Allegro MicroSystems Unveils Industry's First Safety PMIC to Integrate a Wheel-Speed Sensor Interface for Electromechanical Braking

Allegro MicroSystems, Inc. (“Allegro”) (Nasdaq: ALGM), a global leader in power and sensing solutions for motion control and energy-efficient systems, today introduced the A81415, the industry's first ASIL-D-certified Power Management IC (PMIC) to integrate a wheel-speed sensor interface. The new device provides electromechanical braking (EMB) designers with a substantially simplified, single-chip power and sensing foundation for next-generation brake-by-wire systems. Brake-by-wire is fast becoming a foundational chassis technology in software-defined vehicles. But while much of the automotive industry’s design focus is on centralizing compute platforms, the physical act of stopping a vehicle happens at the wheel. This location places a hard set of demands on corner module electronics to deliver fail-operational power and accurate wheel-speed data in tight spaces that are vibration-prone and thermally stressed – all while meeting the highest functional safety bar. Today, designers are forced to stitch together generic safety PMICs, separate wheel-speed decoders, and clusters of discrete power components. In addition to adding cost and consuming valuable board space, that approach multiplies potential failure points at the exact location where reliability matters most. One Device, Built for the Task With an on-chip wheel-speed sensor interface (WSSI), the A81415 safety PMIC decodes standard 2-level, 2-level Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), and 3-lev...