NXP Semiconductors has significantly reduced its product footprint and improved overall performance of its new car infotainment system by using power noise and reliability sign-off solutions for integrated circuits from ANSYS.
With digital radios becoming a standard feature in automobiles, scalable multi-standard support, improved reception performance and cost savings are driving NXP's product development. ANSYS engineering simulation tools helped NXP combine six chips into a single system-on-chip, the SAF360x – leading to the decreased costs.
When combining several complex circuits on a single piece of silicon, there is a significant risk of noise coupling across circuits, especially through shared silicon substrate. To ensure that noise coupling and unwanted noise across various frequency bands were avoided, NXP used ANSYS® RedHawk™ and ANSYS® Totem™ to validate designs against real software operating conditions and silicon measurements.
"By dramatically reducing the total cost of designing and manufacturing in-car digital radio systems, we expect the SAF360x series will help to boost the availability and adoption of digital radio worldwide," said Frank Bouwman, manager of design methodologies central R&D at NXP. "To deliver such a complex system requires robust validation of the design. RedHawk and Totem are production proven sign-off solutions with track records of silicon success. These tools provide us with the ability to model the various noise sources and simulate their interaction, including the substrate and IC package. By using ANSYS simulation solutions, we gain greater confidence in our product success."
"With increasing electronics found in modern vehicles, companies such as NXP need to thoroughly verify their automobile integrated circuits in various conditions," said Fares Mubarak, ANSYS vice president and general manager. "We are committed to serving our customers by continuously innovating and delivering the most accurate power noise reliability sign-off solutions."
