C h a p t e r 1
One industry that has seen a significant increase in
distributed intelligence is the automotive industry,
in which today's modern vehicles are significantly
smarter and more capable than ever before. A large
part of this increase in functionality is due to the
industry's transition from powering automotive
subsystems with mechanical solutions to using
networked electrical solutions.
Microcontrollers have gained favor in the automotive
industry for several reasons, including the
convenience, cost savings, and increased safety
that come from using an electronic control system.
Namely, the increased reliance on electronic
functions throughout automotive systems has
led to the increased use of MCUs to control the
8-BIT FOR
AUTOMOTIVE
Automobiles are like data centers on
wheels. Every area of the vehicle is
capturing or processing small frames of
data continuously. 8-bit MCUs are useful
in this area as that data capture capability
is distributed around the vehicle, it's not
centralized in one system. So it makes
sense to use a smaller microcontroller in
many instances in order to reduce costs
and component size."
Zachariah Peterson
PCB Design Expert & Electronics Design Consultant, Northwest Engineering Solutions LLC
6
The Mighty 8-Bit Microcontroller: Still Enabling Innovation in Modern Applications
