Lattice Extends Industry-leading Security and System Control to Automotive Applications

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Lattice Semiconductor Corporation, a low power programmable leader, announced new versions of its MachXO3LF™ FPGAs for flexible deployment of robust automotive control applications and MachXO3D™ FPGAs for system security that support extended temperature operating ranges for automotive and other ruggedized applications.

MachXO3D FPGAs augment the popular system control capabilities of the Lattice MachXO FPGA architecture with industry-leading security features, including hardware Root-of-Trust (RoT), platform firmware resilience (PFR), and secure dual-boot support. The MachXO3D and MachXO3LF devices target control, bridging, and I/O expansion applications that must operate reliably in rugged environments, including advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), infotainment, motor control, 5G communications infrastructure, industrial robots and automation systems, and defense systems.

Emerging trends like electric vehicles (EVs), autonomous driving, ADAS, and infotainment are increasing OEMs’ reliance on electronic components in automotive systems. Deloitte projected that by 2030, 45 percent of the cost of a new car will come from electronic systems^[1]. As more sensors and electric motors are incorporated into cars, systems become exposed to risk of malicious hacks. OEMs must be able to immediately detect vulnerabilities and combat cyberattacks, and they need electronic systems capable of reliable and secure operation in rugged environments.

According to McKinsey & Company, systems in autonomous vehicles “have to be able to withstand rugged environments that involve variations in weather, vibration, and connectivity.”^[2] The MachXO3D family of FPGAs builds on the MachXO3LF family of devices by adding a hardware security engine to help protect, detect, and recover the device from unauthorized attempts to access its firmware.

“By collaborating with Lattice, the leading provider of low power FPGAs, we are able to provide developers in the automotive market with ready-to-use IPs that simplify their design efforts by accelerating implementation of networking controllers for CAN and LIN,” said Nikos Zervas, CEO of CAST Inc. “With the extended temperature range for automotive and other ruggedized applications, the new MachXO3D automotive family of FPGAs will allow developers to achieve their performance and power consumption goals and get their products to market faster, while enhancing the security of their control systems.”

“The MachXO architecture is highly leveraged in the server market for control and security applications, and now we’ve extended this popular hardware ecosystem to bring low power, small form factor, secure system control to automotive and ruggedized applications as automobiles integrate more processor-based, server-like systems into their designs,” said Jay Aggarwal, Director of Silicon Product Marketing, Lattice. “Coupled with our solutions stacks for firmware security and smart vision, Lattice Sentry and Lattice mVision, these devices enable the rapid development of next-generation systems.”