Automotive instrument cluster

A digital virtual instrument cluster displays all driving information on the LCD or TFT screen. Such digital instrument clusters can be programmed to display the appropriate selection of virtual instruments according to the driver’s preferences; Dot Matrix instrument clusters are rapidly being replaced by the digital virtual instrument cluster. With a feature-rich graphics engine and flexible memory interfaces, Traveo™ II graphic MCU can support entry digital virtual instrument cluster with high-resolution up to 1920 x 720. This Infineon single-MCU based instrument cluster solution provides a competitive system cost compared to the traditional solutions that use application processor and MCU.

The premium virtual instrument clusters usually have a large display such as 12.3” with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. In this type of instrument cluster, a Vehicle-Interface-Processor (VIP) is needed to manage the automotive networks, safety, security, and power management, in addition to a dedicated graphic application processor. Infineon’s Traveo™ II MCU product family provides a broad portfolio of low-power, high-performance MCUs with HSM security and safety. Combining the memories, network devices, and power management products, Infineon's solution enables a robust instrument cluster system.

The digital instrument cluster shows the driver a wide variety of information. The way this information is presented is adapted dynamically to fit the driving situation. The digital cluster supports different functionalities, including conventional tachometer displays, function displays, route planning graphics, or displaying video from a rear-view camera.

The driver gets the right information when needed, which ensures less distraction and helps reduce the accident risk. The information must be easy to read in all situations. The user interface (HMI) is required to be personalizable and scalable to suit different vehicle models or different requirements due to a variety of end-customer expectations driven by the different markets.

CXPI (Clock eXtension Peripheral Interface) is designed to succeed in the widely-used Local Interconnect Network (LIN) automotive communication protocol. CXPI reduces the bill-of-material costs and lowers fuel consumption by requiring fewer wire harnesses in a vehicle.

Cypress offers CXPI transceivers, as well as automotive MCUs – a complete solution for your automotive design needs.  CXPI has the CSMA/CR system (event initiate system) built into the polling system of LIN, provides higher response time and scalability, and significantly reduces HMI and development costs. CXPI has reduced the number of the parts needed for the clock side of the design because a data and a clock can transmit at the same time by adoption of PWM. Furthermore, reliability improves by communication between slaves, a secondary clock master function and a CRC.

The S6BT112A01 and S6BT112A02 are integrated transceiver IC for the Automotive communication network with Clock eXtension Peripheral Interface (CXPI). It is a flexible bit rate from 2.4 k bit per second to 20 k bit per second with JASO CXPI compliant. This CXPI transceiver IC connect between CXPI data link controller and CXPI Bus line, and enables to connect to vehicle battery directly, with high surge protection. Additionally, a product has optional function for Spreads Spectrum Clock Generator (SSCG). In the standby operation, S6BT112A01 and S6BT112A02 success ultra-low power consumption as sleep mode. The Cypress CXPI transceiver IC supports master node and slave node as selected SELMS pin which supported a secondary clock master.

Our automotive power management ICs (PMICs) provide highly-integrated and robust power management solutions for automotive applications. The PMICs support a comprehensive power supply for the system by a small form factor and complement the solution with Traveo™ automotive MCU family.

Recommended automotive instrument cluster PMICs are:

Infineon delivers highly sophisticate Analog signal products for automotive HMI applications starting from industry-leading programmable embedded System-on-Chip; PSoC^® family which is supporting a wide range of automotive applications and extending the capacity sensing solution controllers CapSense^® products line. You can add features to your design like capacitive touch buttons and sliders – all integrated and optimized in PSoC® 4.

Recommended products:

Infineon Parallel NOR Flash devices and Serial NOR Flash devices are the ideal solutions. They feature Automotive proven MirrorBit™ technology to ensure data reliability and have the high endurance required for frequent writes over the product lifespan. In addition, they provide fast system boot times and different densities to scale platforms. 
Infineon’s NOR Flash solutions are AEC-Q100 Grade 1 to 3 qualified to meet automotive standards for a wide operating temperature range. Find your product via product selector guide

Recommended parts for Automotive infotainment systems:

• S29GL-T: Parallel NOR
• S29GL-S: Parallel NOR
• S25FL-L: Quad SPI NOR

HyperRAM 2.0

Design Challenges for RAM in instrument cluster are:

1. Limited internal video RAM on MCU
2. Requires memory to support fast bus speeds for smooth graphics rendering
3. Requires high-reliability low complexity interface
4. Requires automotive-qualified memory

Infineon Solution

1. 64 Mb and 128 Mb density combinations offering scalability to address increasing graphical complexity of mid- and high-end clusters
2. Offers 400 MBps read speed for 1.8 V and 3.0 V versions
3. HyperRAM™ offers simple 12-pin bus that is shareable with HyperFlash™
4. HyperRAM comes in Automotive Grade 2 temperature grade

HyperRAM 2.0 is a high-speed, low-pin-count, self-refresh Dynamic RAM (DRAM) for high-performance embedded systems requiring expansion memory. HyperRAM 2.0 offers HyperBus and Octal SPI interfaces that draw upon the legacy features of both parallel and serial interface memories while enhancing system performance and ease of design, as well as reducing system cost. The 12-pin, HyperBus and Octal SPI interfaces operate at Double Data Rate (DDR) and can scale up to 400 MB/s throughput making HyperRAM 2.0 the ideal expansion memory for controllers with limited on-board RAM.
When used as scratch-pad memory, the fast read and write operations enable fast delivery of high-resolution graphics in the early part of the system boot process. HyperRAM 2.0 is the ideal memory for automotive instrument clusters.

Recommended HyperRAM parts for instrument cluster:

The Traveo family drives scalability and high performance into one line-up and at the same time adds new features to fulfill the latest requirements of the automotive industry. Based on the powerful ARM® Cortex®-R5F core in single operations, it offers state-of-the-art real-time performance, safety, and security features. The family supports the latest in-car networks and offers high-performance graphics engines optimized for a minimum memory footprint and embeds dedicated features to increase data security in the car. S6J3310/20/30/40 is a microcontroller series for instrument clusters with small thin-film transistor (TFT) displays.

PSoC® 4000 is a scalable, reconfigurable, cost-optimized, entry-level Arm® Cortex®-M0 MCU. It combines programmable and reconfigurable analog and digital blocks with flexible automatic routing. It features the industry’s best CapSense - capacitive touch interface, low power operation from 1.71V to 5.5V, and programmable analog and digital blocks for a customizable solution. 

Training topics:

• Get to know why systems require frequent updates, how this is done and how automotive systems try to ensure their security when they are updated
• Learn how AURIX™ families of microcontrollers support over-the-air software updates

Watch now