NEC Electronics and Renesas Technology Corp., both major suppliers of automotive semiconductors, plan to merge in about a year, with NEC the surviving entity. The consolidated company would rank third among semiconductor suppliers.
NEC Electronics separated from NEC Corporation in 2002. Renesas was formed the following year when Hitachi and Mitsubishi merged their semiconductor businesses. NEC and Renesas agreed to explore the possibility of business integration “in light of fierce global competition in the semiconductor market.” The new company will have three major product groups - microcontrollers, system-on-chip products, and discrete products. “In order to address the ongoing challenges of the current economic downturn,” the firms said, NEC and Renesas will each execute structural reform plans, after which they will integrate operations to achieve synergies.
The firms plan to sign an agreement in late July, and to integrate operations next April 1.
NEC Electronics and Renesas Technology Corp., both major suppliers of automotive semiconductors, plan to merge in about a year, with NEC the surviving entity. The consolidated company would rank third among semiconductor suppliers.
NEC Electronics separated from NEC Corporation in 2002. Renesas was formed the following year when Hitachi and Mitsubishi merged their semiconductor businesses. NEC and Renesas agreed to explore the possibility of business integration “in light of fierce global competition in the semiconductor market.” The new company will have three major product groups - microcontrollers, system-on-chip products, and discrete products. “In order to address the ongoing challenges of the current economic downturn,” the firms said, NEC and Renesas will each execute structural reform plans, after which they will integrate operations to achieve synergies.
The firms plan to sign an agreement in late July, and to integrate operations next April 1.
The MathWorks said that Argonne National Laboratory used tools from The MathWorks - Parallel Computing Toolbox and MATLAB Distributed Computing Server - to help reduce from two weeks to one day the simulation time of models built with the Powertrain System Analysis Toolkit (PSAT).
Argonne used The MathWorks‘ Simulink and Stateflow in the course of developing PSAT, an industry-standard model that lets automotive engineers simulate advanced powertrain designs, including hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, to assess design tradeoffs.
Argonne used Parallel Computing Toolbox with PSAT to execute simulations on a 16-node cluster–reducing the overall run time from two weeks to one day. Using MATLAB Distributed Computing Server also enabled Argonne to move its simulations with ease from a desktop computer to a cluster in one hour.
“Hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles are much more complex than vehicles with conventional powertrains. The U.S. Department of Energy and automotive OEMs needed an efficient and reliable way to evaluate the effect that each component has on vehicle fuel economy and performance,” said Argonne National Laboratory research engineer Sylvain Pagerit.
“Without parallel computing capabilities, we would not have been able to run the necessary simulations in the time allotted and, consequently, would have been unable to support our customers. The combination of PSAT and Parallel Computing Toolbox save countless hours in development by providing an efficient simulation-based environment for design tradeoff studies.”
“Traditionally, automotive engineers use prototypes to decide on system design tradeoffs. However, with the large number of advanced powertrain options, much of the hardware is being developed in parallel with the vehicle system development,” said Jon Friedman, automotive industry marketing manager at The MathWorks. “Model-Based Design and tools such as PSAT allow automotive engineers to make critical design decisions early in the process. And by taking advantage of our parallel computing capabilities, the Argonne team cut a time-intensive simulation process down to one day, speeding up design evaluation and bringing significant time and cost savings to the automotive industry.”
The Bluetooth SIG has formally adopted Bluetooth 3.0 + HS (Bluetooth Core Specification Version 3.0 High Speed), which includes the 802.11 Protocol Adaptation Layer (PAL) for data transfers at approximately 24 Mbps.
Atheros, Broadcom, CSR, and Marvell announced support for the technology. Atheros received Bluetooth Qualification Board (BQB) certification for its AR3011 Bluetooth chip for PC implementations, host stack, and 802.11 a/g/n solutions to support the High-Speed 802.11AMP (Alternate MAC/PHY). Broadcom said its Bluetooth combo chip technology and associated BTE software have been qualified as compliant with the new specification. CSR qualified the Synergy wireless systems software used in its CSR9000 and other Connectivity Centre products, and Marvell said its 88W8688 Bluetooth Wi-Fi combination chip is designed to support Bluetooth 3.0 + HS.
QNX Software is offering board support packages (BSPs) for automotive reference boards and development platforms, including the Texas Instruments Jacinto, Renesas Technology SH7723-EVM and SH7786-EVM, and Freescale MPC5121E, i.MX25 ADS, i.MX31 ADS, and i.MX35 ADS.
QNX automotive BSPs are developed on the Foundry27 web portal, so developers can gain immediate access to the latest BSP code updates and enhancements. At the Foundry 27 BSP Project Wiki home page (http://community.qnx.com/sf/wiki/do/viewPage/projects.bsp/wiki/) developers can join forums and talk directly with BSP developers from QNX Software Systems. QNX support for automotive BSPs is an element of QNX CAR, a program designed to help automotive suppliers accelerate product prototyping and reduce engineering costs.
QNX Software is offering board support packages (BSPs) for automotive reference boards and development platforms, including the Texas Instruments Jacinto, Renesas Technology SH7723-EVM and SH7786-EVM, and Freescale MPC5121E, i.MX25 ADS, i.MX31 ADS, and i.MX35 ADS.
QNX automotive BSPs are developed on the Foundry27 web portal, so developers can gain immediate access to the latest BSP code updates and enhancements. At the Foundry 27 BSP Project Wiki home page (http://community.qnx.com/sf/wiki/do/viewPage/projects.bsp/wiki/) developers can join forums and talk directly with BSP developers from QNX Software Systems. QNX support for automotive BSPs is an element of QNX CAR, a program designed to help automotive suppliers accelerate product prototyping and reduce engineering costs.
Fujitsu Microelectronics America has introduced a 1394 automotive controller that transmits high-definition video over 1394 Automotive in-vehicle multimedia networks at 800 Mbps. The MB88395 can simultaneously transmit multiple streams around the vehicle, such as HD video (1,280 dots x 720 lines) from Blu-Ray DVDs, digital TV, and car navigation images.
“Honda R&D welcomes the MB88395, the first IC to provide the 800 Mbps speed of the 1394 Automotive specification,” said Yuji Kawaguchi, Operating Officer of Honda R&D Co., Ltd. “The importance of high-speed digital transmission will increase further in the future to handle in-vehicle multimedia as well as to reduce weight. 1394 Automotive is an in-vehicle network that can enrich entertainment and comfort. We plan to promptly evaluate the MB88395.”
Co-developed with Fujitsu VLSI Limited, the Fujitsu MB88395 controller uses an 800 Mbps physical layer and link layer along with the Fujitsu proprietary SmartCODEC, which compresses video to one-quarter its original size and can compress and decompress high-resolution video in two to three milliseconds without any perceptible time lag or out-of-sync content. Akio Nezu, senior marketing manager in Fujitsu Microelectronics‘ Automotive Business Group, said this resolves latency issues that can be a problem when different viewers are watching the same content on the front and rear monitors.
Nezu said the combination brings HD-quality video to rear-seat entertainment, while also reducing vehicle weight and improving fuel efficiency. The controller and SmartCODEC combination also reduces the system cost of in-vehicle multimedia networks by up to 30% while reducing the number of wire harnesses by up to 70%. It can reduce environmental impact by approximately 10kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year for a car traveling 10,000km, about the amount of CO2 a tree absorbs in a year.
The MB88395 controller incorporates Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP) encryption protocol, which prevents unauthorized duplication, download or alteration of audio or visual media.
The controller complies with the 800 Mbps specification of the 1394 standard, doubling the 400 Mbps data rate of Fujitsu Microelectronics‘ previous controller. The Fujitsu SmartCODEC, developed by Fujitsu Laboratories, is used in the BT.601 Transport Over IEEE-1394 standard, a transport protocol for sending YUV and RGB video streams over 1394.
“The 1394 Automotive standard is now moving forward for in-vehicle multimedia networking, and we expect it to become the preferred automotive networking standard for entertainment, information, and other applications,” said Philip Hughes, senior director, Automotive Business Group, Fujitsu Microelectronics America. “We expect this new 1394 Automotive in-vehicle networking technology will be in vehicles in the 2011 and 2012 model years.”
Factors in favor of 1394 essential for digital transmission in vehicle networks include the gradual shift to digital TV worldwide, the increased availability of HD content, and the 2013 phase-out of analog output from Blu-Ray players.
The controller can transmit HD video from Blu-Ray DVDs and digital TV as well as high-resolution navigation images. A decompressed HD video stream (1,280 dots x 720 lines) from a Blu-Ray DVD has a rate of 885 Mbps. Subsequent compression by the SmartCODEC drops the rate to 249 Mbps, so two channels can be transmitted in the 800 Mbps bandwidth.
Fujitsu Microelectronics plans to expand its lineup of 1394 controllers to handle increasing information streams in vehicles, such as video content and peripheral cameras, and to reduce system costs.
The MB88395 is available now in samples in 224-pin FBGA packages. Pricing begins at $17.00.
Fujitsu Microelectronics America has introduced a 1394 automotive controller that transmits high-definition video over 1394 Automotive in-vehicle multimedia networks at 800 Mbps. The MB88395 can simultaneously transmit multiple streams around the vehicle, such as HD video (1,280 dots x 720 lines) from Blu-Ray DVDs, digital TV, and car navigation images.
“Honda R&D welcomes the MB88395, the first IC to provide the 800 Mbps speed of the 1394 Automotive specification,” said Yuji Kawaguchi, Operating Officer of Honda R&D Co., Ltd. “The importance of high-speed digital transmission will increase further in the future to handle in-vehicle multimedia as well as to reduce weight. 1394 Automotive is an in-vehicle network that can enrich entertainment and comfort. We plan to promptly evaluate the MB88395.”
Co-developed with Fujitsu VLSI Limited, the Fujitsu MB88395 controller uses an 800 Mbps physical layer and link layer along with the Fujitsu proprietary SmartCODEC, which compresses video to one-quarter its original size and can compress and decompress high-resolution video in two to three milliseconds without any perceptible time lag or out-of-sync content. Akio Nezu, senior marketing manager in Fujitsu Microelectronics‘ Automotive Business Group, said this resolves latency issues that can be a problem when different viewers are watching the same content on the front and rear monitors.
Nezu said the combination brings HD-quality video to rear-seat entertainment, while also reducing vehicle weight and improving fuel efficiency. The controller and SmartCODEC combination also reduces the system cost of in-vehicle multimedia networks by up to 30% while reducing the number of wire harnesses by up to 70%. It can reduce environmental impact by approximately 10kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year for a car traveling 10,000km, about the amount of CO2 a tree absorbs in a year.
The MB88395 controller incorporates Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP) encryption protocol, which prevents unauthorized duplication, download or alteration of audio or visual media.
The controller complies with the 800 Mbps specification of the 1394 standard, doubling the 400 Mbps data rate of Fujitsu Microelectronics‘ previous controller. The Fujitsu SmartCODEC, developed by Fujitsu Laboratories, is used in the BT.601 Transport Over IEEE-1394 standard, a transport protocol for sending YUV and RGB video streams over 1394.
“The 1394 Automotive standard is now moving forward for in-vehicle multimedia networking, and we expect it to become the preferred automotive networking standard for entertainment, information, and other applications,” said Philip Hughes, senior director, Automotive Business Group, Fujitsu Microelectronics America. “We expect this new 1394 Automotive in-vehicle networking technology will be in vehicles in the 2011 and 2012 model years.”
Factors in favor of 1394 essential for digital transmission in vehicle networks include the gradual shift to digital TV worldwide, the increased availability of HD content, and the 2013 phase-out of analog output from Blu-Ray players.
The controller can transmit HD video from Blu-Ray DVDs and digital TV as well as high-resolution navigation images. A decompressed HD video stream (1,280 dots x 720 lines) from a Blu-Ray DVD has a rate of 885 Mbps. Subsequent compression by the SmartCODEC drops the rate to 249 Mbps, so two channels can be transmitted in the 800 Mbps bandwidth.
Fujitsu Microelectronics plans to expand its lineup of 1394 controllers to handle increasing information streams in vehicles, such as video content and peripheral cameras, and to reduce system costs.
The MB88395 is available now in samples in 224-pin FBGA packages. Pricing begins at $17.00.
Tesla Motors used model-based design tools from The MathWorks to develop the 2008 Tesla Roadster.
Paul Lomangio, Roadster program manager and CAD/PLM technology manager at Tesla Motors, said the firm placed heavy emphasis on early stage simulation when it designed the electric sports car.
“We were on very aggressive schedules to develop a new powertrain program in approximately six months, and we didn‘t have the time or the budget for ‘build and test‘ to explore design alternatives,” he said.
Lomangio said that many of the engineers who worked on the electric vehicle came from Stanford University and were familiar with toolsets available at Stanford, including MATLAB. “There was no need for training on a model-based design tool.”
Using MATLAB, Tesla Motors engineers took a ‘bottom up‘ approach, modeling components and then combining them. “We did systems modeling in Simulink, but to get there we started with very small kernels, validated each component, and connected components together in a hierarchical manner.”
The Tesla Motors design team used MATLAB and Simulink to model the entire vehicle and its major subsystems. Engineers combined individual models for each major system of the car, including the motor, battery, transmission, brakes, tires, power electronics, and control systems, into one full-system model, which they used to simulate and predict overall vehicle performance before building prototype vehicles.
The simulated results were then compared against road-test results from prototype vehicles to refine the full-system model. This approach shortened overall design and test processes and enabled Tesla Motors to deliver the 2008 Tesla Roadster for $145 million, a fraction of the typical vehicle program cost.
Tesla Motors used model-based design tools from The MathWorks to develop the 2008 Tesla Roadster.
Paul Lomangio, Roadster program manager and CAD/PLM technology manager at Tesla Motors, said the firm placed heavy emphasis on early stage simulation when it designed the electric sports car.
“We were on very aggressive schedules to develop a new powertrain program in approximately six months, and we didn‘t have the time or the budget for ‘build and test‘ to explore design alternatives,” he said.
Lomangio said that many of the engineers who worked on the electric vehicle came from Stanford University and were familiar with toolsets available at Stanford, including MATLAB. “There was no need for training on a model-based design tool.”
Using MATLAB, Tesla Motors engineers took a ‘bottom up‘ approach, modeling components and then combining them. “We did systems modeling in Simulink, but to get there we started with very small kernels, validated each component, and connected components together in a hierarchical manner.”
The Tesla Motors design team used MATLAB and Simulink to model the entire vehicle and its major subsystems. Engineers combined individual models for each major system of the car, including the motor, battery, transmission, brakes, tires, power electronics, and control systems, into one full-system model, which they used to simulate and predict overall vehicle performance before building prototype vehicles.
The simulated results were then compared against road-test results from prototype vehicles to refine the full-system model. This approach shortened overall design and test processes and enabled Tesla Motors to deliver the 2008 Tesla Roadster for $145 million, a fraction of the typical vehicle program cost.
This blog focuses on issues and trends in the design and deployment of automotive electronics products, including chips, embedded systems, network topologies, standards, and system components for infotainment, telematics, ADAS, and more. It's a forum for engineers at every link in the value chain.
