ASICs for Electronic Instrument Cluster

ASICs (Application-specific ICs) offer one solution to the problems of quality, cost and installability associated with the increasingly larger-capacity Electronic Control Units (ECUs) in automobiles. A method was, therefore, created for designing automotive ASICs.

Using the method, three ASICs were developed which, together, incorporate all of the functions of the electronic instrument cluster. The core ASIC contains the speedometer and system functions, and the other two ASICs contain the tachometer and gauge functions, respectively. This set of three ASICs allows an electronic instrument cluster design which is two times more reliable, and one-second the cost that conventional systems (with a micro-processor and discrete components).