In response to the increasing importance of security and functional safety in the auto industry, Infineon Technologies has introduced the PSoC 4 HVMS family of automotive microcontrollers. These microcontrollers integrate high-voltage features, such as a 12V regulator and LIN/CXPI-transceiver, with advanced analog features like CapSense and inductive sensing.
The PSoC 4 HVMS software package is compliant with ISO26262 and ISO21434 standards, and has been developed as a safety element out of context (SEooC) for applications with safety targets up to ASIL-B.
The HVMS family is designed for touch-enabled automotive human machine interfaces (HMIs), featuring touch buttons, sliders and touchpads for controlling various functions like HVAC, interior lighting and power windows/sunroofs. It can also be used in steering wheels for touch sensing and hands-off detection.
The CapSense module supports proximity detection for occupant detection or foot kick control, and the microcontrollers can also be used in generic sensing applications such as liquid level sensing, and in simple actuators, such as PTC heaters and interior/exterior lighting.
The company says the microcontrollers are AEC-Q100 qualified and offered in small footprint QFN packages with wettable flanks. They are designed for scalability and pin compatibility across devices, with ISO26262 ASIL-B compliance for safe operation at high temperatures.
Based on ARM Cortex-M0+ processors, the range comes with up to 128KB of embedded flash and 16KB of SRAM. The microcontrollers can be powered directly from a 12V battery and include LIN and CXPI PHY.
Comprehensive software support is provided, including the Automotive Peripheral Driver Library (AutoPDL), Automotive Middleware Library for CapSense, and the Safety Library (SafeTlib) for Automotive PDL.
These software packages are produced according to automotive software development processes such as like ASPICE, MISRA2012 AMD1 and CERTC coding standards, ensuring “industry-leading reliability and compliance”, Infineon says.
Samples of the PSoC 4 HVMS controllers are currently available, with production expected to begin this year. Infineon has showcased the solutions at Embedded World 2024 in Nuremberg, Germany, taking place on April 9-11.
