To manage the complexity and performance of new features automakers are adding to vehicles (such as electrification, advanced safety, assisted and automated driving), they’re transitioning to software-defined vehicles for their next-generation platforms. This transition requires a revamping of the car’s architecture.
Key changes include moving from many electrical control units (ECUs) that each manage a small subsystem to domain or zone controllers that combine multiple functions. Such controllers also must manage the consolidation of software from across a wide range of vehicle systems.
Safety and performance require a new generation of automotive-grade MCUs that enable greater processing performance and integration of key functions. STMicroelectronics’ new Stellar P6 automotive MCUs target the coming electrified drivetrains and over-the-air updatable systems that form the foundation of next-generation EVs.
In software-defined vehicles fully driven by electronics systems, the Stellar P6 family was created to deliver fully synchronized operations and secure over-the-air software upgrades of all systems for both maintenance and continued performance improvement.
What is CAN XL?
CAN XL, the third generation of the CAN data-link layer (DLL), is similar to CAN FD, with two bit-timing settings specified. The data-field length goes from 1 byte to 2048 bytes. New is the separation of the CAN-ID field into an 11-bit priority field and a 32-bit acceptance field.
For the XL data phase, the CAN XL DLL provides information on how to switch from the nominal bit rate to the XL data-phase bit rate and vice versa, and how to switch the CAN transceiver mode from Arbitration mode to Data TX Mode/Data RX Mode or vice versa (PWM coding). The PWM coding allows bit rates of 10 Mb/s and more depending on the physical network design.
CAN XL is intended for backbone and sub-backbone network applications. It’s designed for an easy integration into TCP/IP network systems.
Inside the P6
ST’s Stellar P6 MCUs contain up to six Arm Cortex-R52 processor cores, some operating in lockstep and some in split-lock mode to provide failsafe redundancy. As a result, the new devices are able to deliver high performance, real-time determinism, and upgradability for next-generation automotive drivetrains, electrification solutions, and domain-oriented systems.
Stellar P6 manages hardware virtualization using Cortex-R52 features and firewalls. This simplifies the development and integration of multiple-source software on the same chip while ensuring safe isolation and optimizing performance.
“The real-time, power-efficient Stellar P6 automotive microcontrollers combine advanced integration of motion-control and energy-management domains with actuation capabilities, ensuring a smooth shift from traditional ICEs/EVs to new drive-traction architectural patterns of software-defined vehicles,” said Luca Rodeschini, Automotive and Discrete Vice President, Strategic Business Development and Automotive Processing and RF General Manager, STMicroelectronics.
Manufactured in ST’s wafer fabs using 28-nm FD-SOI technology, the Stellar P6 embeds up to 20 MB of phase-change (non-volatile) memory (PCM). ST’s PCM also delivers faster access time through single-bit overwrite, a feature unavailable in flash. In addition, over-the-air updates with no downtime saves memory by dynamically allocating memory space to the new downloaded software image until it’s validated.
Security Measures
With such a configuration, Stellar P6 microcontrollers can store up to 2x 20 MB for OTA reprogramming purposes, providing significant savings in terms of memory needs. They further provide high-speed security cryptographic services, e.g., network authentication. This happens while the rest of the memory continues to execute the running application in real-time.
In addition, the FD-SOI technology inherently offers a quasi-immunity to radiation and provides what’s called “superior protection” against system unavailability while ensuring compliance with stringent safety standards.
A fast hardware security module (HSM), extended with cryptographic engines operating in lockstep, supports secure ASIL D functions and enables EVITA (E-safety Vehicle Intrusion proTected Applications) full security capability. It also provides high-speed security cryptographic services and safe network authentication to further protect manufacturer firmware as well as end-users’ data.
The EVITA project was an automotive cybersecurity initiative co-funded by the European Union, intended to improve the resilience of the automotive on-board network to attacks associated with typical V2X applications, including vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications, smartphone integration, OTA updates, and diagnostic processes.
Samples of Stellar P6 MCUs are available now for model-year 2024 vehicles.
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