News

Marvell Launches First CISPR 25 Qualified Automotive EMC Lab in North America

July 30, 2018 by Paul Shepard

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. today announced the grand opening of its automotive electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) lab in North America. The state-of-the-art EMC testing facility is CISPR 25 qualified and provides Marvell with an in-house capability to perform a wide range of emission, immunity and ESD testing.

With this new facility, Marvell's automotive Ethernet products can be designed into system solutions that meet the demanding EMC challenges faced by automotive manufacturers and help shorten the time-to-market. Having a state-of-the-art EMC lab also enhances Marvell's development of its next generation of automotive qualified products and is a testament to Marvell's long term commitment to the automotive industry.

To deliver improved levels of user experience, safety and security, automotive makers are employing several electronic control units (ECUs) that operate at higher frequencies which pose many new EMC challenges. These ECUs are more frequently being bombarded by multiple sources of electromagnetic interference EMI and noise, ranging from 150 kilohertz to over 10 gigahertz from both internal ECUs and external sources.

Preventing these electromagnetic interferences, enables the mission critical functions of the car to operate reliably. Furthermore, limiting the electromagnetic interference in the car ensures that the infotainment systems including streamed audio and video run seamlessly and without interruption.

The coexistence of an increasing number of ECUs within the car as well as interference from surrounding vehicles have driven automotive silicon vendors to meet very stringent EMC and ESD requirements outlined in the IEC/ISO and AEC-Q100 standards. Marvell's new EMC lab provides the testing capability needed to ensure its products and solutions meet these EMC requirements, including IEC CISPR 25, IEC 62132, IEC61967, IEC 61000, ISO11452, ISO 10605, ISO7637 and other OEM specific EMC requirements.

"Marvell is committed to developing innovative connectivity solutions for the automotive market. The Marvell automotive EMC lab is a clear example of how we help our customers achieve success. With this unique facility, we are able to support our automotive customers to solve their toughest EMC challenges more effectively and efficiently," said Will Chu, vice president and general manager of the Automotive Business Unit, Marvell.

"The automotive megatrends of vehicle electrification, assisted and autonomous driving and the advanced connectivity solutions create an increasingly challenging EMC and ESD environment that have to be solved. Automotive silicon vendors are now being asked to develop capabilities and shoulder more of the responsibility in developing practical recommendations that overcome these challenges," said Ian Riches, director, Global Automotive Practice, Strategy Analytics.

"The opening of the Marvell EMC lab is an important milestone for the automotive industry and will provide Marvell with an edge with this unique facility,” observed Riches.

"Having developed multiple CISPR 25 EMC labs for the automotive industry, we were very excited to engage with Marvell as the first semiconductor vendor who invested in such an advanced engineering facility. We were equally impressed by Marvell's deep understanding of the latest technologies, tools and methods to solve the toughest EMC problems," said Kirk Grummer, CEO and president, AP Americas, Inc. and provider of the anechoic CISPR 25 chamber.