Mixed Signal ASIC Platform for Generic Sensor Interface in Automotive Applications
Luca Fanucci, F. Iozzi, C. Marino, Marco De Marinis, Adolfo Giambastiani, Alessandro Rocchi · CINECA IRIS Institutial research information system (University of Pisa) · 2005
A mixed signal platform to fast identify, trim and verify an architecture suitable to interface a given sensor in the automotive field is presented. A platform based design approach is pursued to improve system performance while minimizing time-to-market. The platform is composed by an analog front-end and a digital section. The latter is based on a microcontroller core (8051 IP by Oregano) plus a set of dedicated hardware dedicated to the complex signal processing required for sensor conditioning. The microcontroller handles also the communication with external devices (as a PC) for data output and fast prototyping. A case study is presented concerning the conditioning of a Gyro yaw rate sensor for automotive applications. Measured performance results outperform current state-of-the-art commercial devices.