Automotive Engineering - August 2022 - 25

ELECTRICAL ARCHITECTURES FEATURE
Real-time processors
help drive the zonal
E/E REVOLUTION
NXP said its S32 platform is enabled for rapid
prototyping and embeds a high-performance
hardware security engine.
With its new generation of software-compatible processors, NXP aims to accelerate
systems consolidation and performance.
by Bill Visnic
O
EMs face major challenges with their vehicle electrical architectures
as they become more complex and unwieldy.
They also want to speed their innovation cycles while supporting
intelligent safety and functional upgrades. By developing
software-defined vehicle architectures rather than the conventional
hardware approach, OEMs can consolidate engine control
unit (ECU) functionality into more powerful multicore processors that
support software isolation and upgradeability.
So said Brian Carlson, NXP Semiconductors director of Global
Products and Solution Marketing, who spoke with SAE Media about
the company's newest automotive-targeted processors and the
trends that drove their development. The NXP S32 automotive platform,
he said, is central to addressing automotive's accelerating
electrical/electronic (E/E) consolidation - both logically and physically
and sometimes a combination of both. Logical consolidation,
Carlson said, organizes functions into domains, while physical consolidation
organizes functions based on their location within the
vehicle into zones.
NXP's current S32G processors already are enabling vehicle networking
and service-oriented gateways, and the S32K microcontrollers
target remote actuation and zonal control in the body and
comfort domain. However, with the higher levels of ECU consolidation
accelerating, there is a need for higher performance to meet
the deterministic demands of software-defined vehicle real-time
control applications.
" Today, and historically, automotive architectures have been what
we call a 'flat' architecture - where there's a lot of boxes that get
added incrementally as new functions come into the vehicle. A lot of
the innovations are new, are software-driven with the new boxes, "
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
Carlson said. " 'Domain' is about centralizing these
things more into 'functional.' Powertrain, body and
comfort, infotainment, where all of those are grouped
together from a software point of view, it's about software
consolidation. You'll hear this over and over
about 'software-defined vehicles.' I know it's overused, "
he continued, " but truly, it's where the market's
going. The domain focus, that's the first step to consolidate
software, not have modules all over the place
that aren't directly working with each other. "
Meanwhile, Carlson said, " zonal " architecture approaches,
once projected for production beginning
late this decade, are for a variety of reasons now on a
quicker development pace. Zonal structures, he said,
" are about simplifying the wiring, the architecture.
Where rather than having 100 boxes all over the vehicle,
I have maybe four or five boxes.
" I would say many of the major, high-volume OEMs
are definitely moving fast [on zonal electrical architectures], "
he stressed. " They're leveraging the zonal approach
in the 2025, 2026, 2027 timeframe. If you look
at the OEMs, they've been adding new capabilities,
trying to make this all work, it's been a challenge. And
they see that they're investing $20 billion, $30 billiontype
numbers into EVs, that's the future where everything's
moving. That's what really has driven this faster
move to zonal. "
Carlson said the transition to domain and zonal architectures
is happening concurrently. " One's about
August 2022 25
NXP
Automotive Engineering - August 2022

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