Improving EV driving range requires advanced BMS.
TI, TÜV SÜD certified functional safety concept applied
Launch of ISO 26262 ASIL D wireless BMS solution


Interest in electric vehicles is growing rapidly, fueled by governments around the world gradually phasing out internal combustion engine vehicles and major automakers' shift to electric vehicles (EVs).

If the engine was the core component of an internal combustion engine vehicle, the battery is the key component of an EV. To bring EV convenience to a level comparable to or even higher than that of an internal combustion engine vehicle, battery efficiency must be improved. Methods include innovation in battery materials and advancement of battery management systems (BMS).

Texas Instruments (TI) held an online press conference on the 21st and announced a wireless BMS solution with a functional safety concept certified by TÜV SÜD.

TI's wireless BMS solution combines high network availability with the latest wireless protocols, eliminating copper cables that add to the vehicle's overall weight and maintenance costs, thereby improving the reliability and efficiency of EVs.

The solution includes the 'CC2662R-Q1' SimpleLink™ 2.4GHz wireless MCU evaluation module, software, a safety manual, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), failure mode, effects and diagnostic analysis (FMEDA), and functional safety-related materials such as a TÜV SÜD concept report.

◇ TI's wireless BMS solution achieves ISO 26262 ASIL D certification.

The automotive operating environment is harsh. Therefore, the battlefield must be supported by stability and reliability, regardless of whether it's wired or wireless. TI commissioned functional safety assessment agency TÜV SÜD to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the error detection performance of TI's wireless BMS functional safety concept, as well as to assess whether it meets ASIL D, the highest level of certification under the ISO 26262 automotive functional safety international standard.

For this concept, TI addressed communication error detection and security issues by using a novel wireless protocol dedicated to wireless BMS. TI's proprietary protocol, used in the CC2662R-Q1 wireless MCU, enables robust and scalable data exchange between the host system processor and the newly released BQ79616-Q1 battery monitoring and balancing IC.

“Compared to wired connections, the TI BMS wireless protocol adopted for the CC2662R-Q1 wireless MCU achieves network availability of over 99.999% and enables network restart at speeds of up to 300ms,” said Park Seo-min, TI Automotive Business Division Domestic Sales Director, who presented the announcement.

The wireless MCU protects data from loss or corruption with dedicated time slots for high data throughput and low latency. Additionally, it enables multiple battery cells to transmit voltage/temperature data to the main MCU with ±2mV accuracy and a network packet error rate of less than 10-7.

Additionally, automotive manufacturers can leverage TI security elements, including key exchange and update, unique device authentication, debug security, software IP protection through Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) locking, 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption acceleration, and message integrity checking.

◇ Meeting the diverse design needs of automobile manufacturers

“TI’s real-time protocol delivers the highest data throughput in the industry,” said Park. “Automakers can develop battery modules with various configurations, such as 32-, 48-, and 60-cell systems, by connecting a single wireless system-on-chip (SoC) with multiple BQ79616-Q1 battery monitoring ICs.”

“The system is designed to support up to 100 nodes,” he said, adding that it “provides low latency of less than 2ms per node and time-synchronized measurements across all nodes.”

The CC2662R-Q1 wireless MCU separates individual cell monitoring units, eliminating the need and cost of daisy-chain isolation components. The BQ79616-Q1 battery monitoring and balancing device offers multiple channel options in the same package type, is pin-to-pin compatible, and supports 100% reuse of existing software and hardware across all platforms.

Automotive manufacturers can jump-start their designs with the free, downloadable SimpleLink Wireless BMS Software Development Kit and the SimpleLink Wireless BMS Evaluation Module (CC2662RQ1-EVM-WBMS), available for $999 on TI.com.

The CC2662R-Q1 wireless MCU is priced at $2.79 in 1,000-unit quantities. The BQ79616-Q1 battery monitoring and balancing IC, available in a 16-channel, 10 mm × 10 mm, 64-pin HTQFP package, is priced at $6.90 in 1,000-unit quantities. All products used in the wireless BMS solution are available immediately on TI.com.