Marquardt Group’s latest non-contact car door lock application selects ams radio frequency technology
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Leading high-performance analog IC and sensor supplier ams today announced that the well-known auto parts supplier Marquardt Group will use ams AS3914 in its latest series of non-contact car door locks and ignition control modules. Near Field Communication (NFC) Card reader chip.
As a leading mechatronics expert, Marquardt Group has long been committed to providing products to the world’s leading automobile manufacturers. AS3914 has excellent performance, even when it is installed close to a metal plate, it can still achieve reliable NFC coupling. At the same time, the average power consumption of this product is also much lower than other NFC reader chips. Therefore, Marquardt finally chose the ams AS3914 NFC reader chip.
In order to realize the non-contact application of car door locks, Marquardt’s NFC module is installed in the handlebar and the center console (in the compartment). The 13.56MHz module located in the handle of the car can be paired with any standard NFC card (tag) or tag simulator (such as a mobile phone, smart watch or tablet). The driver only needs to touch the handle with these devices, and the car door will open automatically. The effective range of the system is 4 cm. When the authorization tag is recognized, the module will issue an instruction to unlock the car to the electronic control unit. The second module in the center console must be contactlessly coupled with the driver’s tag for the second time to start the car engine.
Marquardt’s module will be used in the next generation of new products from one of the top European automakers. This module has been demonstrated in the World Mobile Communications Conference held in February 2015.
In car handle applications, NFC card readers must operate under conditions that are not conducive to radio frequency transmission: the metal plate of the car door is equivalent to an extra antenna, which will transfer most of the radio frequency energy emitted by the NFC card reader. Marquardt’s design engineers found that in such an application environment, the performance of AS3914 is superior, more stable and reliable than other NFC readers.
This is because AS3914 has up to 1W RF output power and high sensitivity. AS3914’s unique automatic antenna tuning function can also offset signal attenuation and interference caused by vehicle metal panels.
By using AS3914, Marquardt can realize the non-contact door opening function at a distance of 4 cm from the car handle in almost any environment (even in the car design with chrome-plated metal veneer on the plastic handle). This effective operating range is very suitable for car door lock applications, because the solution is more convenient to use, the driver does not need to attach the tag or tag simulator to the handle of the car, and it can also prevent the driver from walking by the car (more than 4cm effective Operating range) Unexpectedly open the door.
Low power consumption is another major advantage of AS394: the low-power capacitive/inductive wake-up function can continuously scan the tag, and wake up the high-power NFC transmitter after detecting that the tag enters the effective range. This low-power wake-up function consumes only 5μA per 100ms scan operation in capacitive mode.
The Marquardt NFC module can not only be used in the handlebars and center console of the car, the module can also be installed behind the windshield and used in “non-contact key” products in the automotive aftermarket. When used in these products, the NFC module has to operate in a metal environment, so the optimized receiver sensitivity and high RF output power of the AS3914 are particularly important.
Rene Wutt, senior marketing manager at ams, said: “The car body contains a large amount of metal material, which makes it difficult for NFC devices to operate normally. Marquardt has successfully solved this problem by using the unique performance of AS3914. We are very happy to help people like Marquardt. Companies with forward-looking ideas develop new products for the automotive market. Marquardt will undoubtedly create a new path for other companies in the automotive industry.”
Marquardt also said: “From beginning to end, ams and its AS3914 products have made our work smoother and more enjoyable. Even in the prototype stage of the product, we have achieved a longer effective operating range than other card reader chips through AS3914. This means that our design team can have greater design tolerance in the harsh application environment of module deployment, and get our products into the market as soon as possible.”
ams has already provided samples of AS3914 and is expected to achieve mass production by the end of this year. As a variant of AS3911B, AS3914 is mainly used in the automotive market. At the same time, the test coverage of AS3914 is constantly being adjusted to meet the different requirements of automotive product manufacturers.
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