Integrate in-vehicle infotainment and instrumentation subsystems on SoCs

Mentor Graphics, a leader in electronic design automation technology, recently released a research report titled "Integrating AUTOSAR, In-Vehicle Infotainment and Instrumentation Subsystems on Emerging Heterogeneous SoCs." The full text is as follows.

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The architecture that combines two or more different microprocessors (MPUs) and/or microcontrollers (MCUs) -- heterogeneous multi-core systems -- is fast becoming the first choice for automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers . The rapid adoption of these systems is due to the increasing use of automotive electronics, the need to control design costs while meeting increasingly complexities and significant improvements in automotive-specific silicon.

The architecture that combines two or more different microprocessors (MPUs) and/or microcontrollers (MCUs) -- heterogeneous multi-core systems -- is fast becoming the first choice for automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers . This article will explore how the new electronic control unit silicon platform can facilitate integration and the important role of AUTOSAR in the development of electronic control units.

When you look at the internal structure of a car, you will find that there are many electronic systems in operation. Today's automotive systems may include: military night vision devices to help identify pedestrians on the sidewalk; advanced safety procedures to ensure that airbags are turned on instantly in milliseconds; electronic stability control and anti-lock braking to help the car in inclement weather Normal driving; rear view pocket camera (sensor) to help drivers see clearly in poor visibility; don't forget the user experience brought by in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) system - whether the car infotainment system matches A handheld device, running only a local application or a node that is the latest 4G/LTE wireless connection. All of these electronic systems require electronic control units (ECUs) for proper operation. For example, when developers begin to integrate an in-vehicle infotainment subsystem with an instrumentation system, it is necessary to reasonably arrange for complex connectivity problems in a car. If a subsystem with a relatively low priority classification is associated with a higher priority classification and a security-critical subsystem shares an electronic control unit, you will find these problems more difficult.

This article will explore how the new electronic control unit silicon platform can facilitate integration and the important role of AUTOSAR in the development of electronic control units.

The rise of electronic control units

As more and more electronic control units are used and new features in automobiles continue to increase, semiconductor manufacturers are developing sophisticated high-end SoC architectures. These new architectures include a variety of processor cores with enhanced capabilities to perform complex and sophisticated tasks.

Integrating multiple electronic control units within a single car has become the most important job for the world's leading automotive OEMs. Recent research has shown that today a high-end luxury car is equipped with nearly 100 electronic control units, which involves manufacturing costs, wiring harness interconnection and parts procurement. We note that manufacturers are now moving from 8- to 16-bit application processors to low-end 32-bit electronic control units for higher price/performance and better integration with complex automotive applications.

Importance of AUTOSAR and electronic control units

The increasing use of electronic control units has increased the importance of standardization and automotive system connectivity. In addition, changes in the hardware platform have led to problems with software redesign and support. AUTOSAR (Automotive Open System Architecture) brings a unified electronic control unit architecture definition to the industry and brings a unified design approach to original equipment manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers.

At the heart of AUTOSAR is the ability to provide a unified electronic control unit interface definition and enable design engineers to specify standard reusable software levels and components that are essential in every automotive electronic control unit. This standard is not limited by hardware, so the application software and the hardware platform hosting the software can be separated. AUTOSAR supports multiple bus technologies and gives automotive designers the flexibility to interconnect bus networks such as FlexRay, CAN, LIN and Ethernet. Networks can be ranked by rank. For example, a sub-cluster on a surround camera network is deployed on an Ethernet network, requiring a low data rate electronic control unit group, such as a door lock that is still deployed on a traditional CAN bus group.

Electronic control unit with AUTOSAR standardization level and electronic control unit lacking AUTOSAR standardization level.

As the complexity of subsystems increases, the complexity of the AUTOSAR standard increases. AUTOSAR 4.x includes more than 60 different electronic control unit types. The AUTOSAR-based electronic control unit meets the ASIL safety requirements for the most important interior components. The AUTOSAR electronic control unit typically runs on a reliable real-time operating system based on the OSEK specification.

From single core to multicore design...

Today's vehicles have many features, including single-core and multi-core processor architectures. A single core design is best suited for embedded systems where only one function is required. A car can include several different designs, which requires multi-core processing power, or an image processing unit (GPU). A car's instrument display or in-vehicle infotainment system is a typical application that utilizes a multi-core platform.

There are many use cases for vehicles that have both single-core and multi-core system chips:

Each SoC runs its own operating system or operating environment, developed using tools designed for its operating environment and the specific application being used. Each system chip contains a variety of different types of discrete processors. Application types drive processors with different options ranging from low-end microcontrollers to high-end application processors. Each "user" of the system has full ownership of all hardware of the component. These hardware include processors, GPUs, memory, input/output ports, caches, and more. Discrete components of the system are usually loosely connected together. Each component is started independently and communicates with other components through some physical connection information. Each system component is independent of the purpose of the other components, they only need to be connected to other components when starting up and preparing for communication.

Heterogeneous design

To help integrate the automotive electronics environment, semiconductor manufacturers have created complex system-on-chip architectures that combine heterogeneous cores and other devices. In fact, the automotive ecosystem is an excellent example of how the complex functions of discrete devices can be integrated into a multi-core heterogeneous system chip. The TI OMAP5432 (Figure 2) is an example of a system chip that includes two ARM® Cortex® A15 application processors, two ARM Cortex® M4 microcontrollers, an Imagination GPU, and a digital signal processor (DSP). ) and other processors.

TI OMAP5432 SoC - from multi-core to heterogeneous environments. (Image source: ARM Holdings PLC and Texas Instruments)