A smart cockpit is essential for an intelligent, convenient, and safe automotive environment for drivers. Emerging energy companies and established car brands alike are increasing their investments to innovate cutting-edge smart cockpits. To meet this demand, MPS continues to introduce improved power management solutions in line with the future of automotive electronics. Many automotive features ...

The four modern trends of the automotive industry are electrification, intelligence, networking, and sharing. Among these development trends, intelligence requires advanced on-board sensors, controllers, and actuators. Highly intelligent systems tend to have more sensors. As such, the number and variety of cameras/sensors installed on cars increase daily. These include the cameras installed on th...

Automakers must design vehicles to thrive in a broad spectrum of environments, from snowy tundras to scorching deserts. Unlike most consumer applications, where the expected lifespan can be months, automotive electronics are often expected to last 15 years or more. When specifying a vehicle component, it is common for OEMs and their suppliers to develop an automotive mission profile, which is esse...

Start-stop functionality is expected to be featured in more and more new car models from any manufacturer. However, this presents a challenge in automotive electronics design as starting the motor in cold weather can make the battery’s voltage drop as low as 3V. This is called a “cold crank.” The power stage for most 12V automotive systems consists of a single buck converter tha...

The specifications of the feedback (FB) voltage resistor divider in DC-DC converters often poses various design challenges, such as determining the required resistance or adjusting parameters (e.g. output voltage, upper divider resistance or lower divider resistance). Figure 1 shows the various magnitude combinations for the FB upper and lower divider resistances. This article examines the ...

The car of tomorrow is envisioned to be an audiovisual wonderland on wheels, including wraparound screens and dozens of speakers. Driving on the road in the future will immerse passengers in an incredible sensory experience with content streamed via ultra-fast 5G. To achieve this content-rich, connectivity-heavy paradigm of future mobility, emerging digital cockpit systems continue to demand expon...

Automotive electronics suppliers are faced with escalating cost pressures in the race to produce autonomous, connected, and electrified solutions. One effective way to reduce design costs is by using 2-layer automotive PCBs. However, 2-layer PCBs require special care, as they can have poor thermal characteristics, which leads to compromised performance. In this article, an automotive expert will ...

There are a wide array of features in a smart car’s cockpit that can enhance driving experience. For example, full LCD central control screens and high-definition displays have made user experience smoother and simpler. With the addition of voice recognition, drivers can make calls and use intelligent navigation. High-quality sound and ambient lighting provide an immersive experience while listeni...

DC/DC instability occurs due to a variety of factors, such as improper compensation parameters or insufficient layout. This article will discuss subharmonic oscillations, a form of instability that can be generated when current mode switching regulators have a continuous inductor current and a duty cycle exceeding 50%. These oscillations then create unstable power supplies. To learn about subharm...

The MPM3515-AEC1 is a 36V, 1.5A, high-voltage, automotive-grade power module from Monolithic Power Systems (MPS). This part inherits the key advantages of the MPM module family: very compact size, ease of use, and high performance. It offers an output current of up to 1.5A with performance features tailored to automotive use, including AECQ grade 1 qualification, a high operating frequency of up t...

by Ruediger Richter, Director of Test Engineering at Monolithic Power Systems. It is extremely important for IC manufacturers to be able to design and test automotive parts at precisely set device temperatures. As automotive manufacturers produce vehicles with an increasing number of features, the expectation of reliability and performance increases as well. Reliability trickles down to compon...