The new RDK4 from Rutronik System Solutions

It supports the development of motor control units by combining a microcontroller, a system base chip, and the most important automotive interfaces CAN FD and LIN in a minimum of space. As a result, development departments of automotive OEMs or Tier-1s, for example, do not need to go to the trouble of designing suitable hardware themselves but can test and implement applications for motor control units directly with the aid of the RDK4. For this purpose, the RDK4 is integrated into Infineon's ModusToolbox development environment, where software examples are available. Due to its properties and features, the RDK4 is suitable for a wide range of applications and helps to ensure that applications are implemented quickly.

Motor control units are used in almost every application and have to meet different requirements depending on the application. In the automotive sector, the demands are particularly high and the design of hardware is time-consuming. With the RDK4, Rutronik System Solutions offers a compact Base Board containing a large number of relevant components for the development of motor control units, so that the majority of applications can be tested in detail right in the pre-development phase and reach market maturity more quickly.

Infineon's PSoCTM 4100S Max with an Arm Cortex-M0+ automotive microcontroller, which offers high performance at low power consumption, is at the heart of the Base Board. "For us, innovation always means creating something unique. We have once again achieved that with the RDK4, using state-of-the-art components such as Infineon's PSoCTM 4100S Max. The RDK4 is currently the only automotive-qualified board available that uses this new microcontroller," says Stephan Menze, Head of Global Innovation Management at Rutronik.

All on one board

Another unique feature of the RDK4 is that a system base chip is integrated into the Base Board in addition to the microcontroller. The built-in OPTIREGTM Mid-Range+ system base chip from Infineon offers a high level of integration, performance, and scalability. In addition, the most important automotive interfaces CAN FD from Amphenol CS and LIN from KYOCERA AVX are integrated into the RDK4. With the help of jumpers, it is also possible to selectively measure the power consumption of the microcontroller, for example, during different power modes.

Like the other Base and Adapter Boards from Rutronik System Solutions, the RDK4 is included in Infineon's ModusToolbox development environment. Software examples are available there and ensure further efficiency gains in the development of applications for motor control units. Developers benefit from that just as much as from the wide range of possible applications and the easy combination with other boards like the HMS Anybus, Text To Speech, RAB1, and RAB2 from Rutronik System Solutions thanks to the Arduino interface.