WILSONVILLE, Ore. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — July 30, 2012 — Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ: MENT) today announced that Mazda Motor Corporation has chosen the Volcano™ Network Architect (VNA) software to verify their network bandwidth usage. The VNA is a tool to design primarily CAN, but also LIN, networks in a vehicle and facilitate a mathematical way to calculate the worst case scenario on a CAN bus. Mazda’s use of VNA has enabled significant improvements in network efficiency and reliability.
Mazda has developed their new generation technology, “SKYACTIV TECHNOLOGY,” in order to achieve their vision to deliver driving pleasure as well as outstanding environmental and safety performance in their vehicles. The CX-5, one of Mazda’s latest products, features breakthrough SKYACTIV TECHNOLOGY and is now available to the global market.
Mazda has their unique CAN stack in their vehicle networking systems and has been using their own, in-house CAN network design tool. To introduce SKYACTIV TECHNOLOGY, Mazda shifted their existing tool to the Mentor Graphics® software VNA to insure their network configuration would work under the worst case conditions. During the tests that Mazda conducted, several networking issues were analysed and were able to be improved upon. In particular, by entering the network data generated from their tools into the VNA, Mazda was able to analyse their network usage and identify which messages on the bus caused problems.
The VNA tool has very powerful optimization features to load the network more than 90 percent of available bandwidth. In Mazda’s case, their engineers used the analysis from VNA to optimize and verify that the network bandwidth is utilized to an increased level but is not overstressed. This procedure increased the network utilization and significantly reduced the testing requirements and time. Moreover, what was learned by the VNA tool could then be applied to new network additions and the VNA flow Mazda implemented to verify their networks made their networks significantly more efficient and reliable.
“Mazda changed from our internal tool to Mentor Graphics’ tool for automotive network design systems. Migrating from an in-house design environment to Mentor Graphics’ Volcano Network Architect-based design environment moved smoothly and it reduced the testing requirements and time significantly,” said Tetsuhiro Yamashita, staff manager, Vehicle Development Division, Vehicle System Development Department, Mazda Motor Corporation. “We are happy to have improved our design quality, as well as our automotive network reliability.”
“VNA has unparalleled capabilities in enabling design, implementation and optimization of deterministic communication systems, leading to profound improvements in efficiency, quality, and reliability of in-vehicle networking,” said Serge Leef, vice president and general manager, System Level Engineering Division, Mentor Graphics. “We are pleased we have been able to provide a product to Mazda that makes the management and maintenance of their distributed network solutions more efficient.”
About Mentor Graphics
Mentor Graphics Corporation is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services and award-winning support for the world’s most successful electronic, semiconductor and systems companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues in the last fiscal year of about $1,015 million. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com.
(Mentor Graphics is a registered trademark and Volcano is a trademark of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.)
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