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The Design Challenges of Complex Automotive Electronics
November 6, 2013 |Estimated reading time: 1 minute
Increasing electronic content of automotive vehicles is creating a wide range of design challenges for electrical engineers in the automotive industry. The large number of electronic components in today’s vehicles and the huge number of possible combinations of optional equipment make it more difficult than ever to meet physical constraints. Frequency and power consumption of automotive electronics are rising at a rapid pace, making it harder to maintain the signal and power integrity of the design. The increase in the number and complexity of electronic systems also creates challenges in managing and securing the vast amount of data involved in the automotive design process.
A new generation of system-level, multi-board design solutions is addressing these challenges by enabling automotive design teams to plan, design, analyze and manufacture their entire system within a single platform. Multi-board 3D design solutions with direct translation capabilities to leading mechanical computer-aided design (MCAD) systems open the door to improved electronic/mechanical collaboration to meet physical constraints. Integration of signal integrity, power integrity, analog, digital and multi-technology verification tools within the design platform helps identify errors that otherwise might not be detected until the prototype stage. Integrated design management tools help manage library and design data and guarantee transparency of all changes and interdependencies across all objects within a life cycle.
The share of value-add in current generation automobiles contributed by electronic technology is expected to reach 40% for traditional internal combustion engine vehicles by the 2015 model year. Electronic content of automobiles has been rising at a rate of 6% per year to the point that the current value of electronics is in the neighborhood of $2,000 for a luxury vehicle. The demand for electrical energy has grown from roughly 500 watts in 1970 to about 2000 watts for current year model vehicles. The typical mid-range vehicle produced today has between 25 and 55 electronic control units (ECUs) while the typical luxury car has about 80 ECUs. The increased functionality and complexity of automotive electronics systems has greatly increased the challenges involved in automotive electronic design.Read the full article here.Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the October 2013 issue of The PCB Magazine.