Is there a reference design for an automotive carrier board? I’m looking at the Verdin family of SoM. Specifically I’m looking for a way to have multiple 12V wake signals, ability to sleep, RTC backup without a battery cell, and a low shutdown quiescent current. I’m looking at putting a PMIC on the carrier, but if there’s already a design, it might make my life a lot easier 
Thanks,
-Chris
Unfortunately, we do not have a reference design for an automotive carrier board. However, you can use our carrier board design guides and adapt the suggested reference designs to meet automotive specifications. Perhaps we could assist you more effectively if you provide more details about your goals and requirements.
Commonly automotive designs that use an SoC running a high-level OS (HLOS) such as Linux incorporate a low-power MCU (often Renesas or Infineon) for life-cycle management. The MCU listens on the CAN bus for wake-up (and/or other e.g. cellular network for telematics devices) and controls the power rails. Different voltages for the power rails are created by using buck converters and linear power converters. PMICs can be in the mix too, typically as a companion to the SoC. PMICs are commonly controlled by the SoC via the System Management Bus (SMB) which electrically often is I2C. Some PMICs have a RTC built in (e.g. Qualcomm as the automotive SoCs are derivatives of the mobile processors). For external RTC I like to use devices from Micro Crystal. These connect to the SoC via I2C and have a very low current consumption in time keeping mode (some of the as low as 45 nA) which makes them ideal for use with super caps.
The designs are pretty straight forward. I am not sure if there are reference designs publicly available. The designs are typically done by Tier 1 suppliers and held proprietary.
Regrettably, we do not offer a specific reference design tailored for automotive carrier boards at this time. Nonetheless, you are welcome to consult our carrier board design guides and modify the recommended reference designs to align with automotive standards.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any additional questions.
