Automotive-sensor technology drives nonautomotive embedded designs

摘要

Cars, trucks, and buses are now almost as electronic as they are mechanical. Electronic content will only increase as more and more vehicles incorporate advanced functions, such as stability control and drive by wire. Because electronic systems operate on electrical signals, motor vehicles require sensors to convert myriad optical, chemical, and mechanical stimuli into electrical form. Although sensors have historically been expensive, automotive sensors can't be; manufacturing motor vehicles—even high-priced luxury cars—is extremely cost-sensitive. Nevertheless, despite stringent cost constraints, designers of automotive sensors can't cut corners. The sensors must operate reliably over many years under extremes of tempera-ture, humidity, shock, vibration, and EMI that can severely shorten the lives of the sensors' conventional counterparts.