Narrow down by specifying conditions
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It has become difficult to meet OEM requirements with conventional ICs such as SoCs and CPUs.
We have begun to hear similar comments from customers who are manufacturers of automotive products.
In recent years, as in-vehicle products have become more electronic, the trend toward ECU integration has accelerated, and the required technology has become increasingly complex.
Additionally, the market is changing faster and faster, so we need to respond to complex demands with a sense of speed.
Given this situation, Macnica predicts that the trend toward difficulty in responding with conventional ICs will become even stronger in the future.
In fact, some customers have already consulted Macnica because they feel it is necessary to take immediate measures.
Macnica recommends that you consider the introduction of FPGAs based on trends.
In this article, we will introduce future trends and issues that can be considered for automotive products that will benefit greatly from the introduction of FPGAs.
I hope you will understand the possibilities of FPGAs and use this as one of your considerations.
table of contents
・In-vehicle products and trends that benefit greatly from the introduction of FPGA
What is FPGA
First, I would like to briefly explain again, "What kind of semiconductor is an FPGA?"
FPGA is an abbreviation for "Field Programmable Gate Array" and refers to "logic devices that can be rewritten even later".
The biggest feature of FPGA is that it can flexibly respond to various specification changes because circuit data can be rewritten.
Therefore, we can respond flexibly to the functions and specifications requested by OEMs.
Various functions can be realized with FPGA 1 Chip without selecting a general-purpose IC each time.
You may not have an image that FPGA is used in in-vehicle products,
It is already widely used in liquid crystal panels, audio equipment, cameras, communication equipment such as servers and base stations.
In-vehicle products, where the in-vehicle environment is becoming entertainment with car navigation and car audio, and the spread of connected cars is progressing,
These techniques are not unrelated.
In fact, the adoption of FPGAs in automotive products is accelerating.
Sooner or later, the time will come when we will be forced to consider introducing it.
In-vehicle products and trends that benefit greatly from the introduction of FPGA
In the next section, we will introduce automotive products that actually benefit greatly from the introduction of FPGAs, along with future trends.
1. Automotive products that require advanced image processing
The first example is automotive products that require image processing.
The number of in-vehicle products that require advanced image processing is increasing, and typical trends include meter cluster panels and electronic mirrors.
As you know, the meter cluster panel is a liquid crystal display that projects the meters necessary for driving.
Changing from needle meters to meter cluster panels is a global trend and is already used in most cars.
In addition, the electronic mirror is a device that installs a camera instead of a side mirror and projects the rear image on the display in the driver's seat.
Compared to conventional mirrors, it is easier to see in bad weather and has fewer blind spots, so it is expected to become more popular in the future.
A common "problem" for these two is "how to adjust the display so that it is easy to see from the driver's seat."
In order to realize this, it is necessary to perform “many advanced image processing”.
For example, technology that automatically changes the brightness of the display according to changes in the weather or the time of day to make it easier to see at all times is essential.
You also need to adjust the image for any curvature, as well as the size of the display.
These advanced image processing can be handled by conventional semiconductors such as SoC and CPU,
Since it specializes in specific image processing, it is not possible to flexibly respond to specifications.
On the other hand, with "FPGA", it is possible to "implement the optimal scale of image processing according to the needs".
Since it is based on hardware rather than software, it is also possible to "perform multiple advanced image processing in parallel and at high speed."
I think there are many situations where there are advantages in realizing the aforementioned trends.
|
FPGA |
CPU, SoC |
|
| Processing method | hardware processing (Electrical circuit information) |
software processing (Information that can be read by a computer) |
| Processing features | ・Parallel processing ・Constant response time ・Close to physical layer | ・Sequential processing ・Many libraries available ・Close to the application layer |
| suitable function | ・Optimizing processing to save power | ・Overall software processing |
| I/O | ・Customizable ・Many GPIOs | ・Only specific peripherals ・Less GPIO |
2. Automotive products requiring high image quality
Even for in-vehicle products that require high image quality such as 4K and 8K, there are plenty of cases where "the introduction of FPGA" will be an advantage.
For example, we all know that watching TV, DVD or YouTube in the back seat while driving with a rear monitor has become commonplace.
With the passage of time, the trend is toward higher resolutions, such as 4K and 8K, and larger display sizes.
I see this trend as "entertainment in the car space", and I feel that it is accelerating more and more in recent years.
If the resolution and size of the display change, it is necessary to change the corresponding IC accordingly.
In addition, if we are required to develop models with the same functions, it is necessary not only to change the IC for each model, but also to develop and revise the board each time.
Combined with the speed of recent technological trends, there is a possibility that conventional ICs will not be able to keep up with the speed of design and development.
Above all, the major issue will be the gradual increase in development costs for in-vehicle products over the long term due to the frequent need for board development and revisions.
With "FPGA", even if the resolution and size of the display change, it can "flexibly respond by rewriting the internal circuit data".
Since additional man-hours for board development and revision can be minimized, it is possible to quickly respond to trends.
In addition, there is ample possibility of reducing design and development costs when looking at the total.
3. Support for multiple modules
Increasing the number of modules such as in-vehicle cameras, displays, and microphones is also a trend in in-vehicle products.
For example, you know that the number of in-vehicle cameras is increasing year by year.
Cameras are necessary for the electronic mirrors mentioned above, and modules that require cameras such as drive recorders and back monitors
In recent years, it has been installed in most automobiles.
In addition, in order to improve the performance of advanced safe driving support systems such as collision damage mitigation braking,
The trend is to use multiple cameras as radar.
Incidents of children being left behind in cars have become a problem, so
We anticipate that the introduction of cameras for "monitoring systems" and "abandonment detection" will also progress.
Based on this, the number of cameras will continue to increase in the future.
As for displays, various displays are installed according to the purpose.
Meter clusters, electronic mirrors, car navigation systems, operation panels for passenger seats, televisions in the rear seats, etc.
In addition, the number of sensors installed in cars is increasing, so not only engine speed and car speed, but also temperature, humidity, presence or absence of people, etc.
Many displays are also needed to feed back sensor information into the car.
One of the reasons for the increase in the number of microphones is their use as sensors in advanced safe driving support systems.
In addition, voice operation, which has become commonplace on smartphones, is also attracting attention. It is introduced in overseas luxury cars, etc.
It is expected that it will spread to Japan in the future.
In order to realize voice operation, multiple microphones are required for the driver's seat, front passenger seat, and rear seat, so there is a tendency to increase the number of microphones.
The number one challenge with increasing the number of modules is the number of interfaces.
SoCs or CPU conventional I C Then, it is thought that there will be cases where the number of interfaces is insufficient in the future.
Also, conventional I C There may be cases where it cannot keep up with multiple module processing.
In addition, model changes and OEM If even one module changes due to a specification change from I C It may be necessary to develop and revise the board due to the change of
There are many problems that can be considered by increasing the number of units, and it is fully possible that both the process and cost will increase.
With "FPGA", you can "change the interface according to the number of modules" by taking advantage of its flexibility.
Even if the module changes suddenly, it can be handled, and since it is hardware-based, it is easy to demonstrate its merits even when processing a large number of modules.
4. Support for in-vehicle ECU integration
As automobiles become more electronically controlled, the number of ECUs installed in a single automobile is increasing.
From the perspective of weight reduction and cost reduction, the trend is to integrate ECUs.
When integrating an ECU, "a large number and types of interfaces are required in the main IC".
There will be cases that are difficult to handle with existing ICs.
"FPGA" can be used by changing the interface, so it is excellent for use as the main IC.
Also, since "FPGA" is hardware-based, the processing speed is faster than that of existing ICs, making it easier to bring out the benefits of integration.
Regarding "In-vehicle ECU integration", the details are introduced in the following article. Please refer to it as well.
3 ways to use FPGA for in-vehicle ECU where MIPI CSI-2/DSI is widely adopted
5. Responding to new technologies represented by the "monitoring system"
As I briefly touched on in the previous sentence, recent incidents of infants being left behind in cars have drawn attention to in-car "monitoring systems."
Monitoring systems use sensors to detect objects, but they cannot distinguish between humans and objects.
Therefore, it is necessary to use image recognition AI to "determine whether the object detected by the sensor is a person or not."
When trying to perform AI processing at this level, the specs of the microcomputer are insufficient, and the specs of the GPU are too over-spec, so the cost and power consumption are too high.
On the other hand, "FPGA" is good at hardware processing, so AI processing that realizes "judgment whether it is human or not" is fully possible.
There is no excess or deficiency in terms of specifications, and it consumes less power than a GPU, so costs and power consumption can be reduced.
Also, with "FPGA", it is possible to complete the "monitoring system" with only internal hardware processing.
Since there is no need to process video data in the cloud via the Internet, there is no need to worry about security.
In this way, the introduction of FPGAs may be beneficial for "new technologies such as AI and security."
There are various types of semiconductors required for the development of in-vehicle products, depending on the application.
Considering future trends, I believe that FPGAs will have great advantages in automotive products.
In order to respond quickly and accurately to OEM 's requests in the future, it is important to have FPGA as one of the materials for consideration.
FPGA introduction flow
Even if you are interested in FPGA, there are probably many people who feel the hurdles in FPGA design and development.
I think that it is difficult to input FPGA knowledge from scratch and proceed to design while considering feasibility while busy with various tasks.
Therefore, in order to minimize hurdles, Macnica supports the introduction of FPGA by following steps 1 to 5 below.
① Send text and diagrams of the functions you want to achieve and the issues with the existing system to Macnica
② Macnica presents a specific configuration plan for FPGA implementation
(3) Additional proposals that leverage the strengths of FPGA
④ Confirmation of FPGA model number and posting of approximate price
⑤ Display of FPGA design development cost and period
What you need to prepare is "only the text and diagrams of (1)". A simple PowerPoint presentation will suffice.
You can proceed with FPGA design development while minimizing man-hours. We also provide after-sales support after delivery of the FPGA, so please do not worry.
There is also an article introducing "Recommended FPGA for automotive products", so please refer to it as well.
Lattice FPGAs using FD-SOI processSummary of 4 types of
Summary
In this article, we will discuss how to continue to meet the demands of OEMs.
It is recommended to have "the introduction of FPGA as one of the considerations" for "in-vehicle products".
Especially in the following, we believe that the merits of introduction are large due to trends and accompanying issues.
・In-vehicle products that require advanced image processing
・In-vehicle products that require high image quality
・Support for increasing the number of modules
・Support for integration of automotive ECU
・Responding to new technologies such as the “monitoring system”
In both cases, trends can be realized by taking advantage of the flexibility of adapting to various changes in FPGA specifications, as well as hardware-based multiple processing and high-speed processing.
There are cases where conventional ICs can be used, but I believe that the more the trend accelerates, the greater the benefits of introducing FPGAs.
In the coming era, I think manufacturers dealing with in-vehicle products will be required to have FPGA as one of the materials for consideration.
“Is the introduction of FPGA really realistic? There is also an article that introduces the performance etc. of the current FPGA, so please refer to it as well.
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