Microchip Technology launches low-power vehicle access solution

The industry's lowest-power Passive Entry/Passive Start (PEPS) solution is now available from Microchip Technology Inc. Two new devices, the ATA5700 and ATA5702, feature along operating range of approximately 10 meters and ultra-low power consumption enabling longer battery life than competitive products while operating in the highest sensitivity mode.

The devices contain an open-source, zero-cost license immobiliser protocol based on AES-128 that enables interoperability, allowing large volume customers to deploy second sourcing strategies. Open source protocol is a proven beneficial to OEMs as it's been shown to be more effective and secure than private, secret protocol because it encourages a broad and continuous peer reviewing process by the whole industry for further improvement.

In addition, the devices have a unique built-in Low Frequency (LF) vector calculation unit that helps customers to build effective relay attack (man-in-the-middle) counter measures without additional cost. Relay attacks of PEPS systems is becoming one of the top security concerns of automakers.

The ATA5700 and ATA5702 are primarily intended for use in battery powered applications such as smart keys (i.e. Passive Entry Passive Start) or complementary car access via mobile devices, smartphones and wearables where the power consumption is one of the key requirements. The devices offer the highest localisation accuracy in the market which is critical for car makers to accurately distinguish whether a key fob is located inside or outside the vehicle and comply with the 5cm accuracy requirement of insurance companies.

"The fast growing passive entry market is driven by an increased end consumer demand for convenience—hands-free entry, hands-free locking or even personalised welcome lighting," said Matthias Kaestner, vice president of Microchip's Automotive business unit. "As these devices become more and more prevalent, the need for secure solutions that can't be hacked becomes vital, and Microchip provides what our customers need."

Both ATA5702 and ATA5700 are featured with 3D immobiliser, 3D high sensitivity LF receivers, digital processing unit, 128 bit crypto engine, LF vector calculation unit and a microcontroller. However, only ATA5702 is enhanced with a built-in RF transmitter fractional phase-locked loop (PLL) to ensure a robust and immune ultra-high frequency (UHF) link against jammers and disturbers.

Development support

To facilitate evaluation and development, Microchip offers Atmel Studio 7 for software development for 8-bit AVR microcontrollers, and the ATAK51004-v2 evaluation kit for product evaluation.