Electronic control unit interfaces with flexible input signal conditioning

A process of configuring an electronic control unit including a housing and an interface extending across the housing including a plurality of interface pins accessible at an exterior of the housing and at an interior of the housing, the process comprising:

• populating a circuit board including a plurality of conductive traces operatively coupled with the circuit board and extending between a plurality of discrete component footprints with a microcontroller positioned on a microcontroller footprint and including an input pin conductively coupled with a first conductive trace of the plurality of conductive traces and an input terminal positioned on an input terminal footprint and conductively coupled with a second conductive trace of the plurality of conductive traces and one of the plurality of interface pins;
• selectably populating the circuit board with a flexible input signal conditioning (FISC) circuit comprising a plurality of discrete components positioned on respective ones of the plurality of discrete component footprints and conductively coupled with respective sets of the plurality of conductive traces according to one of:
• a first configuration including a capacitor configured to protect against electrostatic discharge, a voltage clamp, a reference voltage generator, a first low pass filter, and a second low pass filter, and a second configuration comprising the capacitor and the first low pass filter, and excluding the voltage clamp and the second low pass filter, the first configuration being configured to condition a SENT input signal, the second configuration being configured to condition an analog input signal;
• and
• disposing the circuit board in the housing of the electronic control unit.

An apparatus comprising:

• a circuit board adapted to be installed in a housing of an electronic control unit comprising an interface extending across the housing including a plurality of interface pins accessible at an exterior of the housing and at an interior of the housing;
• a plurality of conductive traces operatively coupled with the circuit board and extending between a plurality of discrete component footprints;
• a microcontroller positioned on a microcontroller footprint and including an input pin conductively coupled with a first conductive trace of the plurality of conductive traces;
• an input terminal positioned on an input terminal footprint and conductively coupled with a second conductive trace of the plurality of conductive traces and one of the plurality of interface pins;
• and
• a flexible input signal conditioning (FISC) circuit comprising a plurality of discrete components positioned on respective ones of the plurality of discrete component footprints and conductively coupled with respective sets of the plurality of conductive traces, the FISC circuit being selectably configurable into a first configuration including a capacitor configured to protect against electrostatic discharge, a voltage clamp, a reference voltage generator, a first low pass filter, and a second low pass filter, and a second configuration comprising the capacitor and the first low pass filter, and excluding the voltage clamp and the second low pass filter, the first configuration being configured to condition a SENT input signal, the second configuration being configured to condition an analog input signal.