Life cycle for the development of an automotive electronic embedded system

This thesis concerns the design of a VCU (Vehicle Control Unit), for prospective applications in prototype vehicles. All the aspect covered during the development process will be discussed, such as: functional specification analysis, component selection, simulations, schematic and PCB (Printed Circuit Board) design. The goal of this project is to build a board divided into two parts: a Core board, which handles the logic of the system and the state machine of the operating modes, and a Carrier board that handles the power management, conditioning circuits, transceivers and drivers for actuating external loads. The preliminary step of the project consists of analyzing the given specifications and extracting a list of system requirements, both for the safety analysis and the actual implementation of them. The first step deals with the overall architecture design in which the elements, that each macro-block must be composed of, have been defined. Sizing and component selection has been done as a next step by taking into account of automotive qualifications (AEC-Q 100/101/200), electrical regulations (ISO 16750-2, ISO 7637) and, mainly, the component's cost. To ensure the right behaviour of the sub-circuits, before moving into schematic and PCB design, simulations have been carried out in the LTspice environment. Later on, when deciding the layout and the arrangement of the components, constraints about physical dimension have been considered. The designed Carrier board is equipped with minimal components, one for each type of circuit of interest, just to test the main functionalities. This introductory project will be used as a reference for future designs inside Bylogix s.r.l company, a small company with headquarters in Grugliasco (TO). Its main focus in on providing OEM’s and Tier1’s electrical and electronic engineering services and solutions for the Automotive Industry.