Harris Semiconductor, Breaking the Cost Barrier
3 December 1997
Harris Semiconductor, Breaking the Cost Barrier
Low-Cost Computer Chips Make '98 Cars Perform Better
DETROIT, Dec. 3 -- 1998 American cars will begin featuring
electronic "data expressways" that improve performance and fuel efficiency,
reduce emissions, and make vehicles more reliable and easier to service,
reports Harris Semiconductor. In the future, these devices may save
automakers hundreds of millions of dollars annually by making cars easier to
design and build.
So says Fred Miesterfeld, supervisor of advanced electronic development at
Chrysler Corporation . Miesterfeld chairs a Society of Automotive
Engineers' special committee that defined a national standard for what is
called "J1850 multiplexing." Electronics based on this standard will appear
in 1998 Chrysler Concorde and Dodge Intrepid sedans and are scheduled for
future Chrysler cars, Jeeps, minivans, sport-utility vehicles and trucks.
"While the entire auto industry is likely to adopt the SAE multiplexing
standard," Miesterfeld says, "a team of Chrysler and Harris Semiconductor
engineers has taken the lead by making multiplexing so affordable that we can
even put it in our lowest-priced vehicles such as the Neon."
Breaking the cost barrier is important because of intense pressure on U.S.
automakers to develop ever-better vehicles without raising prices.
What was the problem? Automakers have had to add scores of wires and
hundreds of connectors to cars in order to control new conveniences like
automatic lighting, theater-sound stereos, dual-control air conditioners, cell
phones, power seats, windows and mirrors, and satellite navigation aids.
Before long, car buyers are expected to ask for further convenience and safety
features, now being developed, such as "intelligent" cruise control, collision
warning systems and devices to improve vision at night and in fog.
"If you look at conventional electrical networks, you'll find a jungle of
wires snaking through a car's interior, contending for space and looking for
trouble," Chrysler's Miesterfeld declares. "Without multiplexing," he says,
"we'd have to jam twice as many wires and connectors into the cars we'll be
building just a few years from now. This would mean double the wiring bulk,
double the weight and double the wiring chore during vehicle assembly.
"The industry simply can't afford to keep adding complexity and cost. We
have to continue to find affordable solutions. One such solution is
multiplexing."
How it works. The solution engineered by Chrysler and Harris
Semiconductor lets sensors and control devices throughout a car communicate
via a single pair of wires -- in effect, a "data expressway" with on-ramps and
off-ramps for each location. There, two tiny multiplexing control chips take
charge of directing traffic. They guide each signal -- thousands of them per
second -- to its correct destination instantly and without conflict.
Even though they are small and inexpensive, these specially engineered
chips are helping automakers incorporate new performance, safety and
convenience features, and will help auto service technicians keep customers'
cars operating to specifications, including U.S. Environmental Agency (EPA)
and California Air Resource Board (CARB) mandates for fuel economy and
emissions diagnostics.
Harris Semiconductor has begun delivering production quantities of J1850
multiplexing control modules to Chrysler. Miesterfeld says the cost per car
is "far less than the wires and assembly work we would otherwise need."
According to Jack Yellin, marketing manager for Harris Semiconductor's
Intelligent Power Products, within a few years the auto industry may be
purchasing 100 million or more J1850 circuit chips annually as multiplexing
becomes the norm in all kinds of motor vehicles.
NOTE: Harris Semiconductor is a principal U.S. manufacturer of discrete
semiconductors and integrated circuits used for communications, multimedia and
electrical power control. It is one of four business sectors within Harris
Corporation , a $3-1/2 billion supplier of electronic systems,
semiconductors, communications and Lanier Worldwide office equipment.
SOURCE Harris Semiconductor
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