Xilinx Korea (Regional Director Ahn Heung-sik) August 1, 2013 – Xilinx announced that its Zynq®-7000 All Programmable Device is being used in the latest engine ECU (Engine Control Unit) processing core called HEL (High Efficiency Logic) developed by Bosch Engineering Group and Bosch Motorsport, located in Abstatt, Germany. The HEL-based ECU is integrated into LMP1 race cars of a German OEM competing in the FIA WEC (World Endurance Championship). The performance and robustness of the Bosch ECU based on Zynq SoC have brought multiple victories to the racing team. To date, the team has achieved first place in all races this season, including the "6 Hours of Silverstone" race in April, the "6 Hours of Spa" race in May, and the "24 Hours of Le Mans," a premium event of the WEC.

The HEL-based ECU developed by Bosch is responsible for all diesel engine management, including multi-point injection and pressure control. In addition to collecting engine data, the ECU also provides functions such as pit row speed limiter and traction control.

Xilinx's Zynq-7020 All Programmable SoC (System-on-a-Chip) includes a dual-core ARM® Cortex™-A9 MPCore™ processing system, serving as the brain of the ECU. While most control algorithms are executed sequentially on the ARM core, the programmable logic portion of the Zynq device is used to parallelize the acquisition of engine data and to interface with other subsystems through PWM, RS-232, LIN, CAN or Ethernet, real-time critical signal processing, and IO control.

Markus Kirchner, leader of the hardware development group at Bosch Motorsport, stated, "Through the versatile architecture of the Zynq device, we can rapidly respond to change requests," and added, "Reusing specific IP blocks has also dramatically shortened development time." While Bosch had previously used FPGAs in earlier platforms, the combination with discrete microcontrollers could not meet the performance requirements of the new system. This new Zynq-based ECU consumes low power and delivers more than double the performance in a smaller footprint.

Bosch Motorsport plans to further leverage the flexibility and scalability of Zynq-7000 All Programmable SoC technology. This Zynq-based board will also serve as a processing platform for other applications, including gasoline engine control for other racing series vehicles, data loggers, and in-vehicle graphics display controllers.

Jack Dunnigan, Senior Director of Segment Marketing Business Development at Xilinx, stated, "We are pleased to have the opportunity to demonstrate the high-performance, low-power capabilities of the Zynq device in a highly competitive environment. This not only showcases the performance that Zynq-based systems can achieve, but also demonstrates the quality and reliability of the Zynq device in an extreme endurance racing environment. By powerfully integrating the processor and FPGA fabric to accelerate critical tasks beyond software-only processing, customers like Bosch can build smarter and more flexible systems."