Intel Unveils Integrated EV Chip

Silicon Mobility, now part of Intel, has introduced a groundbreaking hybrid controller chip that merges FPGA and CPUs to streamline functions within electric vehicles.

The OLEA U310 system-on-chip (SoC) from Silicon Mobility in Sweden represents a significant advancement in technology. This innovative chip is designed with a hybrid and heterogeneous architecture, capable of replacing up to six standard microcontrollers in a system. By controlling essential components such as the inverter, motor, gearbox, DC-DC converter, and on-board charger in real time, the OLEA U310 reduces system complexity, power consumption, and overall cost.

This second-generation field programmable control unit (FPCU) features three ARM Cortex-R52 real-time microcontroller cores running at 350MHz, providing 2196 DMIPS, along with two Advanced Execution and Events Control (AxEC) units operating at 175MHz.

The AxEC units are responsible for fast-response-time processing and real-time control, while the CPUs manage high-level and low-response-time software tasks. Designers have the flexibility to assign specific tasks to either the CPU or AxEC, with the latter typically handling complex processing to reduce CPU usage. This hardware processing capability ensures rapid and precise responses, regardless of event volume or frequency.

The Safety Integrity Level (SILant) agent within the FPCU is dedicated to system functional safety, ensuring compliance with ISO 26262 ASIL-D standards. This new generation of chips features a deterministic multi-core and multi-FLU cluster, guaranteeing worst-case execution timing.

The Flexible Hardware Security Module (FHSM) is a crucial sub-system focused on cybersecurity, integrating encryption/decryption accelerators and complying with EVITA Full and ISO 21434 standards. Combined with a hardware programmable cluster, the FHSM enhances security by supporting unidentified threats.

With an AEC-Q100 Grade 1 certification, the chip boasts 8MB of program flash, 256KB of data flash, and 1MB of SRAM, along with CAN FD, CAN XL, and Ethernet interfaces. These features, combined with a 292-pin BGA, make the chip versatile and suitable for a wide range of applications.

In addition to reducing the bill of materials (BoM), early results indicate up to a 5% improvement in energy efficiency, 25% motor downsizing for the same power output, 35% less cooling requirements, and a significant reduction in passive components.

The OLEA Composer design framework seamlessly integrates with leading development tools, accelerating the development process for OLEA FPCUs. By supporting various simulation environments and utilizing the hardware/software split within the OLEA U310, development, validation, and calibration times are drastically reduced while achieving superior performance.

The OLEA LIB companion software library offers engineers a modular set of pre-built functional blocks tailored to common powertrain control tasks. These blocks, ranging from reference to target models for MATLAB and Simulink, cater to specific customer and application needs. Models from OLEA LIB can be directly used within OLEA Composer for simulations and automatic code generation, streamlining the development process further.

Displayed at PCIM in Nuremberg, Germany, this week, the chip complements Intel Automotive's existing family of AI-enhanced software-defined vehicle (SDV) SoCs for electric vehicles. It runs concurrent control algorithms for automotive power and energy application control, developed by Silicon Mobility.

For more information, visit www.silicon-mobility.com.