AVR 32 : High - throughput 32 - bit

EDITORIAL Welcome to our sixth edition of Automotive Compilation! As the previous issues, it presents a range of articles focusing on Atmel's technologies and products. Application hints aim to support designers to create innovative system solutions for the ever-evolving automotive industry. Modern cars contain 70plus Electronic Control Units (ECUs), and the amount of electronics in cars will continue to increase significantly in the future. By 2015, the amount of electronics is projected to be about 40% of the value of a car. The increased complexity of these systems requires microcontrollers with high calculation performance. The first article in this edition discusses why a high-through-put 32-bit microcontroller architecture such as the AVR32 is required to address tomorrow's automotive challenges. Following the article on electric and hybrid vehicles in issue 5, the article " New Li-Ion Battery Management Chipset " describes Atmel's new battery management and monitoring devices in more detail. Passive Entry (PE) systems set a new trend for automotive comfort and security. Although they were available already years ago, they have become more popular recently as their increased integration level allows for lower system costs. The article " RF Design Considerations " provides system designers useful hints how to setup a PES system, while " Predicting RF Range Performance " focuses on the physics of electromagnetic wave behavior and its behavior in a real-world environment. Brushless motors are becoming increasingly important in the automotive area, since the advantages are obvious. BLDC motors are already used in fuel pumps, steering systems and fan controllers for air conditioning systems. The quietness of these motors allows them to be used in convenience applications in vehicle interiors, such as power windows and air conditioning flap controllers. The article describes both the principles of such a BLDC motor control solution and also the functionality of Atmel's BLDC devices. Another focus area is LIN networking. The expected increase in the amount of LIN devices in the coming years can be explained by the continued requirement for comfort functions in next-generation automotives. As almost all comfort functions can be controlled by the passengers via key-pads, it is expected that the amount of the keypads will also increase.