The automotive audio codec must be designed to operate in a wide range of harsh environments. As greater amounts of electronics are integrated into automotive systems, the system complexity and potential for faults also increase. Microphones typically used in eCall systems are relied on for algorithms like beamforming, active noise cancellation, or speech recognition. These algorithms depend on reliable data from microphones, and if one or more microphones in the system fail, the processing of unreliable data leads to erroneous calculations. In these applications, microphones can be placed in remote locations far away from the PCB, such as in a ceiling console, close to the engine, or at different positions in the passenger cabin. The remote placement of the microphone makes a wire harness to interface with the rest of the electronics necessary. Although extreme care is taken to prevent failure, over time these harnesses can degrade, resulting in faulty microphone connections.

The TAC5312-Q1 provides integrated diagnostic monitoring features, highlighted in Section 2.3.1, that replace discrete detection schemes by determining when an input fault condition has occurred in firmware. With this information, the system can select how to respond and adjust system algorithms to handle the error. Typical eCall applications favor the use of electric condenser microphones (ECM) for ease of mounting, interfacing, pickup directionality, moisture, and dust protection. These ECM microphones operate between 2V to 10V and can have large voltage swings. TAC5312-Q1 can handle up to a 10V_RMS swing directly while supporting DC-coupled fault diagnostics on each input pin and report faults over I²C.

ECall systems are typically space-constrained and rely on integrated components to maximize efficiency. TAC5312-Q1 reduces external component count by operating on a single 3.3V supply to support codec data conversion and a high-voltage MICBIAS supply through an integrated boost converter.