Freescale offers on-chip security features for prevention of automotive electronics tampering

embedded world 2011, NUREMBERG, GERMANY: The security of automotive electronics systems is an escalating topic of concern for automotive OEMs, owners and the insurance industry.

Electronic control of automotive systems is steadily increasing, with large amounts of data streaming through body control modules (BCM)/gateways. Freescale Semiconductor is helping significantly reduce the security risks for that data with new additions to its MPC56xx family of Qorivva 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) built on Power Architecture technology.

At the high end, the MPC564xB/C devices are the first MCUs for the automotive market that incorporate a cryptographic services engine (CSE), which enables secure and trustworthy transmission of information between electronic components. Cryptography is used in the automotive industry to encode and decode data for various functions, such as blocking illegal manipulation of a vehicle’s mileage, activating immobilizers that prevent a car from being stolen without the key and preventing individual electronic control units from being dismantled and reused in other vehicles.

The entry-level MPC560xD devices are cost-optimized, single controller area network (CAN) node solutions featuring low power consumption for demanding OEM power budgets, small package footprints and a wide range of communication interfaces such as LIN, SPI and CAN. The MPC560xD is optimal for body control end nodes, such as the ones used in door and seat applications.

“The security of a car’s electronic systems is critical to the operation of the vehicle and the safety of its occupants,” said Ray Cornyn, director of Freescale’s Automotive MCU business. “Our Qorivva MPC56xx family offers solutions at both ends of the performance spectrum and provides the peace of mind that comes with having advanced security features without sacrificing power or cost.”