Course descriptions for track 2

Attend one of the technical sessions to learn more about the next innovative technologies and solutions.

Vehicle powernet and distribution supporting fail operational systems

Time: 9:00AM - 10:00AM

A foundation for automotive fail operational systems is the availability of power. Without reliable power availability fail operational functionality is not possible. This session will cover the fail operational requirements that are shaping future vehicle powernets.  We will discuss solution options and how new semiconductor technologies can enable these solutions. Lastly, we will discuss new requirements for the semiconductor switches within the powernet to support fail operational systems.

Bob Beier received a BS in electrical engineering from Michigan State University and a MS in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan.  Bob has over 30 years of automotive electronics experience including 8 years in product development at Ford Electronics Division before joining Siemens Semiconductor/Infineon Technologies in 1995 as a Field Applications Engineer.  Since 2013 he has been a Principal Systems Applications Engineer for smart power switches within body control and power distribution system applications.

Rob Pizzuti has a BSEE from Michigan State University and a MS in Engineering Management from Oakland University.  Rob has 27 years in the automotive and semiconductor industry and has been with Infineon for 13 years where he has focused on Automotive Body and Power distribution applications. Prior to Infineon Rob held  engineering and engineering management positions at Valeo, Alps Automotive, and Code Alarm where he developed body electronics including electronic, electromechanical and RF products for US and Japanese OEMs as well  as aftermarket customers.

Christoph Schulz-Linkholt studied electrical engineering at the Technical University of Karlsruhe with a focus on high voltage engineering/electrical energy systems and wrote his diploma thesis on the topic of “Capabilities of Mode-Stirred Chambers for EMC Measurements.” Christoph has over 20 years of automotive semiconductor experience at Infineon Technologies in the areas of EMC optimization/development and Field Application Engineering for power ICs. Since 2018 Christoph has worked as a Principal System Architect in the area of Power Distribution.

Developing fail operational systems: diversity and processing symmetry strategies

Time: 10:30AM - 11:45AM

This class will discuss two topics challenging fail operational architectures:

  • How to ensure proper diversity in redundant systems
  • Techniques to optimize power consumption through asymmetric processing

Redundancy is a hallmark of fail-operational systems.  But, how do you ensure that you have the right amount and type of redundancy?  We will compare Homogenous and Heterogeneous Redundancy (often called Diversity) to find out the pros and cons of each.  We will consider both hardware and software aspects in this session.  At the end, you will learn how the different types of redundancy can be used to manage the risks of both random and systematic failures. 

To realize wide deployment of vehicles with higher levels of automated driving capabilities, a different approach will need to be taken with respect to architecting the main computer ECU.  Though advancements in technology now offer plenty of computational power performance, one of the key challenges in front of automobile makers is energy consumption.  This session will introduce the concept of asymmetric, or hybrid, compute architectures which can enable higher energy efficiency, while meeting functional safety requirements.

Steve Gross is a Senior Segment Marketing Manager with Infineon.  He is responsible for the braking, electric power steering, and restraints applications in the Americas Automotive Safety Segment.  He has been with Infineon since 2011. 
Prior to Infineon, he was a project engineer and project manager for TRW Automotive and also developed research instruments for elementary particle physics experiments at Michigan State University and hurricane detection at University of Michigan.  He has a BSEE, MSEE, and MBA, all from Michigan State University.  In his free time, he enjoys motorcycling, music, and travel. 

Over 20 years of experience in semiconductor industry focusing on embedded system solutions
Held multiple roles with global responsibility for strategic vertical market segments at Renesas Electronics America Inc.
Multi-disciplinary skillset including systems engineering, application engineering, product management, strategic marketing, and business development


B.S. in Electrical Engineering with concentration in Digital Electronics from San Francisco State University, California

Ernie Pacsai has 30 years of electronic product design experience in wireless, power, instrumentation, infotainment, body, EMC, lighting, and just about every type of electronics there is in Automotive, Military, and Industrial markets.  He enjoys beer, robotics, water stuff, beer, SciFi, and is a proud Spartan.

Four pillars of automotive security

Time: 12:30PM - 1:30PM

The explosion of vehicle connectivity and new interfaces (WiFi, 4G/5G, Bluetooth, 802.11p, USB, NFC, etc.) is exponentially increasing a car’s attack surface. After briefly discussing why end-to-end security is needed in this constantly growing ecosystem, this talk will focus in how to the ESE perspective is applied to secure the connected car through the four pillars of automotive security.

Attendees will learn:

  • The scope of the threat landscape and major risks in the connected vehicle ecosystem
  • Why a layered security approach is necessary in a vehicle cybersecurity concept, and what it can look like
  • Current solutions available to mitigate the major security risks
  • What are the future automotive security challenges, including cloud connectivity & IoT integration in the car, and techniques to address them

Marco started working at Infineon in 2015, after obtaining his Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering. From day one, his focus has been on Automotive Security; he now works with OEMs and suppliers on future security concepts and current implementations, and participates the SAE J3101 effort as well as the Auto-ISAC.

Oscar joined Infineon in 2016 as a Cyber Security Systems Engineer for Automotive and IoT. He previously worked as a Principal Engineer for Atmel secure products for 7 years. He holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science and is very passionate about cyber security. He is also actively participating in SAE J3101 and Auto-ISAC.

Enabling scalable and safe mobility

Time: 2:00PM - 2:35PM

In this class, discover how new mobility technologies in connected and autonomous vehicles create challenges related to data processing, and how such challenges can be addressed through non-conventional machine learning schemes. 

We’ll discuss:

  • How the limited access of sensor data, and its real time processing imposes challenges to the embedded architecture in cars
  • How challenges are inherently driven by traditional machine learning methodologies and the need to continuously obtain new datasets to adapt to new situations
  • What state-of-the-art data processing technologies are available to tackle these challenges

Daniel Richart, CEO and Founder of Teraki since 2014. PhD from Max Planck Institute on quantum computation acceleration. Focused on operations, financing, business development and R&D strategy at Teraki.

Lunewave - Redefining automotive sensing

Time: 2:35PM - 3:15PM

Traditional radar technologies have two fundamental challenges:  limited field of view, and consistency of performance throughout that field of view.  Through revolutionary use of the Luneburg lens, it is possible to create a radar sensor that overcomes these limitations and delivers disruptive, game-changing performance.  The unique physical properties of the lens translate to unprecedented technical properties:  up to 360 degrees field of view, 0.5 degrees angular resolution, and over 300 meters of range.   In addition, corresponding algorithms utilize the Luneburg lens attributes to allow faster detection speeds and inherent interference mitigation.

Dr. Hao Xin received his BS in Physics and Mathematics from UMass Dartmouth in May 1995, and his PhD in Physics from MIT in Feb. 2001.  His professional interested span broad areas in microwave and millimeter wave engineering.  He is CTO and co-founder of Lunewave Inc.  He is also an IEEE Fellow.  He has been professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and professor of Physics at the University of Arizona since 2005.  Before joining the University of Arizona, he worked as research scientist at Rockwell Scientific Company and as Sr. Principal Multidisciplinary Engineer at Raytheon Missile Systems. He has published over 300 refereed papers and holds over 23 granted and pending patents in related Electrical Engineering research areas.

From bulb to pixel … how advanced LED front lighting systems make night driving safer

Time: 3:30PM - 4:45PM

This lecture will start with the ongoing transition from Bulb to LED for Front Lighting, fueled by design requirements, combined with the need for energy, and cost efficiency. The focus will be a deep dive in ADB solutions as a major contributor to road safety during night driving.

We will explain the different matrix and pixel light concepts and their impact on light features and customer values. Furthermore, it will be explained how the increasing pixel count and the different concepts are affecting actual and future car architectures and lighting electronics. Based on these increasing system requirements we will show what Infineon is doing to enable those next generation ADB systems.

Stefan Stögner is working at Infineon Technologies AG in Austria, Villach since 2010. He is System Architect for Automotive LED Solutions and manager for the System Engineering team at the body power group. In his role he is responsible for the creation and assessment of system designs with the focus on new market trends.