Automotive dev kit toolset simplifies ECU design

By Gina Roos, editor-in-chief

Addressing the general trend toward automotive electrification and digitalization, STMicroelectronics released a new set of tools to help automotive designers simplify the development of electronic control units (ECUs) that manage many electronic systems in today’s vehicles. The AutoDevKit ecosystem is a new toolset for creating working prototypes that support standardization and design reuse, said ST.

With more than 100 ECUs in new vehicles and their complexity increasing, design teams need to accelerate development to keep pace, ST said. At the same time, designers need to keep pace with the replacement of familiar technologies like traditional bulbs and mechanical systems with more intelligent devices such as LEDs and brushless motors.

STMicroelectronics said that the toolset can cut months of engineering effort for prototype development by enabling users to concentrate on system functionality and offloading low-level tasks such as building device drivers.

The AutoDevKit library software environment, available for free, enables users to select the microcontrollers and functional boards from ST’s automotive portfolio to prototype an automotive solution. After selecting the AutoDevKit components, users are guided to connect the boards, generate code, compile and download firmware, and test and debug the prototype.

The complete AutoDevKit ecosystem includes the AutoDevKit library plugin and hardware development tools including AEK MCU discovery and functional boards and AEKD System Solution Demonstrators, which are optimized for automotive use. The AEK tools include discovery boards for evaluating specific automotive microcontrollers and functional boards that help implement various functions such as motor control, LED lighting, power management, audio, and connectivity.

The AutoDevKit software is part of the integrated design environment for ST’s SPC5 automotive microcontrollers. A key feature of the ecosystem is the easy-to-use application-program interfaces (APIs) for communication and control for each of the functional boards, which are fully integrated with SPC5 Studio low-level drivers, delivering code that is portable across microcontroller platforms.

ST will demonstrate AutoDevKit technology at Embedded World 2020, Hall 4A Stand 138. Readers can visit www.st.com/autodevkit-ew2020  and register to receive an AutoDevKit board free of charge during the show.