“SDV Transition Accelerated… Importance of Electric Motor Control Units Increases”


Car architecture, one large SW platform… Increasing demand for vehicle MCUs
ST, Automotive MCU Motor Control Tool Kit Introduced on the 19th

[Editor's Note] Deloitte forecasted that the SDV penetration rate will rapidly increase from 2.4% in 2021 to over 90% by 2029, and global OEMs including Hyundai Motors are rushing to transition to SDV. As various functions in vehicles, as well as infotainment, are driven by SW, the importance of electric motors and battery control units is also increasing. Accordingly, this magazine will share with STMicroelectronics (hereinafter referred to as ST) a BLDC motor control library solution that can be integrated and used with Automotive MCUs. Ahead of the webinar on the topic, we asked presenter Ho-Seung Choi, ST Representative, about SDV trends and ST's solutions.

▲Choi Ho-seung, ST Representative

■ I am curious about the changes in the direction of MCU and software development due to the SDV trend.

As the dictionary definition of Software-Defined Vehicle suggests, it is a ‘car defined by software.’

While existing vehicles were centered on hardware based on mechanical engineering, the key to SDV is that the vehicle's focus shifts to software, and convenience, safety, and driving functions (software) can be dynamically added and improved.

The most important thing for this is the over-the-air (OTA) update function that allows the vehicle to be continuously updated through software improvements without hardware changes even after vehicle purchase.

I think that the next generation of vehicles will have different functions, quality, and brand values depending on what software is included.

Influenced by these trends, the most important keywords are the platform (OS) that connects hardware and software, cloud-based vehicle connectivity, software-based convenience features, and electrification.

■ With an introduction to ST’s Automotive MCU Please tell us why Automotive MCU products are attracting attention.

Automotive MCU refers to an MCU that is designed to meet high safety and security standards due to the nature of vehicles that operate in harsh environments.

There is a recent trend in which vehicle architecture is changing into one large software platform.

This is called a Software-Defined Vehicle, or SDV for short, and due to SDV, the industry is changing to a domain and zone-based architecture.

ST offers more secure and powerful Stellar MCUs for next-generation integrated platforms managed by a single MCU.

■ What products will be introduced in the webinar on March 19th?

The product introduced this time is the Motor Control Tool Kit (MCTK), a BLDC motor control library solution that can be integrated into Automotive MCUs such as ST's SPC5 and Stellar series.

Precise control of a BLDC motor requires a meticulously calculated software implementation that takes a lot of time and effort.

MCTK allows you to use motor control software that has already been thoroughly designed and proven for free, with little effort and only parameter settings via the GUI.

■ What are the main applications of the product being introduced?

Stellar is broadly categorized into P/G/E product lines.
<br /> The P product family is suitable for applications such as powertrain and transmission, and the G product family is suitable for gateway or body integration.

Lastly, the E product line is specialized in electrification and is suitable for analog control such as sensors and actuators.

MCTK is a tool developed targeting the SPC58 series and Stellar E product line, and is a solution suitable for power conversion or motor control applications such as Traction Inverter, OBC, BMS, and Body controller.

■ What are the key market and industry requirements?

We believe that it meets the standards of Automotive MCUs that are becoming increasingly smarter and demanding higher performance, such as high performance, large memory, virtualization, enhanced security and robust safety features, high-speed communication capabilities for processing large amounts of data, and efficient and safe OTA technology.

■ What are the special features of Stella MCU?

The main advantages of Stellar MCU can be summarized in four points:

First, it is a high-performance MCU that supports 7000~14000DMIPS performance that can respond to the next-generation architecture, demonstrating stronger hardware security and real-time performance.

The second provides efficient routing acceleration using an independent ARM M4 core.

Third, it supports hardware-level virtualization that can implement full FFI.

Finally, it uses PCM NVM technology to enable OTA with no overhead or downtime, and supports X2 mode that temporarily doubles the memory capacity, allowing efficient use of all memory space.

■ What are the unique features of ST MCU?

By applying the next-generation memory PCM NVM technology, unlike existing flash, there is no need for an erase process and it supports single bit overwrite.

It also enables fast Read/Write speeds, which is approximately five times faster than conventional reprogramming times.

Additionally, since the OTA X2 function can temporarily double the memory usage, there is an advantage of being able to efficiently use all memory space.

As OTA becomes an essential feature, the ability to safely perform OTA without downtime and memory waste is a unique advantage of Stellar MCU.

■ A word to e4ds readers

ST provides various free solutions such as Motor Control Tool Kit and Ai development tool for customer development convenience.

We would also like to ask for your interest in Stellar MCU products that support the next-generation architecture. Please feel free to use them and contact us if you have any inquiries.