Infineon and BMW M GmbH cooperating to develop high-performance engine control unit for next BMW M series
(Technology News, 13 Mar 2008 )
Infineon Technologies AG will collaborate closely with BMW subsidiary BMW M GmbH on the development of a new engine control unit for the next BMW M series of cars. Infineon's role will center on integrating its microcontroller chips (MCUs) into the system and on providing technical support.
The engine in the new BMW M series, like its predecessors, will have outstanding performance specifications, yet it will also reduce fuel consumption and meet an entire range of current worldwide automotive emissions standards, including EURO5 and US-LEV2. Accomplishing this, calls for highly innovative engine control and BMW M GmbH will be using 32-bit flash microcontrollers from the Infineon AUDO FUTURE product family, based on Infineon's proprietary TriCore® processor architecture.
The TriCore processor architecture unites the capabilities of a microprocessor, a microcontroller and a digital signal processor (DSP) on a single chip. The microprocessor operates at high clock speeds to deliver the computing power needed to process instructions fast. It is supported by the microcontroller and its intelligent peripherals. The DSP, optimized to perform mathematical functions, helps additionally to ensure that instructions are executed quickly.
Besides this processor architecture, which is optimized for real-time processing, the AUDO FUTURE product family includes intelligent peripherals, like the MultiLink Interface (MLI). Designed specifically to meet the advanced requirements of highly sophisticated engine control systems, the interface can connect multiple AUDO microcontrollers to one another and enables them to share data at rates of up to 37.5 Mbit/s. It plays a crucial role in high-performance powertrain systems where the system "intelligence" is spread across multiple microcontrollers. These capabilities make Infineon's TriCore microcontroller exceptionally well-suited for controlling complex engine management systems with a multiprocessor architecture of the kind planned for the new BMW M series.
