EDA Vendor Sets Its Sights On The Automotive Market

Oct. 13, 2005

According to some estimates, the electronics content in automobiles will represent 40% of their end price by 2010. Today's vehicles have as many as 22 separate systems with significant electronic content. That translates into quite a bit of design work,

David Maliniak

By folding in the recently acquired Volcano automotive networking tools and SystemVision, a simulator for automotive mechatronic subsystems, Mentor has put together the foundations for a tool suite that addresses the entire automotive design process.

Automotive design has become incredibly complex and multidisciplined. The systems are massively parallel and distributed. Mentor's Volcano Network Architect takes a top-down approach to correct-by-construction network design (see the figure).

This tool aids in creation of in-vehicle software target packages for all popular dedicated MCUs and main bus protocols, such as CAN or LIN. As a result, designers can abstract the application away from the bus protocol for simulation.The Tellus hardware network interface,-which is firmware-configurable, further-helps test and validation.

Mentor's SystemVision tool brings virtual prototyping to the automotive design world. It allows vehicles to be represented from the conceptual level, or a requirements specification, down to component level. At the tool's core is a versatile simulation engine that accepts mixed-signal, mixed-domain models. It bridges the mechanical, electrical, and software domains, as well as the controls that interface between them.

Also, the Capital Harness System tools are key to Mentor's automotive strategy. They can automatically generate the wire harnesses required to support any combination of vehicle options. Contact Mentor Graphics directly for pricing and delivery information for its array of automotive design tools.

Mentor Graphics
www.mentor.com

About the Author

David Maliniak | MWRF Executive Editor

In his long career in the B2B electronics-industry media, David Maliniak has held editorial roles as both generalist and specialist. As Components Editor and, later, as Editor in Chief of EE Product News, David gained breadth of experience in covering the industry at large. In serving as EDA/Test and Measurement Technology Editor at Electronic Design, he developed deep insight into those complex areas of technology. Most recently, David worked in technical marketing communications at Teledyne LeCroy. David earned a B.A. in journalism at New York University.