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Automotive megatrends such as connected, autonomous and electrified vehicles are driving penetration of automotive electronic technology in every vehicle subsystem. However, these electronic units need to be interfaced with input/output devices from outside world. The same need to be interfaced with a robust and reusable architecture conforming to automotive norms. When generic electronic control units (ECUs) need to be reused across diverse vehicle families and segments, it is desirable that every ECU pin interfaced with the outside world needs to be capable of performing multiple tasks. This is particularly true of digital outputs (such as solenoids, lamps, on/off motors etc.) and digital inputs (such as command switches, pushbuttons, pressure switches, thermal switches etc.) Current smart switch peripheral ICs can be used only as outputs and cannot be configured as inputs whenever demanded by application requirements.

Automotive electronics is increasingly playing a vital role in all vehicle subsystems. Since an electronic control system needs to be interfaced with the outside world, an electronic smart switch forms a key output interface with various loads such as solenoids, lamps, motors, relays, fans etc. Although integrated circuit based smart-switch semiconductor solutions are provided by all global semiconductor vendors, they prove more often than not to be overdesigned for majority of situations relevant to low end vehicles. They are also generously loaded with standard high-end features like thermal and overload protection which may not always be required. In addition, external transient protection and on-chip diagnostic features lend further complexity to the entire solution.

As embedded electronic control systems are increasingly penetrating vehicle subsystems, the designers are faced with a dilemma of providing state of art vehicle features on one hand and ensuring frugal implementation of the same to meet competitive pressures on the other. For embedded software and hardware systems this means adoption of judicious and innovative design choices with reusable building blocks. This paper dwells upon various design aspects of control and monitoring which are frequently used for automotive applications such as feed-forward and proportional integral control, diagnostics for sensor boundary conditions, handling of intermittent faults without causing nuisance to the vehicle users etc. The paper elaborates the various design concepts involved by means of a case study of an electro-viscous fan control supported by field experiences and real-life insights.

As electronics is increasingly penetrating automotive subsystems for both passenger and commercial vehicle, need for providing control solutions meeting stringent automotive requirements on one hand and delivering first time right solution based on frugal implementation on another hand is increasingly being felt. Reuse of proven building blocks is one of the key design techniques automotive engineers have been adopting over the years, and automotive embedded systems are no exception. To meet such expectations, vehicle OEMs desire a common Electronic Control Unit (ECU) architecture wherever possible. However as on date, most of the tier-1 suppliers provide different ECU architectures for both 12 Volt and 24 Volt applications. Key challenges are use of common interfaces for output and input devices as well as a common power-supply design which meets 8 to 36 volt requirements. This paper describes the hurdles and solutions for meeting this requirement.

As electronics enters every subsystem of a vehicle, ECU (Electronic Control Unit) designers need to judiciously select the semiconductor components to meet automotive application requirements. Choice of semiconductor components is governed by reliability and robustness on one hand and the needs of frugal implementations meeting the stringent automotive requirements. The former calls for adequate design margin to ensure trouble free life outlasting the vehicle life whereas the later demands in depth knowledge of semiconductor behavior so that cost/performance trade-off does not lead to potential filed problems. ECU designers need to critically study semiconductor datasheets, analyze application literature and extensively interact with semiconductor application engineers so as to arrive at the optimum choice of semiconductor components in their ECU Design.

Automotive engineering has been a game of delivering more value with minimal resources confronting conflicting design choices at every design step. As more and more electronics enters the game, it becomes imperative to critically evaluate various design choices to deliver a robust hardware backbone which guarantees a robust performance on an ever-reducing budget. Hardware interface with the outside environment in particular needs to be equipped with a significant robustness. Harsh transients, tough environmental conditions, further complicate the rules to the game. This paper discusses various hardware design techniques which aim to meet the formidable challenges posed by the automotive requirements. It also points out pitfalls behind various design options where the designer may be tempted to reduce the cost at the risk of defaulting over the robustness on one hand and may misinterpret the design requirements and unnecessarily increase the cost on the other hand.