Advancing In-vehicle Wireless Connectivity
Wireless technology has become a major differentiator for vehicles. Both carmaker Ford (for its Sync system that uses a customer’s brought-in cell phone) and tier one supplier OnStar (for its embedded system) report that customers have made buying decisions for vehicles based on the availability of Sync or OnStar products.
As a major tier two supplier to automotive with over two million wireless modules delivered to carmakers and first tier suppliers, Sierra Wireless is a key stakeholder in the success of wireless technology in vehicles. The company’s latest announcement promises to protect that stake and advance wireless technology.
Designed specifically for automotive manufacturers, Sierra Wireless claims its AirPrime AR Series intelligent embedded modules are the first to achieve the highest level of compliance with automotive specifications. The series meets the Automotive Industry Action Group’s (AIAG’s) Advanced Product Quality Planning (AQPQ) and Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) qualifications as well as Product/Process Change Notice (PCN), Eight Disciplines (8D), and other requirements imposed by automotive manufacturing and quality processes.
The modules in the new series have demonstrated tolerance for 1000 thermal shock cycles as part of Highly Accelerated Life Test (HALT) stress testing and are capable of operation over the automotive passenger compartment temperature range of -40 to +85°C. The modules have also passed automotive requirements for constant vibration and humidity.
Housed in an automotive land grid array (LGA) surface mount package measuring 40 x 40 x 4.12 mm, the module provides a solder-down form factor for high reliability. In addition, there is a common form factor for all of the new AirPrime AR Series including the AR3550, AR5550, AR8550, and AR8552.
The AR3550 is a dual-band 1xRTT wireless module. The AR5550 EV-DO Rev A has open platform for customer application development, including dedicated APIs for telematics applications.
The AirPrime AR855x is an automotive-grade High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSPA) wireless module available in two different tri-band versions for North America (AR8552) and for Europe, Australia and Japan (AR8550). The AR855X have a peak downlink rate of 14.4 Mbps and a peak uplink rate of 5.76 Mbps. The AirPrime AR Series are based on Qualcomm CDMA Technologies Brew Mobile Platform and MDM6600 chipset. The MDM6600 supports HSPA+ data rates of up to 14.4 Mbps. Other wireless interfaces include EDGE, GPRS, and GSM.
The module includes a standard SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) interface and has the option for the embedded SIM (SON8) and a SMI switch between an internal and external SIM. Embedded SIM reduces installation costs, simplifies logistics, and reduces SIM theft security threats.
In-vehicle Wireless Applications
The AirPrime AR Series targets infotainment, telematics, integrated phone, roadside assistance, and emergency calling. One application that is poised to drive wireless growth is the European eCall currently being pursued by the European Commission. The in-vehicle emergency calling system is expected to be mandatory on all new passenger cars in Europe starting in 2014.
When activated by a serious accident, the in-vehicle system (IVS) automatically initiates an eCall resulting in a 112-voice connection and emergency message. The message contains a minimum set of data including key information about the accident including the time, location, driving direction, and vehicle description.
While eCall can be accomplished either by an embedded network access device (a GSM module) or a mobile phone, Sierra Wireless believes the critical nature of the service dictates an embedded system to achieve sufficient reliability. The fully embedded system would have an embedded GSM module, embedded SIM, and the ability to manage devices over the air.
Of course, an embedded system plays right into the capabilities of the AirPrime AR Series. In addition to Europe, automobile manufacturers are incorporating wireless communications into luxury as well as economy vehicle models in other regions of the world. All of applications can benefit from reliable wireless connectivity designed to minimize the total cost of ownership, from production to customer service.
Having worked with network operators worldwide, Sierra Wireless has high confidence in its systems and modules, especially in the more demanding applications, such as remote diagnostics and stolen vehicle tracking and recovery.
Volume shipments of the modules are scheduled to begin in mid-2011 but the company says it already has multiple design wins for the AirPrime AR Series with leading automotive manufacturers.
