Performances Evaluation of Frequency Measurement Techniques in Automotive Industry

Many automotive sensors have as output a square wave signal, whose frequency is related which measurement parameters. Such sensors are use for measuring the shafts rotation and wheels rotation. The measurement systems are developed basically based on a microcontroller, which timers capture feature is used for frequency measurement. The frequency measurement principle is the same for every microcontroller; the differences consist in peripheral´s settings. Three frequency measurement techniques were studied; the experimental results were made using a sixteen bits microcontroller - C167 from Infineon. Knowing the performances of each frequency measurement techniques is a step forward to reduce the design costs by choosing the appropriate technique according with design specification.