Hardware Robustness for SMI Register Interfaces in Automotive PHY Chips

Hardware Robustness for SMI Register Interfaces in Automotive PHY Chips Duration : 6 months Location : Eindhoven, Netherlands (hybrid) Background and Motivation Automotive PHY devices expose their configuration and status registers over the Serial Management Interface (SMI), a two-wire serial bus (MDC / MDIO) defined by IEEE 802.3 Clause 22/45. In the current implementation, the SMI link carries no inherent data-integrity protection: there is no parity bit, no CRC, and no acknowledgment mechanism in the baseline protocol. In a harsh automotive EMC environment, single-bit upsets on the MDIO bus can silently corrupt a register write, causing a PHY to enter an incorrect operating mode without any indication to the host. To guard against this, the software driver currently performs write-then-read-back verification and double-read redundancy checks. These software workarounds increase bus utilization, add latency to every configuration transaction, and consume CPU cycles in a safety-critical context. This internship investigates and prototypes hardware-based robustness mechanisms that can detect or correct bit errors on the SMI bus, or within the on-chip register file, transparently to the software layer. What You Will Learn SMI / MDIO protocol internals at silicon level Digital RTL design in SystemVerilog (FSMs, protocol wrappers, register-file architectures) Fault-injection verification and coverage-driven testbench methodology Professional chip-design workflow: code review, EDA tools Profile Final-year BSc in Electrical Engineering, Microelectronics, Embedded Systems, or Computer Engineering Basic digital logic design knowledge; familiarity with at least one HDL (Verilog / SystemVerilog / VHDL) Analytical, structured approach to trade-off problems; reads technical English comfortably More information about NXP in the Netherlands... #LI-9c8e NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) enables a smarter, safer, and more sustainable world through innovation. As the world leader in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications, NXP is pushing boundaries in the automotive, industrial & IoT, mobile, and communication infrastructure markets. For more information, visit www.nxp.com Bright Minds. Bright Futures. We believe that a key component to growing our business is to develop our people. To enable you to grow your career at NXP, we offer online and offline learning opportunities to help you develop some of your core and professional skills. Commitment At NXP. We recognize NXP is a powerful change agent as we continue to deliver innovative solutions that advance a more sustainable future. We remain steadfast in our commitment to sustainability and making measurable year-on-year progress. Also, we aim to create an inclusive work environment and we will not tolerate racism, discrimination or harassment of any kind. We have programs in place focused on diversity, inclusion and equality. Thank you for considering a career at NXP. To help you prepare for the different steps in our hiring process, see the following useful advice and tips. Are you already an NXP employee? Do not apply here. Instead, you must apply via our internal career page. Thank you for your interest in supporting our recruitment efforts. Please note that NXP operates under a strict Preferred Supplier List (PSL) for all recruitment activities. Any candidate profiles or resume submitted without a prior written agreement or explicit request from our Talent Acquisition team will be considered unsolicited. Such submissions will be deemed free of any obligations, and no fees will be paid by NXP or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, or divisions - regardless of whether the candidate is hired, either coincidentally or otherwise. Thank you for your understanding.