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 ...

Autonomous driving is one of the most popular trends in the automotive industry. Currently, commercial-level automatic driving remains at the L2/L3 level. Automotive radar technology is gaining momentum as a solution to achieve higher levels of automated driving. With the accurate perception of millimeter-wave radar, cars can autonomously make intelligent judgements and decisions. At 77GHz, mil...

The MP5031 is part of the new generation of fast-charging chips, which meet the growing demand for fast-charging technology for mobile phones and devices. This USB power delivery (PD) controller is compatible with USB Type-C 2.0 and USB PD 3.0 specifications, and supports dedicated charging port (DCP) schemes. The MP5031 also supports BC1.2 charging data port (CDP) handshaking. This article discus...

As electronic vehicles become more commonplace, electronic control units (ECUs) are becoming the standard, embedded control system for automotive electronics. ECU systems provide safety and functionality — applications using ECUs include anti-lock brakes, four-wheel drive, electronic automatic transmission, active suspension, and airbags. Gradually, the use of ECUs has extended to vehicle body saf...

In the automotive industry, stringent electromagnetic interference (EMI) requirements are necessary for safety but create design challenges for engineers (see Figure 1). To reduce EMI, it is necessary to model and analyze various EMI problems. This article provides modeling and suppression methods to reduce EMI in non-isolated converters, such as buck, boost, and buck-boost converters. Many...

Designing the compensation network for buck regulators can be tedious and may require several iterations to optimize the solution. Having an optimized control loop, which can enable fast transient response while maintaining proper stability, has become a major challenge with the emergence of new applications such as ADAS and fast transient response requirements. To address these issues, buck regul...

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...

Designers often want to measure the junction temperature of a DC switching power supply. This is especially difficult in temperature chambers because a thermal camera is inaccurate and can be damaged under high environmental temperatures, and an external temperature sensor is difficult to fix onto small packages. This article will help readers understand a practical method to measure the junction ...

Today’s highly developed power ICs require superior power inductors. Building a standard power supply with common footprints can help reduce design time and production costs. Determining the best match between an inductor and an IC is paramount to achieving the best performance in terms of PCB space, as well as thermal and cost efficiency. Let’s explore which parameters are most impor...

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...

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...