Dieter Metzner

Multi domain behavioral models of smart-power ICs for design integration in automotive applications

A modeling methodology for behavioral models of smart-power IC is presented. These components typically consist of a few hundred to thousand transistors, which can be separated into digital (logic) and analog (electro-thermal) model equations. The preferred simulation tool in the automotive industry is presently SABER (MAST/sup (R)/ language). The resulting models enable system level simulations of the mechatronic application in a few minutes CPU time, compared to hours with a transistor level simulation of the IC alone.

In-vehicle Network Verification from Application to Physical Layer

The verification of an in-vehicle network often requires to look at more than one level of abstraction at a time. At the moment, this is not addressed by existing methods, which are dedicated either to physical or application layer, but not both. This paper fills this gap by introducing a methodology to insert the protocol related software execution as well as the motor behavior into the physical layer mixed-signal (i.e. analog/digital) simulation. Electronics and mechanics are covered by the hardware description language VHDL-AMS, while the software is given in C.

Integrated Mechatronic Design and Simulation of a Door Soft Close Automatic with Behavioral Models of Smart Power ICs

Based on the example of a door soft close automatic the potential of integrated system simulation in the automotive systems development is demonstrated. The modeling approach is covering several physical domains like mechanics, electromagnetics and semiconductor physics. With adequate simplifying methods a time efficient model is generated, which allows system optimization in the concept phase. Time consuming redesigns can thus be minimized.

Verification of an Automotive Headlight Leveling Circuit and Application Using Smart Component Property Extraction

The paper discusses the simulative circuit verification of a power bridge in the context of its application, i.e. an automotive headlight leveling system. It especially emphasizes a topic, which is often neglected in mixed-domain modeling: the identification of the related component properties, e.g. the armature friction or torque constant of an electric motor. Typically, there are two ways to approach the problem: one is to scan the data sheets of the components. The other is to set up direct measurements of the component properties. The first approach opens a wide space, as the spec windows are often larger. The second requires substantial, additional effort. The paper offers a third opportunity, which relies on a measurement setup for system evaluation, which was available anyway.

HDL-based system engineering for automotive power applications

A top down design approach using VHDL-AMS as HDL is outlined using a current control IC as an example. An essential part of it is the concept of block specifications as a starting point for the implementation process. Behaviour modelling concepts of parts of the architecture are shown, in order to illustrate the ease of using the language standard.

Failure Detection in FlexRay Networks through Asymmetry Assessment

FlexRay is an important communication network for automotive systems and the de-facto standard for in-vehicle safety and time-critical applications. High reliability and self-diagnosis are indispensable. Since bus networks can be affected during their whole lifetime by permanent failures on the transmission wires, the interest on failure detection is increasing. In this paper the static and dynamic performances of common automotive failure detection methods are analyzed for a FlexRay controller. A new mechanism for the peculiar symmetrical structure of FlexRay is proposed and compared with the more known ones. It permits an improvement of the static and dynamic performances. The analysis is based on analytical computations and numerical Spectre-simulations.

Simulating Microsystems in the Context of an Automotive Drive Application

The opportunities to integrate more and more functionality into a (micro)system-in-a-package (SiP) heavily call for advanced methodologies in modeling and simulation for complete systems. For a microelectronics company like Infineon Technologies, the top-level simulation of our products, i.e. the above microsystems, is not a niceto-have feature — it is a must! Iterating on the fabrication runs for design debugging simply is not feasible. Extending these simulations to application level can be accomplished and this paper shows how. An automotive drive application will serve as a demonstrator for that.