Influence of High-Power Electric Motor on an FPGA used in the Drive System of Electric Car

This paper presents an empirical method to model the impact of industrial harsh electromagnetic environment on a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The methodology focuses principally on the magnetic field effects and is based on three phases: first, an assessment of the radiated magnetic field of the considered source is performed by measurements or by simulations based on Finite Element Method (FEM). Then, the sensitivity of the FPGA to radiated magnetic field is experimentally evaluated. Finally, by combining these results, a parametric model characterizing the effects of a magnetic field on an FPGA is established. This model can then be integrated into a CAD tool in order to take these effects into account at the design stage of the FPGA-based system. This method is applied to investigate the effects of an electric car's high-power electric motor on its control system implemented in FPGA.