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Highly Integrated SoC Sets Sights on Automotive Lighting Systems

May 2, 2025

Target applications for NOVOSENSE’s smart LED controller/drivers include automotive interior light modules, charging door indicators, and body lighting.

Lee Goldberg

Related To:

Electronic Design

NOVOSENSE Microelectronics recently unveiled the NSUC1500-Q1, a highly integrated system-on-chip (SoC) designed to meet the demands of modern automotive ambient lighting systems. The NSUC1500-Q1 can be combined with the high-precision NSLxxxxx series of linear LED drivers for use in automotive taillights and interior lighting modules, EV charging door indicators, and other RGB/RGBW-based lighting systems requiring compact, efficient, and intelligent control.

At the heart of the NSUC1500-Q1 is a 32-bit Arm Cortex-M3 core with 32 kB of flash, 2 kB of EEPROM, 15 kB of ROM, and dedicated memory for runtime operations. The SoC incorporates four LED driver channels capable of delivering up to 64 mA each, controlled through enhanced 16-bit independent PWM outputs.

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A 12-bit ADC, in combination with an integrated temperature sensor and voltage monitoring, enables automatic compensation for LED color shift due to temperature changes or aging. The integrated LIN transceiver and controller support LIN 2.x and SAE J2602 communication standards, with features such as auto-addressing to simplify network setup. The SoC also supports software updates via the ROM-based UDS bootloader without occupying flash memory.

The NSUC1500-Q1, available in QFN-24, SOP8, and HSOP8 packages, supports an operating voltage range from 6 to 28 V.

About the Author

Lee Goldberg | Contributing Editor

Lee Goldberg is a self-identified “Recovering Engineer,” Maker/Hacker, Green-Tech Maven, Aviator, Gadfly, and Geek Dad. He spent the first 18 years of his career helping design microprocessors, embedded systems, renewable energy applications, and the occasional interplanetary spacecraft. After trading his ‘scope and soldering iron for a keyboard and a second career as a tech journalist, he’s spent the next two decades at several print and online engineering publications.

Lee’s current focus is power electronics, especially the technologies involved with energy efficiency, energy management, and renewable energy. This dovetails with his coverage of sustainable technologies and various environmental and social issues within the engineering community that he began in 1996. Lee also covers 3D printers, open-source hardware, and other Maker/Hacker technologies.

Lee holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Thomas Edison College, and participated in a colloquium on technology, society, and the environment at Goddard College’s Institute for Social Ecology. His book, “Green Electronics/Green Bottom Line - A Commonsense Guide To Environmentally Responsible Engineering and Management,” was published by Newnes Press.

Lee, his wife Catherine, and his daughter Anwyn currently reside in the outskirts of Princeton N.J., where they masquerade as a typical suburban family.

Lee also writes the regular PowerBites series.