its latest technology at CES 2024. Demonstrations range from a facial recognition system using PolarFire SoC FPGAs to an AC bidirectional electric vehicle (EV) charger leveraging its complete product portfolio.

Over the past year, the biggest trends in the automotive field include advances in safety, autonomous driving, software-defined vehicles, simplified networks, new electronic and electrical architectures, and new processing and imaging technologies, as well as comprehensive electric vehicles. Automobile technology innovation.

Microchip recently announced the expansion of its Automotive Technology Center in Detroit, Michigan, a 24,000-square-foot facility designed specifically for automotive customers to gain support from technical experts and develop new solutions for their applications. Completion of the expansion project more than doubled laboratory space, adding new laboratories focused on high voltage and electric vehicle applications. Microchip also has automotive technology centers in Munich, Shanghai, Tokyo and Austin, Texas.

Inside Microchip's Detroit Automotive Technology Center (Source: Microchip)

“The original lab was set up for our application engineers to do their daily work, but it didn’t actually meet the requirements for collaborative interaction with customers.” Joe Thomsen, vice president of Microchip Technology’s MCU16 business unit, said in an earlier interview, "For the new space, it's more about cooperating with Tier 1 and OEMs."

Joe Thomsen, Vice President, Microchip

Thomsen said the lab operates in two ways. Customers either have a new application and Microchip works with them to develop a solution and even helps them write some code or design a circuit board, or the customer has selected a Microchip product but they run into some problems during development.

Traditionally, Thomsen added, customers would send their devices, circuit boards and details about the problem, and Microchip would try to recreate those scenarios. “With the new lab, I think especially in the Detroit area, where we have a lot of automotive suppliers, we can have those customers come directly to the office to work with us. It’s two to three times more efficient, so you can have it in a day or two Resolve issues without having to spend days or weeks communicating back and forth.”

The Detroit Automotive Technology Center features two new laboratories. The High Voltage Lab focuses on reference designs, featuring Microchip's Silicon Carbide (SiC) mSiC solutions, dsPIC digital signal controllers, and analog and mixed-signal solutions, while the Human Interface Lab supports the development of cockpit displays, touch screens , Knob-on-Display (KoD) solutions, and EMC-tested buttons, sliders, and wheels.

Microchip’s SiC High Voltage Laboratory at Detroit Automotive Technology Center

The lab supports central computing and area networking in ADAS platforms using Microchip's PCIe Gen 4 and Gen 5 switching hardware, single-pair Ethernet devices and development tools, and USB for pre-certification of multimedia infotainment systems and network development resources, as well as media hubs for advanced USB Type-C 3.2 protocol applications. It also provides chip-level and product-level characterization of automotive MEMS resonators and oscillators, including vacuum and wafer-level probe and test, long-term burn-in, frequency stability, phase noise and jitter test capabilities.

The lab also offers on-site security training where customers can learn how to leverage secure elements in applications such as secure boot, messaging and hardware authentication, including developing automotive security solutions using Microchip's CryptoAutomotive TrustAnchor IC.

Thomsen said that autonomous driving and electric vehicles are two major trends in the automotive market. "Those are the two main areas we're going to focus on going forward. So a lot of the lab is focused on electrification of the car, and providing more computing power and more data communications for autonomous driving."

CES demo

At CES, Microchip conducted virtual tours of multiple demonstrations targeting key automotive focus areas, including automotive Ethernet, security, electric vehicle charging and advanced driver monitoring.

The first demonstration focuses on security and automotive Ethernet. 10BASE-T1S MACsec demonstrates the need for secure communication on 10BASE-T1S Ethernet. MACsec is used to protect individual nodes or ECUs from hacker attacks.

This demonstration uses a simulated ECU to demonstrate the Ethernet and MACsec security protocols in a vehicle network, starting with running the system without MACsec enabled. Initially, the system ran as expected, using touch or display knob controls to control things like fan speed and temperature, as well as monitor Ethernet traffic. It is then demonstrated how easy it is to send spoofed messages to hack into a network that is not MACsec enabled, and easily block all traffic on the bus, and can send random data to different parts of the system (such as servos and fans), causing a loss of network control.

Once MACsec with the MACsec key agreement protocol is enabled, each node has a secure element responsible for the keys associated with authenticating messages, and Microchip can regain control of the system and ensure normal operation. Although there are still red hacker messages flooding the bus, the ECU ignores them since they are unverified and unvalidated.

Microchip’s 10BASE-T1S MACsec Security Demonstration

Microchip also demonstrated a public AC bidirectional electric vehicle charger system. This is a Level 2, three-phase public AC bidirectional electric vehicle charger reference design demonstration that simulates a fast charging station delivering 22 kW of power with onboard Class 1 energy metering and fault detection. It leverages Microchip's expertise in a variety of electronic devices, including microcontrollers, microprocessors, power supplies and real-time clocks, as well as connectivity technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC.

This reference design includes a GUI with touch input, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and LTE communication with the cloud using OCCP 1.6/2.0.1 protocols (demonstrates using OCCP 1.6 to communicate with management software for monitoring and control); and BLE communication for mobile app; CAN and HomePlug Green PHY powerline communication with vehicle according to ISO 15118.

A Microchip spokesperson said the EV charger demonstration showcases a highly modular design with different modules tailored to the application for greater design flexibility and faster time to market. It can be adapted for single-phase or three-phase operation. and residential or public applications.

Microchip’s Public AC Bidirectional Electric Vehicle Charger Demonstration

After "clicking" the charge button in the demo, the authorization and initiated transaction responses from the server appear on the display. When charging begins, it sends meter readings every few seconds. The interval between readings can be modified. Meter data is sent from the charger to the server. Once charging reaches 100% or charging is stopped manually, a data summary will appear on the display or in the app.

The next demonstration is the 10BASE-T1S lighting wall, which showcases the advanced technology used in automotive lighting that can also be used in non-automotive applications.

A Microchip spokesperson explained that 10BASE-T1S transmits 10 Mbit/s over a single pair of wires, connecting all the different devices, including sensors and actuators, as part of an Ethernet architecture that takes advantage of all the advantages of Ethernet. "The advantage is that you don't need to translate between different technologies and different types of network protocols."

In this demonstration, 19,200 LEDs are connected via Ethernet and controlled in real time. It can display all LEDs simultaneously without requiring custom drivers and is easier to manage. It also shows real-time changes using low-latency Ethernet.

Microchip’s 10BASE-T1S LED Demonstration

The next demonstration is AI-based facial recognition using Microchip's PolarFire SoC FPGA. The demonstration also shows how the technology can be used in object detection and license plate reading solutions.

A Microchip spokesperson said multiple applications can be supported simultaneously on PolarFire SoC FPGAs, including facial recognition, object classification, traffic monitoring systems, license plate detection, driver monitoring systems and access control systems.

Facial recognition demonstration using Microchip’s PolarFire SoC FPGA

"For driver monitoring systems, if you want to monitor whether your driver is paying attention on the road, or whether the driver is on their phone, as long as you have a model that can detect those things, the underlying technology is exactly the same." Microchip said.

Other demonstrations include automated automotive cab solutions for dashboard functionality and vehicle safety, including maXTouch technology KoD solutions.