2024 Embedded Chip and System Design Competition
ST Track Topic Direction Three
Automotive MCU Application Support Explanation and Production Ideas Sharing
Hello everyone, from yesterday’s post we learned that the 7th National College Student Embedded Competition has officially started, and a live broadcast of the ST track topic guide was held last night (Prize Live Broadcast Tonight | Interpretation of Embedded Competition ST Track “Topic Guide” and Preparation Suggestions), today we continue with the National College Student Embedded Chip and System Design Competition application track, ST topic direction three: Sharing Production Ideas for Automotive MCU Application Topics. The main content of this post is to analyze the automotive MCU application direction of ST, organize the competition requirements, allocate MCU resources, and share design frameworks.
1. Introduction to the National College Student Embedded Chip and System Design Competition
Before we start, let me briefly introduce the competition: (Competition Official Website: http://www.socchina.net/)
The “National College Student Embedded Chip and System Design Competition” (hereinafter referred to as the “competition”) aims to enhance the independent innovation design and engineering practice capabilities of college students in the fields of embedded chips and system design and programmable logic devices, cultivate outstanding talents with innovative thinking, the ability to solve complex engineering problems, and team spirit, while promoting the cooperation and construction of talent training between colleges and enterprises, and activating the academic atmosphere of innovation and entrepreneurship on campus.
The competition has been included in the “2023 National College Student Competition Analysis Report” competition directory published by the Chinese Higher Education Association in March 2023.
Since the competition follows an open topic mode, there are no specific restrictions and requirements for project design. Participants only need to choose creative designs based on the reference ideas and project suggestions for the selected topic, with more innovative designs and practical functions scoring higher.
The registration for the competition is now open, and the deadline for registration is April 25:
Relevant competition methods can be found in the competition official website’s competition description:
Relevant topic guides can be obtained from the competition official download page
http://www.socchina.net/file/cacheFile/95164e270f9c40afb578f3b32db16f0e.pdf
Yesterday, the replay of the video on the topic guide interpretation and preparation suggestions conducted by ST experts can be viewed on the official STMAutomotive video account or on the Zhufei Technology account on Bilibili (ST Track Topic Guide Bilibili Replay Link:https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1zm411679C/). For future resource viewing convenience, everyone can click to follow!
2. STMicroelectronics Topic Direction Three: Automotive MCU Application Free Hardware Support
First, let’s introduce the benefits. To better support participants choosing ST track topic direction three, this year ST has partnered with Zhufei Technology to provide related hardware and technical support specifically for automotive MCU direction topics. Teams participating in the ST track topics can apply for free hardware support:
It should be noted that the free application for development boards and chips requires a deposit to be paid in advance. Participating teams need to submit their preliminary project results, which will be reviewed by the ST internal committee, and the full deposit for the development boards will be refunded, but the quantity available for application is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis:
Automotive MCU application topics can apply for the ZFEVB-SR5E1E3 development kit. After completing registration and passing the application, a deposit of 300¥ must be paid in advance to obtain the issued development board and supporting debugging programmer. After submitting the work, a refund of the deposit can be requested; if the team fails to successfully submit the work for the competition, the deposit will not be refunded.
The application link is as follows: http://seekfree.mikecrm.com/cD8Iy3j
To encourage everyone to choose the ST track automotive MCU application direction for competition, in addition to the rewards unified by the organizing committee, ST also provides additional rewards, as shown in the screenshot below:
3. Overview of Zhufei’s ZFEVB-SR5E1E3 Development Board and Brushless Drive Kit
The ST automotive MCU application direction provides the ZFEVB-SR5E1E3 development board, which uses the Stellar SR5E1E3 chip. This series is designed to meet the demands of new wide bandgap power technologies (silicon carbide and gallium nitride) for enhanced digital control and high-performance analog, suitable for various power conversion applications (such as onboard chargers and DC/DC converters) and advanced motor control (such as traction inverter applications).
The development board is designed for better extensibility and does not integrate too many resource-consuming pins, but instead leads resources through pin headers, only integrating a CAN bus interface and a Type-C serial interface:
The ZFEVB-SR5E1E3 development board is paired with StellarLINK for debugging and programming:
Based on the characteristics of the SR5E1E3 chip, Zhufei Technology has developed a dual brushless motor drive kit (including dual brushless driver boards and Hall brushless motors) available for purchase:
At the same time, if the development kits are not enough, for example, if your work requires multiple development boards, you can also purchase additional development boards for design. Taobao link: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?ft=t&id=770025671704
4. Competition Technical Support and Resource Support
The ST track automotive MCU topic direction is supported by materials provided by ST, including StellarStudio software, user manuals, debugging-related instructions, etc.,STMicroelectronics automotive MCU design resource package link:https://www.stmcu.com.cn/Designresource/detail/software/711740
These include relevant user manuals and notes provided by ST:
At the same time, Zhufei Technology has also specially produced development kit materials (including schematics, basic usage example programs, and IDE user manuals) and technical support (online technical support can be obtained from the QQ group):
5. Basic Analysis and Basic Ideas Sharing for ST Automotive MCU Application Topics
It should be noted that this topic direction specifies the use of Stellar series chips as the main control.
Since it is an open topic, there are no specific requirements for the form and content of the work, only specifications for the hardware platform and recommendations for application technologies:
The reference ideas can be seen mainly divided into motor control and power supply, which also aligns with the positioning of the Stellar series chips themselves. In the project suggestions, it is recommended to use the HRTIM high-precision timer and CORDIC hardware module, both of which are very suitable for the control of brushless motor drives, and can be applied to vehicle ECU units, such as electric power steering, or can be used to create wheeled robots.
Here, taking the robotic arm transport vehicle scheme as an example, we will share the topic production ideas (combining the use of the MCTK motor control kit, and using the recommended resources HRTIM and CORDIC):
A single development board as the vehicle control, two development boards control two brushless motors as robotic arm control, which can be two sets of two axes or one set of four axes, controlled through CAN bus:
A single development board with the MCTK motor control kit can support the driving operation of two brushless motors:
The overall control process should be (choose how many motor control kits to add based on actual needs):
After organizing the software framework and clarifying the logical relationships, you only need to complete the software framework construction and implement various functions, and then add additional features based on this foundation, such as remote IoT control, path planning, etc. (Will someone make an unmanned excavator…?)
Since the competition itself is an open topic, encouraging innovation and diversification, we only provide a basic idea here; in fact, there can be more choices, open ideas for more novel designs, or add your creativity and ideas to existing applications such as multi-legged robots, ECU (Electric Power Steering System (EPS), Brake-by-Wire (BBW), Electromagnetic Suspension, etc.).
From the interpretation of ST’s topic guide, it can be seen that the judges prefer to see more creative, practical, and complete designs. Zhufei will also develop some application demos to share with everyone as basic references, so please stay tuned. But more creative works and more complete designs require all participants to fully utilize their talents for expansion design, accumulate relevant experience in automotive electronics development, and perhaps enter the hot and lucrative automotive electronics industry in the future. Good luck, everyone, and welcome to the challenge!
This concludes today’s post. We welcome communication and hope that Zhufei’s companionship can promote your growth. PS: You can communicate and interact through the QQ group (2024 Embedded Competition “ST Track” Topic Three (Automotive MCU) Group Number: 856647586) or leave a message under the Zhufei Technology WeChat official account. Everyone is welcome to continue following the “Zhufei Technology” WeChat official account. Updates on Zhufei’s open-source projects, technical sharing, and various college subject competition information will be published on that account. Click the link below or scan the QR code to follow.
