Archive for the 'Automotive' Category
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September 11, 2023
Automotive Central Switches: The Latest Step in the Evolution of Cars
By Amir Bar-Niv, VP of Marketing, Automotive Business Unit, Marvell
When you hear people refer to cars as “data centers on wheels,” they’re usually thinking about how an individual experiences enhanced digital capabilities in a car, such as streaming media on-demand or new software-defined services for enhancing the driving experience.
But there’s an important implication lurking behind the statement. For cars to take on tasks that require data center-like versatility, they need to be built like data centers. Automakers in conjunction with hardware makers and software developers are going to have to develop a portfolio of highly specialized technologies that work together, based around similar architectural concepts, to deliver the capabilities needed for the software-defined vehicle while at the same time keeping power and cost to a minimum. It’s not an easy balancing act.
Which brings us to the emergence of a new category of products for the zonal architecture, specifically zonal and the associated automotive central Ethernet switches. Today’s car networks are built around domain localized networks: speakers, video screens and other infotainment devices link to the infotainment ECU, while powertrain and brakes are part of the body domain, and ADAS domain is based on the sensors and high-performance processors. Bandwidth and security can be form-fitted to the application.
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July 19, 2023
Marvell Joins Imec Automotive Chiplet Initiative to Facilitate Compute SoCs for Super-human Sensing
By Willard Tu, Associate VP, Product Marketing – Automotive Compute, Marvell
Marvell is excited to announce that we’ve joined the automotive chiplet initiative coordinated by imec, a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies. Imec has formed an informal ecosystem of leading companies from multiple automotive industry segments to address the challenge of bringing multi-chiplet compute modules to the automotive market.
The goal of imec’s automotive chiplet initiative is to address the design challenges that arise from ever-increasing data movement, processing, storage and security requirements. These demands complicate the automotive manufacturers’ desire for scalable performance to address different vehicle classes, while reducing costs and development time and ensuring consistent quality, reliability and safety.
And these demands will be made even more intense by the coming era of super-human sensing. The fusion of data from multi-spectral cameras (visible and infrared), radar and LiDAR will enable “vision” beyond human capability. Such sensor fusion will be a critical requirement for safe autonomous driving.
Source: imec presentation at ITF World, May 2023 -
January 04, 2023
Software-Defined Networking for the Software-Defined Vehicle
By Amir Bar-Niv, VP of Marketing, Automotive Business Unit, Marvell and John Heinlein, Chief Marketing Officer, Sonatus and Simon Edelhaus, VP SW, Automotive Business Unit, Marvell
The software-defined vehicle (SDV) is one of the newest and most interesting megatrends in the automotive industry. As we discussed in a previous blog, the reason that this new architectural—and business—model will be successful is the advantages it offers to all stakeholders:
- The OEMs (car manufacturers) will gain new revenue streams from aftermarket services and new applications;
- The car owners will easily upgrade their vehicle features and functions; and
- The mobile operators will profit from increased vehicle data consumption driven by new applications.
What is a software-defined vehicle? While there is no official definition, the term reflects the change in the way software is being used in vehicle design to enable flexibility and extensibility. To better understand the software-defined vehicle, it helps to first examine the current approach.
Today’s embedded control units (ECUs) that manage car functions do include software, however, the software in each ECU is often incompatible with and isolated from other modules. When updates are required, the vehicle owner must visit the dealer service center, which inconveniences the owner and is costly for the manufacturer.
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December 13, 2022
Marvell Joins SOAFEE and Autoware Foundation to Advance Software-Defined Vehicle Architectures
By Willard Tu, Associate VP, Product Marketing – Automotive Compute, Marvell
I’m excited to share that Marvell is now a member of two leading automotive technology organizations: the Scalable Open Architecture for Embedded Edge (SOAFEE) and the Autoware Foundation. Marvell’s participation in these organizations’ initiatives demonstrates its continued focus and investment in the automotive market. The new memberships follow the company’s 2021 announcement of its Brightlane™ automotive portfolio, and reflect Marvell’s expanding automotive silicon initiative.
SOAFEE, founded by Arm, is an industry-led collaboration defined by automakers, semiconductor suppliers, open source and independent software vendors, and cloud technology leaders. The collaboration intends to deliver a cloud-native architecture enhanced for mixed-criticality automotive applications with corresponding open-source reference implementations to enable commercial and non-commercial offerings.
As a member of SOAFEE, Marvell will access the SOAFEE architecture standards to help streamline development from cloud to deployment at the vehicle. This will enable faster time to market for the Marvell Brightlane automotive portfolio.
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November 17, 2022
The Right Stuff: A Past and Future History of Automotive Connectivity
By Amir Bar-Niv, VP of Marketing, Automotive Business Unit, Marvell and Mark Davis, Senior Director, Solutions Marketing, Marvell
In the blog, Back to the Future – Automotive network run at speed of 10Gbps, we discussed the benefits and advantages of zonal architecture and why OEMs are adopting it for their next-generation vehicles. One of the biggest advantages of zonal architecture is its ability to reduce the complexity, cost and weight of the cable harness. In another blog, Ethernet Camera Bridge for Software-Defined Vehicles, we discussed the software-defined vehicle, and how using Ethernet from end-to-end helps to make that vehicle a reality.
While in the near future most devices in the car will be connected through zonal switches, cameras are the exception. They will continue to connect to processors over point-to-point protocol (P2PP) links using proprietary networking protocols such as low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS), Maxim’s GMSL or TI’s FPD-Link.
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November 03, 2022
The Race Against Automotive Hackers Is Accelerating
By Hari Parmar, Senior Principal Automotive System Architect, Marvell
“In your garage or driveway sits a machine with more lines of code than a modern passenger jet. Today’s cars and trucks, with an internet link, can report the weather, pay for gas, find a parking spot, route around traffic jams and tune in to radio stations from around the world. Soon they’ll speak to one another, alert you to sales as you pass your favorite stores, and one day they’ll even drive themselves.
While consumers may love the features, hackers may love them even more.”
The New York Times, March 18, 2021
Hacking used to be an arcane worry, the concern of a few technical specialists. But with recent cyberattacks on pipelines, hospitals and retail systems, digital attacks have suddenly been thrust into public consciousness, leading many to wonder: are cars at risk, too?
Not if Marvell can help it. As a leading supplier of automotive silicon, the company has been intensely focused on identifying and securing potential vulnerabilities before they can remotely compromise a vehicle, its driver or passengers.
Unfortunately, hacking cars isn’t just theoretical – in 2015, researchers on a laptop commandeered a Jeep Cherokee 10 miles away, shutting off power, blasting the radio, turning on the AC and making the windshield wipers go berserk. And today, seven years later, millions more cars – including most new vehicles – are connected to the cloud. -
October 05, 2022
Designing energy efficient chips
By Rebecca O'Neill, Global Head of ESG, Marvell
Today is Energy Efficiency Day. Energy, specifically the electricity consumption required to power our chips, is something that is top of mind here at Marvell. Our goal is to reduce power consumption of products with each generation for set capabilities.
Our products play an essential role in powering data infrastructure spanning cloud and enterprise data centers, 5G carrier infrastructure, automotive vehicles, and industrial and enterprise networking. When we design our products, we focus on innovative features that deliver new capabilities while also improving performance, capacity and security to ultimately improve energy efficiency during product use.
These innovations help make the world’s data infrastructure more efficient and, by extension, reduce our collective impact on climate change. The use of our products by our customers contributes to Marvell’s Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, which is our biggest category of emissions.
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September 28, 2022
Marvell Brightlane Technology and OMNIVISION Partnership on Display at AutoSens Brussels
By Katie Maller, Senior Manager, Public Relations, Marvell
Building on our leadership in Ethernet camera bridge technology, Marvell is excited to work with OMNIVISION and to have been a part of their automotive demonstrations at the recent AutoSens Brussels event. OMNIVISION, a leading global developer of semiconductor solutions, partnered with Marvell to demonstrate its OX03F10 (image sensor) and OAX4000 (image signal processor) with our industry first multi-gigabit Ethernet camera bridge, the Marvell® Brightlane™ 88QB5224.
The combined solutions allow camera video that would otherwise be transported via point-to-point protocol to be encapsulated over Ethernet, thereby integrating cameras into the Ethernet-based in-vehicle network. The solutions work with both interior and exterior cameras and are ideal for SVS and other applications in which numerous cameras are utilized and the output of those cameras is used by multiple subsystems or zones.
“Ethernet is the foundation of the software-defined vehicle. By using the Ethernet camera bridge from our Brightlane automotive portfolio to connect cameras to the zonal Ethernet switch, the cameras are integrated into the end-to-end, in-vehicle network,” said Amir Bar-Niv, vice president of marketing for Marvell’s automotive business unit. “Standard Ethernet features such as security, switching, and synchronization are now available to the camera system, and a simple software update is all that’s required when porting the system from one automobile model to another. Shorter runs to the zonal switches reduce the cable cost and weight, as well.”
The demonstrations in the OMNIVISION booth were well received at AutoSens Brussels, an annual event that brings together leading engineers and technical experts from across the ADAS and autonomous vehicle supply chain.
To learn more about Marvell’s Ethernet Camera Bridge technology, also check out this blog.
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April 18, 2022
Ethernet Camera Bridge for Software-Defined Vehicles
By Amir Bar-Niv, VP of Marketing, Automotive Business Unit, Marvell
Automotive Transformation
Smart Car and Data Center-on-wheels are just some of the terms being used to define the exciting new waves of technology transforming the automotive industry and promising safer, greener self-driving cars and enhanced user experiences. Underpinning it all is a megatrend towards Software-defined Vehicles (SDV). SDV is not just a new automotive technology platform. It also enables a new business model for automotive OEMs. With a software-centric architecture, car makers will have an innovation platform to generate unprecedented streams of revenue from aftermarket services and new applications. For owners, the capability to receive over-the-air software updates for vehicles already on the road – as easily as smartphones are updated – means an automobile whose utility will no longer decline over time and driving experiences that can be continuously improved over time.
This blog is the first in a series of blogs that will discuss the basic components of a system that will enable the future of SDV.
Road to SDV is Paved with Ethernet
A key technology to enable SDVs is a computing platform that is supported by an Ethernet-based In-Vehicle network (IVN). An Ethernet-based IVN provides the ability to reshape the traffic between every system in the car to help meet the requirements of new downloaded applications. To gain the full potential of Ethernet-based IVNs, the nodes within the car will need to “talk” Ethernet. This includes devices such as car sensors and cameras. In this blog, we discuss the characteristics and main components that will drive the creation of this advanced Ethernet-based IVN, which will enable this new era of SDV.
But first let’s talk about the promises of this new business model. For example, people might ask, “how many new applications can possibly be created for cars and who will use them?” This is probably the same question that was asked when Apple created the original AppStore, which started with dozens of new apps, and now of course, the rest is history. We can definitely learn from this model. Plus, this is not going to be just an OEM play. Once SDV cars are on the road, we should expect the emergence of new companies that will develop for the OEMs a whole new world of car applications that will be aligned with other megatrends like Smart City, Mobility as a Service (MaaS), Ride-hailing and many others.
A New Era of Automotive Innovation
Let us now fast forward to the years 2025 to 2030 (which in the automotive industry is considered ‘just around the corner.’) New cars that are designed to support higher level of driver assist systems (ADAS) include anywhere between 20 to 30 sensors (camera, radar, lidar and others). Let’s imagine two new potential applications that could utilize these sensors:
Application 1: “Catch the Car Scratcher” - How many times have we heard of, or even been in, this situation? Someone scratches your car in the parking lot or maliciously scratches your car with a car key. What if the car was able to capture the face of the person or license plate number of the car that caused the damage? Wouldn’t that be a cool feature an OEM could provide to the car owner on demand? If priced right, it most likely could become a popular application. The application could use the accelerometers, and potentially a microphone, to detect the noise of scratching, bumping or hitting the car. Once the car identifies the scratching or bumping, it would activate all of the cameras around the car. The car would then record the video streams into a central storage. This video could later be used by the owner as necessary to recover repair costs through insurance or the courts.
Application 2: “Break-in Attempt Recording” - In this next application, when the system detects a break-in attempt, all internal and external cameras record the video into central storage and immediately upload it to the cloud. This is done in case the car thief tries to tamper with the storage later. In parallel, the user gets a warning signal or alert by phone so they can watch the video streams or even connect to the sound system in the car and scare the thief with their own voice.
We will examine these scenarios more comprehensively in a follow up blog, but these are just two simple examples of the many possible high-value automotive apps that an Ethernet-based IVN can enable in the software-defined car of the future.
Software-Defined Network
Ethernet network standards comprise a long list of features and solutions that have been developed over the years to address real network needs, including the mitigation of security threats. Ethernet was initially adopted by the automotive industry in 2014 and it has since become the dominant network in the car. Once the car’s processors, sensors, cameras and other devices are connected to each other via Ethernet (Ethernet End-to-End), we can realize the biggest promise of SDV: the capability to reprogram the in-vehicle network and adapt its main characteristics to new advanced applications. This capability is called In-Vehicle Software-Defined Networking, or in short, In-vehicle SDN.
Figure 1 shows the building blocks for In-Vehicle SDN that enable SDV.
Figure 1 – Ethernet and SDN as building blocks for SDV
Ethernet features enable four key attributes that are key for SDV: Flexibility, Scalability, Redundancy and Controllability.
- Flexibility provides for the ability to change data flow in the network and share devices (like cameras and sensors) between domains, processors and other shared resources (e.g., storage).
- Scalability of both software and hardware is needed to support new applications and features. Software updates to the originally installed processors and ECUs usually require changes in the network’s routing of data and controls. Hardware can be also modified over time in the car, and in many cases, adaptations to the network may be required to support new speeds and Quality of Service (QoS), for the new hardware.
- Redundancy, not only in mission-critical processors but also in data paths between the devices, safeguards the network. Switching and multi-data paths can also assist load balancing in the backbone of the in-vehicle network.
- Controllability, diagnostic and real-time debugging of all links in the car provides real-time self-diagnosis and fault management, such as channel quality, link marginality/degradation, and EMC vulnerability, by leveraging of the Ethernet’s Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) protocol. With advanced, AI/ML based data processing, more effective prediction of network health is possible, enabling higher-level safety goals and significant economic benefits.
In-vehicle SDN is the mechanism that provide the ability to modify and adapt these attributes in SDV. SDN is a technology that uses application programming interfaces (APIs) to communicate with underlying hardware infrastructure, like switches and bridges, and provisions traffic flow in a network. The In-Vehicle SDN allows the separation of control and data planes and brings network programmability to the realm of advanced data forwarding mechanisms in automotive networks.
Cameras and the Ethernet Edge
To realize the full capability of in-vehicle SDN, most devices in the car will need to be connected via Ethernet. In today’s advanced car architectures, the backbone of the high-speed links is all Ethernet. However, camera interfaces are still based on old proprietary point-to-point Low-Voltage Differential Signaling (LVDS) technology. Newer technologies (like MIPI’s A-PHY and ASA) are under development to replace LVDS, but these are still point-to-point solutions. In this blog we refer to all of these solutions as P2PP (Point-to-Point Protocol). In Figure 2, we show an example of a typical zonal car network with the focus on two domains that use the camera sensors: ADAS and Infotainment.
Figure 2 – Zonal network architecture with point-to-point camera links
While most of the ECUs / Sensors / Devices are connected through (and leverage the benefits of) the zonal backbone, cameras are still connected directly (point-to-point) to the processors. Cameras cannot be shared in a simple manner between the two domains (ADAS and IVI), that in many cases are in separate boxes. There is no scalability in this rigid connectivity. Redundancy is also very limited, since the cameras are connected directly to a processor, and any malfunction in this processor might result in lost connection to the cameras.
One potential “solution” for this is to connect the cameras to the zonal switches via P2PP, as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3 – Zonal network architecture with point-to-point camera links to Zonal switch
This proposal solves only a few of the problems mentioned above but comes at a high cost. To support this configuration the system always needs a dedicated Demux chip, as showed in Figure 4, that converts the P2PP back to camera interface. In addition, to support this configuration, the Zonal switches need a dedicated video interface, like MIPI D-PHY. This interface requires 12 pins per camera (4 pairs for data, 1 pair for clock and 1 pair for control (I2C or SPI)). This adds complexity and many dedicated pins which increases system cost. Another option is to use an external Demux-switch (on top of the Zonal switch) to aggregate multiple P2PP lanes, which is expensive.
Integration of any of these protocols into the Zonal switch is also highly unlikely, since it requires dedicated, non-Ethernet ports on the switch. In addition, no one will consider integration of proprietary or new and non-matured technologies into switches or SoCs.
Figure 4 – Camera P2PP Bridge in Zonal Architecture
Next is controllability, diagnostics and real-time debugging that do not work over the P2PP links in the same simple and standard way they work over Ethernet. This limits the leverage of existing Ethernet-based SW utilities that are used to access, monitor and debug all Ethernet-based ECUs, devices and sensors in the vehicle.
Ethernet Camera Bridge
The right solution for all of these issues is to convert the camera-video to Ethernet – at the edge. A simple bridge device that connects to the camera module and encapsulates the video over Ethernet packets is all it takes, as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5 – Ethernet Camera Bridge in Zonal Architecture
Since the in-vehicle Ethernet network is Layer 2 (L2)-based, the encapsulation of camera video over Ethernet requires a simple, hard-coded (meaning no SW) MAC block in the bridge device. Figure 6 shows a network that utilizes such bridge devices.
Figure 6 – Zonal architecture with Ethernet End-to-End
The biggest advantage of the Ethernet camera bridge is that it leverages the robustness and maturity of the Ethernet standard. For the Ethernet bridge PHY it means a proven technology (2.5G/5G/10GBASE-T1 and soon 25GBASE-T1) with a very strong ecosystem of cables, connectors, and test facilities (compliance, interoperability, EMC, etc.) that have been accepted by the automotive industry for many years.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg. Once the underlying technology for the camera interface is Ethernet, these links automatically gain access to all the other IEEE Ethernet standards, like:
- Switching and virtualization - IEEE 802.1
- Security – authentication and encryption – IEEE 802.1AE MACsec
- Time-Synchronization over network – IEEE PTP 1588
- Power over cable – IEEE PoDL 802.3bu
- Audio/Video Bridging – IEEE 802.1 AVB/TSN
- Asymmetrical transmission, using Energy Efficient Ethernet protocol – IEEE 802.3az
- Support for all topologies: Mesh, star, ring, daisy-chain, point-to-point
These important features for automotive networks are covered in a previous Marvell blog called, “Ethernet Advanced Features for Automotive Applications.”
The Ethernet End-to-End with Ethernet camera bridges supports all four key attributes (described in Figure 1) that are required for reliable software-defined car operation: Cameras can easily be shared among domains. Software and hardware can be easily modified independently and scaled all the way up to the camera and sensors. No special video interfaces are needed in the zonal switch – the camera Ethernet link is connected to a standard Ethernet port on the switch, and can be routed on multiple paths, for redundancy. This approach offers the full support of controllability, diagnostic and real-time debugging of the camera links using standard Ethernet utilities that are used in the rest of the in-vehicle network.
So, what’s next? As camera resolutions and refresh rates increase, camera links will need to support future data rates that climb beyond 10Gbps. To support this trend, the IEEE P802.3cy Greater than 10 Gb/s Electrical Automotive Ethernet PHY Task Force is already in the process of defining a standard for 25Gbps automotive PHY. Therefore, we can expect the vehicle backbone as well as Camera Ethernet bridges of up to 25Gbps to be inevitable in the future, and with them, a plethora of even more compelling smart car apps.
Marvell Product Roadmap for Automotive
To help support these new initiatives in automotive technology application and design, Marvell announced the industry’s first multi-gig Ethernet camera bridge solution.
As shown by these announcements, Marvell continues to drive innovation in networking and compute solutions for automotive applications. The Marvell automotive roadmap includes managed Ethernet switches that support the Trusted Boot® feature to enable over-the-air upload of new system configurations, to enable new applications. Marvell custom compute products for automotive are designed in advanced process nodes and leverage Marvell’s IP portfolio of high-performance multi-core processors, end-to-end security and high-speed PHY and SerDes technologies.
To learn more about how Marvell is committed to enabling smarter, safer and greener vehicles with its innovative, end-to-end portfolio of Brightlane™ automotive solutions, check out: https://www.marvell.com/products/automotive.html.
The next blogs in this series will discuss some of the characteristics of SDN-on-wheels, central compute in future vehicles, security structure for vehicle-to-cloud connectivity, in-vehicle-network for infotainment and other exciting developments that enable the future of software-defined vehicle.
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April 29, 2021
Back to the Future – Automotive network run at speed of 10Gbps
By Amir Bar-Niv, VP of Marketing, Automotive Business Unit, Marvell
In the classic 1980s “Back to the Future” movie trilogy, Doc Brown – inventor of the DeLorean time machine – declares that "your future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one.” At Marvell, engineers are doing just that by accelerating automotive Ethernet capabilities: Earlier this week, Marvell announced the latest addition to its automotive products portfolio – the 88Q4346 802.3ch-based multi-gig automotive Ethernet PHY.
This technology addresses three emerging automotive trends requiring multi-gig Ethernet speeds, including:
- The increasing integration of high-resolution cameras and sensors
- Growing utilization of powerful 5G networks
- The rise of Zonal Architecture in car design
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January 29, 2021
Full Steam Ahead! Marvell Ethernet Device Bridge Receives Avnu Certification
By Amir Bar-Niv, VP of Marketing, Automotive Business Unit, Marvell and John Bergen, Sr. Product Marketing Manager, Automotive Business Unit, Marvell
In the early decades of American railroad construction, competing companies laid their tracks at different widths. Such inconsistent standards drove inefficiencies, preventing the easy exchange of rolling stock from one railroad to the next, and impeding the infrastructure from coalescing into a unified national network. Only in the 1860s, when a national standard emerged – 4 feet, 8-1/2 inches – did railroads begin delivering their true, networked potential.
Some one hundred-and-sixty years later, as Marvell and its competitors race to reinvent the world’s transportation networks, universal design standards are more important than ever. Recently, Marvell’s 88Q5050 Ethernet Device Bridge became the first of its type in the automotive industry to receive Avnu certification, meeting exacting new technical standards that facilitate the exchange of information between diverse in-car networks, which enable today’s data-dependent vehicles to operate smoothly, safely and reliably.
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October 07, 2020
Ethernet Advanced Features for Automotive Applications
By Amir Bar-Niv, VP of Marketing, Automotive Business Unit, Marvell
Ethernet standards comprise a long list of features and solutions that have been developed over the years to resolve real network needs as well as resolve security threats. Now, developers of Ethernet In-Vehicle-Networks (IVN) can easily balance between functionality and cost by choosing the specific features they would like to have in their car’s network.
The roots of Ethernet technology began in 1973, when Bob Metcalfe, a researcher at Xerox Research Center (who later founded 3COM), wrote a memo entitled “Alto Ethernet,” which described how to connect computers over short-distance copper cable. With the explosion of PC-based Local Area Networks (LAN) in businesses and corporations in the 1980s, the growth of client/server LAN architectures continued, and Ethernet started to become the connectivity technology of choice for these networks. However, the Ethernet advancement that made it the most successful networking technology ever was when standardization efforts began for it under the IEEE 802.3 group.
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May 31, 2018
Why is 802.11ax a “must have” for the connected car?
By Avinash Ghirnikar
Imagine motoring along through busy, urban traffic in your new connected car that is learning, getting smarter, safer and more reliable as it is driving. Such a car is constantly gathering and generating all kinds of data that is intermittently and opportunistically being uploaded to the cloud. As more cars on the road feature advanced wireless connectivity, this exciting future will become commonplace. However, each car will need to share the network with potentially hundreds of other cars that might be in its vicinity. While such a use case could potentially rely on LTE/5G cellular technology, the costs associated with employing such a “licensed pipe” would be prohibitively expensive. In such situations, the new Wi-Fi® standard 802.11ax, also known as high efficiency wireless (HEW), will be a life saver for the automotive industry. The zettabytes of data that cars equipped with a slew of sensors will create in the years to come will all need to be uploaded to the cloud and data centers, enabling next-generation machine learning in order to make driving increasingly safe and predictable in the future. Uploading this data will, of course, need to be done both securely and reliably.
The car - as an 802.11ax station (STA) - will also be to able upload data to an 802.11ax access point (AP) in the most challenging of wireless environments while sharing the network with other clients. The 802.11ax system will be able to do this via technologies like MU-MIMO and OFDMA (allowing for spatial, frequency and time reuse) which are new innovations that are part of this emerging standard. Today, STAs compete rather than effectively share the network and have to deal with the dreaded “circle of death”’ awaiting connectivity. This is because today’s wireless standard can often be in an all-or-nothing binary mode of operation due to constant competition. When coupled with other upcoming standards like 802.11ai, specifically fast initial link setup (FILS), this vision of cars uploading data to the cloud over Wi-Fi becomes a true reality, even in environments where the car is moving and likely hopping from one AP to another.
While this “under the hood” upload use case is greatly enhanced by the 802.11ax standard from an infrastructure perspective, download of software and firmware into connected cars can also be transformed by this same standard. It is well known that the number of processors and electronic control units (ECUs) in car models is expected to increase dramatically. This, in turn, implies that the software/firmware content in these cars will likewise grow at exponential rates. Periodic firmware over-the-air (FOTA) updates will be required and, therefore, having a reliable and robust mechanism to support this will be vital for automobile manufacturers – potentially saving them millions of dollars in relation to servicing costs, etc. Such is the pace of innovation and technological change these days that this can sometimes happen almost immediately after cars come off the assembly line.
Take the example of a parking lot outside an auto plant containing hundreds of brand new cars requiring some of their software to be updated. Here, too, 802.11ax can come to the rescue by making a mass update more efficient and reliable. This advantage will then carry forward for the rest of the lifespan of each car, since it can never be predicted what sort of wireless connectivity environment these cars will encounter. These could be challenging environments like garages, driveways, and maybe even parking decks. The modulation enhancements that 802.11ax delivers, coupled with MU-MIMO and OFDMA features, will ensure that the most efficient and reliable Wi-Fi pipe is always available for such a critical function. Given that a car can easily be on the road for close to a decade, having this functionality built in from day one would be a tremendous advantage and could enable significant cost savings. Again, accompanying technologies like Wake on Bluetooth® Low Energy and Bluetooth Low Energy Long Range will also play a pivotal role in ensuring this use case is realized from an overall end-to-end system standpoint.
These two infrastructure type use cases are likely to be tremendous value-adds for the connected car and can justify the presence of 802.11ax, especially from an automobile manufacturers’ point of view. Even consumers are likely to see significant benefits in their vehicle dashboards where the mobile APs in their infotainment systems will be able to seamlessly connect to their latest smartphone handsets (which will themselves be 802.11ax capable within the 2019 timeframe). Use cases like Wireless Apple CarPlay®, Wireless Android Auto™ Projection, rear seat entertainment, wireless cameras, etc. will all be a breeze given the additional 30-40% throughput enhancement in 802.11ax (and the backward compatibility this standard has with previous Wi-Fi standards for such use cases to cooperatively coexist). Just as in homes, the number of Wi-Fi endpoints in cars is also proliferating. The 802.11ax standard is the only well-designed path for an increasing number of endpoints and yet provides the best user experience.
The 802.11ax as Release 1 (aka Wave 1) is well on its way to a concrete launch by the Wi-Fi Alliance in the second half of 2019. Products are already being sampled by silicon vendors - both on the AP and STA/mobile AP side - and interoperability testing is well underway. For all wireless system designers at OEMs and their Tier 1 suppliers, the 802.11ax Wi-Fi standard should be a goal, and especially for any product launch set for 2020 and beyond. The time has come to begin future proofing for the impending arrival of 802.11ax infrastructure. The days of the wireless technology in your smartphone/home/enterprise and in your car belonging to different generations are long gone. Consumers demand that their cars now be an extension of their home/work environments and that all of these living spaces function as one. The 802.11ax is destined to be one of the key pillars of technology to make such a vision a reality.
Marvell has been a pioneer in designing Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo devices for the automotive market since the debut of such devices in cars in 2011. With actual development beginning almost a decade ago, Marvell’s automotive wireless portfolio has been honed to address key use cases over five generations of products, through working closely with OEMs, Tier 1s and Tier 2s. All the technologies needed to achieve the various use cases described above have been incorporated into Marvell’s fifth generation device. Coupled with Marvell’s offering for enterprise class, high-performance APs, Marvell remains committed to providing the automobile industry and car buyers with the best wireless connectivity experience -- encompassing use cases inside and outside of the car today, and well into the future.
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January 11, 2018
Ethernet Set to Bring About Radical Shift in How Automotive Networks are Implemented
By By Christopher Mash, Senior Director of Automotive Applications & Architecture, Marvell
The in-vehicle networks currently used in automobiles are based on a combination of several different data networking protocols, some of which have been in place for decades. There is the controller area network (CAN), which takes care of the powertrain and related functions; the local interconnect network (LIN), which is predominantly used for passenger/driver comfort purposes that are not time sensitive (such as climate control, ambient lighting, seat adjustment, etc.); the media oriented system transport (MOST), developed for infotainment; and FlexRay™ for anti-lock braking (ABS), electronic power steering (EPS) and vehicle stability functions.
As a result of using different protocols, gateways are needed to transfer data within the infrastructure. The resulting complexity is costly for car manufacturers. It also affects vehicle fuel economy, since the wire harnessing needed for each respective network adds extra weight to the vehicle. The wire harness represents the third heaviest element of the vehicle (after the engine and chassis) and the third most expensive, too. Furthermore, these gateways have latency issues, something that will impact safety-critical applications where rapid response is required.
The number of electronic control units (ECUs) incorporated into cars is continuously increasing, with luxury models now often having 150 or more ECUs, and even standard models are now approaching 80-90 ECUs. At the same time, data intensive applications are emerging to support advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) implementation, as we move toward greater levels of vehicle autonomy. All this is causing a significant ramp in data rates and overall bandwidth, with the increasing deployment of HD cameras and LiDAR technology on the horizon.
As a consequence, the entire approach in which in-vehicle networking is deployed needs to fundamentally change, first in terms of the topology used and, second, with regard to the underlying technology on which it relies.
Currently, the networking infrastructure found inside a car is a domain-based architecture. There are different domains for each key function - one for body control, one for infotainment, one for telematics, one for powertrain, and so on. Often these domains employ a mix of different network protocols (e.g., with CAN, LIN and others being involved).
As network complexity increases, it is now becoming clear to automotive engineers that this domain-based approach is becoming less and less efficient. Consequently, in the coming years, there will need to be a migration away from the current domain-based architecture to a zonal one.
A zonal arrangement means data from different traditional domains is connected to the same ECU, based on the location (zone) of that ECU in the vehicle. This arrangement will greatly reduce the wire harnessing required, thereby lowering weight and cost - which in turn will translate into better fuel efficiency. Ethernet technology will be pivotal in moving to zonal-based, in-vehicle networks.
In addition to the high data rates that Ethernet technology can support, Ethernet adheres to the universally-recognized OSI communication model. Ethernet is a stable, long-established and well-understood technology that has already seen widespread deployment in the data communication and industrial automation sectors. Unlike other in-vehicle networking protocols, Ethernet has a well-defined development roadmap that is targeting additional speed grades, whereas protocols – like CAN, LIN and others – are already reaching a stage where applications are starting to exceed their capabilities, with no clear upgrade path to alleviate the problem.
Future expectations are that Ethernet will form the foundation upon which all data transfer around the car will occur, providing a common protocol stack that reduces the need for gateways between different protocols (along with the hardware costs and the accompanying software overhead). The result will be a single homogeneous network throughout the vehicle in which all the protocols and data formats are consistent. It will mean that the in-vehicle network will be scalable, allowing functions that require higher speeds (10G for example) and ultra-low latency to be attended to, while also addressing the needs of lower speed functions. Ethernet PHYs will be selected according to the particular application and bandwidth demands - whether it is a 1Gbps device for transporting imaging sensing data, or one for 10Mbps operation, as required for the new class of low data rate sensors that will be used in autonomous driving.
Each Ethernet switch in a zonal architecture will be able to carry data for all the different domain activities. All the different data domains would be connected to local switches and the Ethernet backbone would then aggregate the data, resulting in a more effective use of the available resources and allowing different speeds to be supported, as required, while using the same core protocols. This homogenous network will provide ‘any data, anywhere’ in the car, supporting new applications through combining data from different domains available through the network.
Marvell is leading the way when it comes to the progression of Ethernet-based, in-vehicle networking and zonal architectures by launching, back in the summer of 2017, the AEC-Q100-compliant 88Q5050 secure Gigabit Ethernet switch for use in automobiles. This device not only deals with OSI Layers 1-2 (the physical layer and data layer) functions associated with standard Ethernet implementations, it also has functions located at OSI Layers 3,4 and beyond (the network layer, transport layer and higher), such as deep packet inspection (DPI). This, in combination with Trusted Boot functionality, provides automotive network architects with key features vital in ensuring network security.
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January 10, 2018
Marvell Demonstrates Edge Computing by Extending Google Cloud to the Network Edge with Pixeom Edge Platform at CES 2018
By Maen Suleiman, Senior Software Product Line Manager, Marvell
The adoption of multi-gigabit networks and planned roll-out of next generation 5G networks will continue to create greater available network bandwidth as more and more computing and storage services get funneled to the cloud. Increasingly, applications running on IoT and mobile devices connected to the network are becoming more intelligent and compute-intensive. However, with so many resources being channeled to the cloud, there is strain on today’s networks.
Instead of following a conventional cloud centralized model, next generation architecture will require a much greater proportion of its intelligence to be distributed throughout the network infrastructure. High performance computing hardware (accompanied by the relevant software), will need to be located at the edge of the network. A distributed model of operation should provide the needed compute and security functionality required for edge devices, enable compelling real-time services and overcome inherent latency issues for applications like automotive, virtual reality and industrial computing. With these applications, analytics of high resolution video and audio content is also needed.
Through use of its high performance ARMADA® embedded processors, Marvell is able to demonstrate a highly effective solution that will facilitate edge computing implementation on the Marvell MACCHIATObin™ community board using the ARMADA 8040 system on chip (SoC). At CES® 2018, Marvell and Pixeom teams will be demonstrating a fully effective, but not costly, edge computing system using the Marvell MACCHIATObin community board in conjunction with the Pixeom Edge Platform to extend functionality of Google Cloud Platform™ services at the edge of the network. The Marvell MACCHIATObin community board will run Pixeom Edge Platform software that is able to extend the cloud capabilities by orchestrating and running Docker container-based micro-services on the Marvell MACCHIATObin community board.
Currently, the transmission of data-heavy, high resolution video content to the cloud for analysis purposes places a lot of strain on network infrastructure, proving to be both resource-intensive and also expensive. Using Marvell’s MACCHIATObin hardware as a basis, Pixeom will demonstrate its container-based edge computing solution which provides video analytics capabilities at the network edge. This unique combination of hardware and software provides a highly optimized and straightforward way to enable more processing and storage resources to be situated at the edge of the network. The technology can significantly increase operational efficiency levels and reduce latency.
The Marvell and Pixeom demonstration deploys Google TensorFlow™ micro-services at the network edge to enable a variety of different key functions, including object detection, facial recognition, text reading (for name badges, license plates, etc.) and intelligent notifications (for security/safety alerts). This technology encompasses the full scope of potential applications, covering everything from video surveillance and autonomous vehicles, right through to smart retail and artificial intelligence. Pixeom offers a complete edge computing solution, enabling cloud service providers to package, deploy, and orchestrate containerized applications at scale, running on premise “Edge IoT Cores.” To accelerate development, Cores come with built-in machine learning, FaaS, data processing, messaging, API management, analytics, offloading capabilities to Google Cloud, and more.
The MACCHIATObin community board is using Marvell’s ARMADA 8040 processor and has a 64-bit ARMv8 quad-core processor core (running at up to 2.0GHZ), and supports up to 16GB of DDR4 memory and a wide array of different I/Os. Through use of Linux® on the Marvell MACCHIATObin board, the multifaceted Pixeom Edge IoT platform can facilitate implementation of edge computing servers (or cloudlets) at the periphery of the cloud network. Marvell will be able to show the power of this popular hardware platform to run advanced machine learning, data processing, and IoT functions as part of Pixeom’s demo. The role-based access features of the Pixeom Edge IoT platform also mean that developers situated in different locations can collaborate with one another in order to create compelling edge computing implementations. Pixeom supplies all the edge computing support needed to allow Marvell embedded processors users to establish their own edge-based applications, thus offloading operations from the center of the network. 
Marvell will also be demonstrating the compatibility of its technology with the Google Cloud platform, which enables the management and analysis of deployed edge computing resources at scale. Here, once again the MACCHIATObin board provides the hardware foundation needed by engineers, supplying them with all the processing, memory and connectivity required. Those visiting Marvell’s suite at CES (Venetian, Level 3 - Murano 3304, 9th-12th January 2018, Las Vegas) will be able to see a series of different demonstrations of the MACCHIATObin community board running cloud workloads at the network edge. Make sure you come by!
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January 10, 2018
Moving the World’s Data
By Marvell, PR Team
The way in which data is moved via wireline and wireless connectivity is going through major transformations. The dynamics that are causing these changes are being seen across a broad cross section of different sectors.
Within our cars, the new features and functionality that are being incorporated mean that the traditional CAN and LIN based communication technology is no longer adequate. More advanced in-vehicle networking needs to be implemented which is capable of supporting multi-Gigabit data rates, in order to cope with the large quantities of data that high resolution cameras, more sophisticated infotainment, automotive radar and LiDAR will produce. With CAN, LIN and other automotive networking technologies not offering viable upgrade paths, it is clear that Ethernet will be the basis of future in-vehicle network infrastructure - offering the headroom needed as automobile design progresses towards the long term goal of fully autonomous vehicles. Marvell is already proving itself to be ahead of the game here, following the announcement of the industry’s first secure automotive gigabit Ethernet switch, which delivers the speeds now being required by today’s data-heavy automotive designs, while also ensuring secure operation is maintained and the threat of hacking or denial of service (DoS) attacks is mitigated.
Within the context of modern factories and processing facilities, the arrival of Industry 4.0 will allow greater levels of automation, through use of machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. This communication can enable the access of data — data that is provided by a multitude of different sensor nodes distributed throughout the site. The ongoing in-depth analysis of this data is designed to ultimately bring improvements in efficiency and productivity for the modern factory environment. Ethernet capable of supporting Gigabit data rates has shown itself to be the prime candidate and it is already experiencing extensive implementation. Not only will this meet the speed and bandwidth requirements needed, but it also has the robustness that is mandatory in such settings (dealing with high temperatures, ESD strikes, exposure to vibrations, etc.) and the low latency characteristics that are essential for real-time control/analysis. Marvell has developed highly sophisticated Gigabit Ethernet transceivers with elevated performance that are targeted at such applications.
Within data centers things are changing too, but in this case the criteria involved are somewhat different. Here it is more about how to deal with the large volumes of data involved, while keeping the associated capital and operational expenses in check. Marvell has been championing a more cost effective and streamlined approach through its Prestera® PX Passive Intelligent Port Extender (PIPE) products. These present data center engineers with a modular approach to deploy network infrastructure that meets their specific requirements, rather than having to add further layers of complexity unnecessarily that will only serve to raise the cost and the power consumption. The result is a fully scalable, more economical and energy efficient solution.
In the wireless domain, there is ever greater pressure being placed upon WLAN hardware - in the home, office, municipal and retail environments. As well as increasing user densities and overall data capacity to contend with, network operators and service providers need to be able to address alterations that are now occurring in user behavior too. Wi-Fi connectivity is no longer just about downloading data, increasingly it will be the uploading of data that will be an important consideration. This will be needed for a range of different applications including augmented reality gaming, the sharing of HD video content and cloud-based creative activities. In order to address this, Wi-Fi technology will need to exhibit enhanced bandwidth capabilities on its uplink as well as its downlink.
The introduction of the much anticipated 802.11ax protocol is set to radically change how Wi-Fi is implemented. Not only will this allow far greater user densities to be supported (thereby meeting the coverage demands of places where large numbers of people are in need of Internet access, such as airports, sports stadia and concert venues), it also offers greater uplink/downlink data capacity - supporting multi-Gigabit operation in both directions. Marvell is looking to drive things forward via its portfolio of recently unveiled multi-Gigabit 802.11ax Wi-Fi system-on-chips (SoCs), which are the first in the industry to have orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) and multi-user MIMO operation on both the downlink and the uplink.
Check out www.marvell.com to learn more about how Marvell is moving the world’s data. -
October 20, 2017
Long-Term Prospects for Ethernet in the Automotive Sector
By Tim Lau, Senior Director Automotive Product Management, Marvell
The automobile is encountering possibly the biggest changes in its technological progression since the invention of the internal combustion engine nearly 150 years ago. Increasing levels of autonomy will reshape how we think about cars and car travel. It won't be just a matter of getting from point A to point B while doing very little else -- we will be able to keep on doing what we want while in the process of getting there.
As it is, the modern car already incorporates large quantities of complex electronics - making sure the ride is comfortable, the engine runs smoothly and efficiently, and providing infotainment for the driver and passengers. In addition, the features and functionality being incorporated into vehicles we are now starting to buy are no longer of a fixed nature. It is increasingly common for engine control and infotainment systems to require updates over the course of the vehicle's operational lifespan.
Such an update is the one issue that proved instrumental in first bringing Ethernet connectivity into the vehicle domain. Leading automotive brands, such as BMW and VW, found they could dramatically increase the speed of uploads performed by mechanics at service centers by installing small Ethernet networks into the chassis of their vehicle models instead of trying to use the established, but much slower, Controller Area Network (CAN) bus. As a result, transfer times were cut from hours to minutes.
As an increasing number of upgradeable Electronic Control Units (ECUs) have appeared (thereby putting greater strain on existing in-vehicle networking technology), the Ethernet network has itself expanded. In response, the semiconductor industry has developed solutions that have made the networking standard, which was initially developed for the relatively electrically clean environment of the office, much more robust and suitable for the stringent requirements of automobile manufacturers. The CAN and Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST) buses have persisted as the main carriers of real-time information for in-vehicle electronics - although, now, they are beginning to fade as Ethernet evolves into a role as the primary network inside the car, being used for both real-time communications and updating tasks.
In an environment where implementation of weight savings are crucial to improving fuel economy, the ability to have communications run over a single network (especially one that needs just a pair of relatively light copper cables) is a huge operational advantage. In addition, a small connector footprint is vital in the context of increasing deployment of sensors (such as cameras, radar and LiDAR transceivers), which are now being mounted all around the car for driver assistance/semi-autonomous driving purposes. This is supported by the adoption of unshielded, twisted-pair cabling.
Image sensing, radar and LiDAR functions will all produce copious amounts of data. So data-transfer capacity is going to be a critical element of in-vehicle Ethernet networks, now and into the future. The industry has responded quickly by first delivering 100 Mbit/s transceivers and following up with more capacious standards-compliant 1000 Mbit/s offerings.
But providing more bandwidth is simply not enough on its own. So that car manufacturers do not need to sacrifice the real-time behavior necessary for reliable control, the relevant international standards committees have developed protocols to guarantee the timely delivery of data. Time Sensitive Networking (TNS) provides applications with the ability to use reserved bandwidth on virtual channels in order to ensure delivery within a predictable timeframe. Less important traffic can make use of the best-effort service of conventional Ethernet with the remaining unreserved bandwidth.
The industry’s more forward-thinking semiconductor vendors, Marvell among them, have further enhanced real-time performance with features such as Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), employing Ternary Content-Addressable Memory (TCAM), in their automotive-optimized Ethernet switches. The DPI mechanism makes it possible for hardware to look deep into each packet as it arrives at a switch input and instantly decide exactly how the message should be handled. The packet inspection supports real-time debugging processes by trapping messages of a certain type, and markedly reduces application latency experienced within the deployment by avoiding processor intervention.
Support from remote management frames is another significant protocol innovation in automotive Ethernet. These frames make it possible for a system controller to control the switch state directly. For example, a system controller can automatically power down I/O ports when they are not needed - a feature that preserves precious battery life.
The result of these adaptations to the core Ethernet standard, as well as the increased resilience it now delivers, is the emergence of an expansive feature set that is well positioned for the ongoing transformation of the car, taking it from just being a mode of transportation into the data-rich, autonomous mobile platform it is envisaged to become in the future.
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August 02, 2017
Wireless Technology Set to Enable an Automotive Revolution
By Avinash Ghirnikar, Director of Technical Marketing of Connectivity Business Group, Marvell
The automotive industry has always been a keen user of wireless technology. In the early 1980s, Renault made it possible to lock and unlock the doors on its Fuego model utilizing a radio transmitter. Within a decade, other vehicle manufacturers embraced the idea of remote key-less entry and not long after that it became a standard feature. Now, wireless technology is about to reshape the world of driving.
The first key-less entry systems were based on infra-red (IR) signals, borrowing the technique from automatic garage door openers. But the industry swiftly moved to RF technology, in order to make it easier to use. Although each manufacturer favored its own protocol and coding system, they adopted standard low-power RF frequency bands, such as 315 MHz in the US and 433 MHz in Europe. As concerns about theft emerged, they incorporated encryption and other security features to fend off potential attacks. They have further refreshed this technology as new threats appeared, as well as adding features such as proximity detection to remove the need to even press the key-fob remote's button.
The next stage in favor of convenience was to employ Bluetooth instead of custom radios on the sub-1GHz frequency band so as to dispense with the keyfob altogether. With Bluetooth, an app on the user's smartphone can not only unlock the car doors, but also handle tasks such as starting the heater or air-conditioning to make the vehicle comfortable ready for when the driver and passengers actually get in.
Bluetooth itself has become a key feature on many models over the past decade as automobile manufacturers have looked to open up their infotainment systems. Access to the functions located on dashboard through Bluetooth has made it possible for vehicle occupants to hook up their phone handsets easily. Initially, it was to support legal phone calls through hands-free operation without forcing the owner to buy and install a permanent phone in the vehicle itself. But the wireless connection is just as good at relaying high-quality audio so that the passengers can listen to their favorite music (stored on portable devices). We have clearly move a long way from the CD auto-changer located in the trunk. Bluetooth is a prime example of the way in which RF technology, once in place, can support many different applications - with plenty of potential for use cases that have not yet been considered. Through use of a suitable relay device in the car, Bluetooth also provides the means by which to send vehicle diagnostics information to relevant smartphone apps. The use of the technology for diagnostics gateway points to an emerging use for Bluetooth in improving the overall safety of car transportation.
But now Wi-Fi is also primed to become as ubiquitous in vehicles as Bluetooth. Wi-Fi is able to provide a more robust data pipe, thus enabling even richer applications and a tighter integration with smartphone handsets. One use case that seems destined to change the cockpit experience for users is the emergence of screen projection technologies. Through the introduction of such mechanisms it will be possible to create a seamless transition for drivers from their smartphones to their cars. This will not necessarily even need to be their own car, it could be any car that they may rent from anywhere in the world.
One of the key enabling technologies for self-driving vehicles is communication. This can encompass vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) links, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) messages and, through technologies such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, vehicle-to-anything (V2X).
V2V provides the ability for vehicles on the road to signal their intentions to others and warn of hazards ahead. If a pothole opens up or cars have to break suddenly to avoid an obstacle, they can send out wireless messages to nearby vehicles to let them know about the situation. Those other vehicles can then slow down or change lane accordingly.
The key enabling technology for V2V is a form of the IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi protocol, re-engineered for much lower latency and better reliability. IEEE 802.11p Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE) operates in the 5.9 GHz region of the RF spectrum, and is capable of supporting data rates of up to 27 Mbit/s. One of the key additions for transportation is scheduling feature that let vehicles share access to wireless channels based on time. Each vehicle uses the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) reading, usually provided by the GPS receiver, to help ensure all nearby transceivers are synchronised to the same schedule.
A key challenge for any transceiver is the Doppler Effect. On a freeway, the relative velocity of an approaching transmitter can exceed 150 mph. Such a transmitter may be in range for only a few seconds at most, making ultra-low latency crucial. But, with the underlying RF technology for V2V in place, advanced navigation applications can be deployed relatively easily and extended to deal with many other objects and even people.
V2I transactions make it possible for roadside controllers to update vehicles on their status. Traffic signals, for example, can let vehicles know when they are likely to change state. Vehicles leaving the junction can relay that data to approaching cars, which may slow down in response. By slowing down, they avoid the need to stop at a red signal - and thereby cross just as it is turning to green. The overall effect is a significant saving in fuel, as well as less wear and tear on the brakes. In the future, such wireless-enabled signals will make it possible improve the flow of autonomous vehicles considerably. The traffic signals will monitor the junction to check whether conditions are safe and usher the autonomous vehicle through to the other side, while other road users without the same level of computer control are held at a stop.
Although many V2X applications were conceived for use with a dedicated RF protocol, such as WAVE for example, there is a place for Bluetooth and, potentially, other wireless standards like conventional Wi-Fi. Pedestrians and cyclists may signal their presence on the road with the help of their own Bluetooth devices. The messages picked up by passing vehicles can be relayed using V2V communications over WAVE to extend the range of the warnings. Roadside beacons using Bluetooth technology can pass on information about local points of interest - and this can be provide to passengers who can subsequently look up more details on the Internet using the vehicle's built-in Wi-Fi hotspot.
One thing seems to be clear, the world of automotive design will be a heterogeneous RF environment that takes traditional Wi-Fi technology and brings it together with WAVE, Bluetooth and GPS. It clearly makes sense to incorporate the right set of radios together onto one single chipset, which will thereby ease the integration process, and also ensure optimal performance is achieved. This will not only be beneficial in terms of the design of new vehicles, but will also facilitate the introduction of aftermarket V2X modules. In this way, existing cars will be able to participate in the emerging information-rich superhighway.
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August 02, 2017
Connectivity Will Drive the Cars of the Future
By Avinash Ghirnikar, Director of Technical Marketing of Connectivity Business Group, Marvell
The growth of electronics content inside the automobile has already had a dramatic effect on the way in which vehicle models are designed and built. As a direct consequence of this, the biggest technical change is now beginning to happen – one that overturns the traditional relationship between the car manufacturer and the car owner.
With many subsystems now controlled by microprocessors running software, it is now possible to alter the behavior of the vehicle with an update and introduce completely new features and functionality by merely updating software. The high profile Tesla brand of high performance electric vehicles has been one of the companies pioneering this approach by releasing software and firmware updates that give existing models the ability to drive themselves. Instead of buying a car with a specific, fixed set of features, vehicles are being upgraded via firmware over the air (FOTA) without the need to visit a dealership.
Faced with so many electronic subsystems now in the vehicle, high data rates are essential. Without the ability to download and program devices quickly, the car could potentially become unusable for hours at a time. On the wireless side, this is requiring 802.11ac Wi-Fi speeds and very soon this will be ramped up to 802.11ax speeds that can potentially exceed Gigabit/second data rates.
Automotive Ethernet that can support Gigabit speeds is also now being fitted so that updates can be delivered as fast as possible to the many electronic control units (ECUs) around the car. The same Ethernet backbone is proving just as essential for day-to-day use. The network provides high resolution, real-time data from cameras, LiDAR, radar, tire pressure monitors and various other sensors fitted around the body, each of which is likely to have their own dedicated microprocessor. The result is a high performance computer based on distributed intelligence. And this, in turn, can tap into the distributed intelligence now being deployed in the cloud.
The beauty of distributed intelligence is that it is an architecture that can support applications that in many cases have not even been thought of yet. The same wireless communication networks that provide the over-the-air updates can relay real-time information on traffic patterns in the vicinity, weather data, disruptions due to accidents and many other pieces of data that the onboard computers can then use to plan the journey and make it safer. This rapid shift towards high speed intra- and inter-vehicle connectivity, and the vehicle-to-anything (V2X) communication capabilities that have thus resulted will enable applications to be benefitted from that would have been considered pure fantasy just a few years ago,
The V2X connectivity can stop traffic lights from being an apparent obstacle and turn them into devices that provide the vehicle with hints to save fuel. If the lights send out signals on their stop-go cycle approaching vehicles can use them to determine whether it is better to decelerate and arrive just in time for them to turn green instead of braking all the way to a stop. Sensors at the junction can also warn of hazards that the car then flags up to the driver. When the vehicle is able to run autonomously, it can take care of such actions itself. Similarly, cars can report to each other when they are planning to change lanes in order to leave the freeway, or when they see a slow-moving vehicle ahead and need to decelerate. The result is considerably smoother braking patterns that avoid the logjam effect we so often see on today's crowded roads. The enablement of such applications will require multiple radios in the vehicle, which will need to work cooperatively in a fail-safe manner.
Such connectivity will also give OEMs unprecedented access to real-time diagnostic data, which a car could be uploading opportunistically to the cloud for analysis purposes. This will provide information that could lead to customized maintenance services that could be planned in advance, thereby cutting down diagnostic time at the workshop and meaning that technical problems are preemptively dealt with, rather than waiting for them to become more serious over time.
There is no need for automobile manufacturers to build any of these features into their vehicle models today. As many computations can be offloaded to servers in the cloud, the key to unlocking advanced functionality is not wholly dependent on what is present in the car itself. The fundamental requirement is access to an effective means of communications, and that is available right now through high speed Ethernet within the vehicle plus Wi-Fi and V2X-compatible wireless for transfers going beyond the chassis. Both can be supplied so that they are compliant with the AEC-Q100 automotive standard - thus ensuring quality and reliability. With those tools in place, we don't need to see all the way ahead to the future. We just know we have the capability to get there.
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June 20, 2017
Autonomous Vehicles and Digital Features Make the Car of the Future a “Data Center on Wheels"
By Donna
Advanced digital features, autonomous vehicles and new auto safety legislation are all amongst the many “drivers” escalating the number of chips and technology found in next-generation automobiles. The wireless, connectivity, storage and security technologies needed for the internal and external vehicle communications in cars today and in the future, leverage technologies used in a data center—in fact, you could say the automobile is becoming—a Data Center on Wheels. Here are some interesting data points supporting the evolution of the Data Center on Wheels:- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) mandates that by May 2018, all new cars in the U.S. to have backup cameras. The agency reports that half of all new vehicles sold today already have backup cameras, showing widespread acceptance even without the NHTSA mandate.
- Some luxury brands provide panoramic 360-degree surround views using multiple cameras. NVIDIA, which made its claim to fame in graphics processing chips for computers and video games, is a leading provider in the backup and surround view digital platforms, translating its digital expertise into the hottest of new vehicle trends. At the latest 2017 International CES, NVIDIA showcased its latest NVIDIA PX2, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Car Computer for Self-Driving Vehicles, which enables automakers and their tier 1 suppliers to accelerate production of automated and autonomous vehicles.
- According to an Intel presentation at CES reported in Network World, just one autonomous car will use 4,000GB (or 4 Terabytes) of data per day.
- A January study by Strategy Analytics reported that by 2020, new cars are expected to have approximately 1,000 chips per vehicle.
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April 28, 2017
Challenges of Autonomous Vehicles: How Ethernet in Automobiles Can Overcome Bandwidth Issues in Self-Driving Vehicles
By Nick Ilyadis
Drivers are already getting used to what used to be “cool new features,” that have now become “can’t live without” technologies, such as the backup camera, blind spot alert or parking assist. Each of these technologies stream information, or data, within the car, and as automotive technology evolves, more and more features will be added. But when it comes to autonomous vehicles, the amount of technology and data streams coming into the car to be processed increases exponentially. Autonomous vehicles gather multiple streams of information/data from sensors, radar, radios, IR sensors and cameras. This goes beyond the current Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS) or In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI). The autonomous car will be acutely aware of its surroundings running sophisticated algorithms that will make decisions in order to drive the vehicle. However, self-driving cars will also be processing vehicle-to-vehicle communications, as well as connecting to a number of external devices that will be installed in the highway of the future, as automotive communication infrastructures develop. All of these features and processes require bandwidth-and a lot of it: Start the car; drive; turn; red light, stop; - PEDESTRIAN - BRAKE! This would be a very bad time for the internal vehicle networks to run out of bandwidth.
Add to the driving functions the simultaneous infotainment streams for each passenger, vehicle Internet capabilities, etc. and the current 100 megabits-per-second (mbps) 100BASE-T1 Ethernet bandwidth used in automotive, is quickly strained. This is paving the way (pun intended) for 1000BASE-T1 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) for automotive networks. Ethernet has long been the economical volume workhorse with millions of miles of cabling in buildings the world over. Therefore, the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Working Group has endorsed iGbE as the next network bandwidth standard in automotive.
From Car-jacking to Car-hacking—Security Critical
Another major factor for automotive networking is security. In addition to the many technology features and processes needed for driving and entertainment, security is a major concern for cars, especially autonomous cars. Science Fiction movies where cars are hacked overriding the driver’s capabilities are scary enough, but in real life, would be beyond a nightmare. Automotive security to prevent spyware, whether planted from a rogue mechanic or roving hack, will require strong authentication to protect privacy, and passenger safety. Cars of the future will be able to reject any devices added that aren’t authenticated, as well as any external intrusion through the open communication channels of the vehicle.
This is why companies like Marvell, have taken a leadership role with organizations like IEEE to help create open standards, such as GbE for automotive, to keep moving automotive technologies forward. (See IEEE 2014 Automotive Day presentation by Alex Tan on the Benefits of Designing 1000BASE-T1 into Automotive Architectures http://standards.ieee.org/events/automotive/2014/02_Designing_1000BASE-T1_Into_Automotive_Architectures.pdf.)
Technology to Drive Next-Generation Automotive Networking
Marvell’s Automotive Ethernet Networking technology is capable of taking what used to be the separate domains of the car — infotainment, driver assist, body electronics and control — and connecting them together to provide a high-bandwidth standards-based data backbone for the vehicle. For example, the Marvell 88Q2112 is the industry’s first 1000BASE-T1 automotive Ethernet PHY transceiver compliant with the IEEE 802.3bp 1000BASE-T1 standard. The Marvell 88Q2112 supports the market’s highest in-vehicle connectivity bandwidth and is designed to meet the rigorous EMI requirements of an automotive system. The 1000BASE-T1 standard allows high-speed and bi-directional data traffic and in-vehicle uncompressed 720p30 camera video for multiple HD video streams, including 4K resolution, all over a lightweight, low-cost single pair cable. The Marvell 88Q1010 low-power PHY device supports 100BASE-T1 and compressed 1080p60 video for infotainment, data transport and camera systems. And finally to round out its automotive networking solutions, Marvell also offers a series of 7-port Ethernet switches.
Harnessing the low cost and high bandwidth of Ethernet brings many advantages to next-generation automotive architecture, including the flexibility to add new applications. In other words, allowing the possibility to build for features that haven’t even been thought up yet. Because while the car of the future may drive itself, it takes a consortium of technology leaders to pave the way.
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February 01, 2017
Marvell at the Forefront of Connecting the Cars of Tomorrow, Today
By Alex Tan, Director, Automotive Solutions Group, Marvell
When you sit in a car today, the focal point of the interior is likely an infotainment system. From displaying vehicle diagnostics to parking assistance to enabling multimedia streaming and additional controls such as phone calls, navigation, etc., the infotainment system has become the touchpoint of the in-vehicle connectivity experience.
In order for drivers to take full advantage of these advanced features, internal vehicle data networks need to provide high bandwidth and seamless connectivity so these technologies can effectively communicate with each other. However, with multiple in-vehicle systems using different interfaces and connectivity technologies, how can we bridge the communication to get them to speak the same language?
The IEEE’s Ethernet standards act as the connectivity backbone to seamlessly link the different domains of the car such as infotainment and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Marvell is proud to have played an instrumental role in the development of the IEEE 802.3bp 1000BASE-T1 PHY standard which enables data between in-vehicle systems to be distributed over a flexible, low cost and high bandwidth network. In October 2015, Marvell introduced the 88Q2112 automotive Ethernet physical layer (PHY) transceiver, the industry’s first 1000BASE-T1 automotive Ethernet PHY transceiver based on the IEEE’s draft 1000BASE-T1 spec. Leveraging our advanced wireless and Ethernet technology solutions, the 1000BASE-T1 solution supports uncompressed HD video, ideal for distributing camera and sensor data in ADAS applications. In the infotainment space, gigabit Ethernet over a single unshielded twisted pair copper cable is a logical solution for transporting audio, video and voice data at a higher data rate and resolution. Marvell’s 88Q2112 PHY transceiver enables automakers to use one Ethernet switch to connect the multiple advanced features of tomorrow’s cars. Furthering our commitment to automotive innovation, in April 2016 we opened the Marvell Automotive Center of Excellence (ACE), a first-of-its-kind automotive networking technology development center. Located in Ettlingen, Germany, ACE aims to expand development and education efforts to advance the architecture of future connected, intelligent cars.
We showcased Marvell’s advanced auto connectivity solutions at the 2016 IEEE-SA Ethernet & IP @ Automotive Technology Day (E&IP@ATD) in Paris this past September, demonstrating how our technology supports multiple HD video streams with up to 4K resolution. Covering the exciting activities at E&IP@ATD, Tadashi Nezu of Nikkei wrote about our automotive connectivity leadership, noting that Marvell is rapidly coming to the forefront of the market. Nezu also lauded the Company for its early Ethernet development efforts, noting how Marvell quickly developed a solution compliant to the draft IEEE 802.3bp 1000BASE-T1 standard, before the specifications were even finalized.
Earlier this month, we presented our solutions at the heart of the world’s automotive development at the 3rd annual Automotive Ethernet Congress in Munich. Manfred Kunz, head of development at the ACE, spoke about automotive Ethernet security, while Christopher Mash, senior manager of automotive system architecture and field applications, co-presented with Bosch and Continental who shared their experience with the new 1000BASE-T1 technology. We showcased several automotive Ethernet solutions across nine customer booths, including the world’s first 1000Base-T1 Automotive Ethernet system, industry-leading intelligent security on the new 88Q5050 switch and a new platform demonstrating Marvell’s 10Gb capability for automotive.
The event was a success, drawing over 700 attendees, as well as speakers and exhibitors from over 20 countries.
Automotive Ethernet Congress, Munich, Germany.As automotive technological developments continue to advance rapidly and data continues to play a fundamental role in advancing the future of connected cars, we look forward to continue innovating and collaborating with our auto partners to further accelerate car connectivity.
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August 02, 2016
Marvell Delivers Industry's First IEEE Gigabit Ethernet For Automotive
By Anil Gercekci, Director of Technical Marketing of Automotive Solutions Group, Marvell
High-Speed Networking Becomes a Reality For Automotive
Creating New Consumer Features
Marvell First to Deliver Samples to Auto Manufacturers
With the availability of high-speed LTE networks and the thrust toward autonomous driving, car companies are working on a structured approach to high-speed data distribution to and within vehicles. Today, Gigabit Ethernet over a single pair of twisted-pair copper wire has become a reality for the automotive industry paving the way for high-speed networking within a vehicle. In November of last year, Marvell delivered the first samples based on the IEEE 1000BASE-T1 pre-standard specification for verification of performance in vehicles. The 1000BASE-T1 standard allows high-speed and bi-directional data traffic over light-weight, low-cost, single-pair cable harnesses. This enables car companies to create a whole new array of exciting automotive features and benefits. Early chip samples from Marvell allow auto makers the ability to evaluate the performance of this new standard and identify possible issues early in the application development process, prior to production, to accelerate time to market.
Industry Standards Organizations Paving the Way to Seamless Automotive Wireless Communications
Simultaneously, a number of industry standards organizations are working on automotive-specific wireless standards that will enable seamless internal and external communications with vehicles to enable cloud-based applications. With LTE standards enabling higher than 100Mbps data capability, LTE connectivity will require high-speed links in line with 100BASE-T1 or 1000BASE-T1 Ethernet capabilities within the vehicle, depending on the actual real throughput available to the user from the network. As carrier network coverage and data billing rates become accepted by consumers, cloud-based applications for automotive will allow large data transfers that will enable not only wider infotainment, but concierge and navigation applications, plus remote diagnostics with secure over-the-air (OTA) updates. (Won’t it be nice to know when you’re pulled over on the side of the highway on vacation, exactly what is wrong with your car?) Such mechanisms will also enable security and accelerated fleet management for business and commercial enterprises that can help lower the cost of maintenance, while increasing customer satisfaction by keeping drivers up-to-date with the latest cloud-based data services.
A History of Firsts
Marvell has a history of actively participating in the IEEE standards development process. In 2011, Marvell was a key driver in the Call For Interest (CFI) at IEEE for an Automotive-specific Gigabit Ethernet PHY. This CFI received unanimous support (a relatively rare event in IEEE) and now the new IEEE 802.1bp standard is set to be ratified in 2016. In the meantime, Marvell has already begun sampling pre-standard parts to the industry for testing. The availability of parts has sparked remarkable interest and activity in testing and developing new applications for high-speed Ethernet.
Will Automotive Become the Largest IT Employer In the Near Future?
The introduction of Automotive-specific Gigabit Ethernet can provide the backbone for enhanced connectivity applications. The automotive industry is rapidly adopting Ethernet as a key enabler, not only for its superior price/performance, but also because it supports the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model. The OSI model allows for the rapid deployment of applications and services. Using this layered approach, a specific PHY technology, which met both the light weight and low EMC requirements, had to be developed that was consistent with all the existing upper layers of the OSI model. This gives the benefits of being able to leverage and reuse existing developments in layers above the PHY level. It is amazing to think that with this unprecedented potential expansion of automotive connectivity and its applications, it is conceivable that the automotive industry could become the world's largest employer of IT experts in the coming years.
More to Come
In addition to a long history of WiFi and Bluetooth combo products in automotive, Marvell is enabling WiFi technology to become part of this external connectivity by developing 802.11ai technology that allows for Fast Initial Link Setup (FILS) that provides opportunistic access to base stations whenever they become available as the car drives at high speed. In addition, 802.11p products will enable short-range wireless connectivity for collision avoidance or pedestrian/cyclist detection, applications that demand quick response and are not possible via current Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) and LTE technologies. With these wireless technologies placed in the roof of the car, Ethernet plays an important role for high-speed communication to and within the vehicle. By delivering early samples based on the latest developing industry standards, Marvell is helping to “drive” new applications in automotive connectivity technology.
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May 19, 2016
Automotive Center of Excellence Now Open in Ettlingen, Germany
By Alex Tan, Director, Automotive Solutions Group, Marvell
Marvell's Automotive Center of Excellence, the first-of-its-kind automotive networking technology development center, recently opened in Ettlingen, Germany. Due to the rapid advancement of automotive technological developments in recent years, the next generation of cars needs a new architecture to run a wide array of features—for example, full driver assist, ultra high-definition (HD) displays and over-the-air updates. Marvell's objectives are to provide access to the latest innovative technologies, (link: http://www.marvell.com/solutions/automotive/), work closely with customers and partners, and drive the automotive industry forward more quickly and efficiently.
The grand opening event elicited great excitement, and Marvell was honored to welcome many distinguished guests including Wolfang Erhard, Chief of Business Development from the Mayor's office in Ettlingen; Klaus Oertel, from Hanser Automotive; Ingo Kuss, from Elektronik Automotive; and Thomas Zimmer from BNN. Philip Poulidis, Vice President and General Manager, Internet of Things, Automotive and Multimedia Business Units at Marvell along with Ian Riches, Director of the Global Automotive Practice at Strategy Analytics provided the keynote speech.
Given Marvell's history of dedication and innovative design, the company knows that understanding advanced technologies such as, Audio Video Bridging, Time Sensitive Networking and singe pair Ethernet standards—is vital to further the connected car industry. A dedicated team of engineers will utilize their knowledge to expand development and education efforts in these areas with Marvell and its customers to advance the architecture of future, connected cars. The engineering team is responsible for automotive products that include switch, end-node system-on-chips, gateways and automotive software.
Marvell continues to market innovative technologies that will shape the future of the automotive industry, and with its Automotive Center of Excellence in Germany is better positioned to drive new automotive designs and technologies forward.
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May 17, 2016
Marvell Drives Automotive Connectivity with Industry's first 1000BASE-T1 Development Platform with Automotive Connectors
By Alex Tan, Director, Automotive Solutions Group, Marvell
With OEMs racing to offer connected car services, Marvell has developed a new Ethernet reference platform integrated with TE Connectivity's (TE) MATEnet modular and scalable connectors for automotive Ethernet, to enable a faster time-to-market for Gigabit Ethernet in automotive systems. The new development platform supports audio bridging (AVB) switching solutions with 100BASE-T1 and 1000BASE-T1 Ethernet physical layer (PHY) capability. Manufacturers are now able to quickly prototype automotive systems with Gigabit Ethernet for electrical and electronic architectures.
The next generation of vehicle technology requires a high-speed, resilient data infrastructure that can operate in the robust conditions of the automobile. Applications such as autonomous driving, advanced safety features and immersive infotainment systems are driving these new architectures. Combining Marvell's expertise in network and Ethernet, with TE's experience in providing real world automotive connector and cable systems, this development platform allows vehicle architects to begin designing these systems for mass production.
This new reference platform includes support for the AVB networking standards of the AVnu Alliance's certification test subgroup and also supports Stream Reservation Protocol to provide end-to-end management of resource reservations for automotive data streams. In addition, Marvell's Ethernet PHY transceivers (88Q2112 100BASE-T1 PHY and 88Q1010 100BASE-T1 PHY) enable high definition and uncompressed video, high speed links, between domains to support connected and autonomous driving systems and the fastest system bring up from power down. Additional features and benefits include time sensitive networking technology to support time critical control applications, vehicle-to-vehicle Wi-Fi communication to improve safety and reduce response times using real time alerts regarding traffic and road alerts. The 88Q2112 is the industry's first 1000BASE-T1 automotive Ethernet PHY transistor that is compliant with the draft IEEE 802.3bp 1000BASE-T1 standard.
Marvell's commitment to extend connectivity to the automobile includes a number of solutions to meet the needs of designers for the cars of the future.
With OEMs racing to offer connected car services, Marvell has developed a new Ethernet reference platform integrated with TE Connectivity's (TE) MATEnet modular and scalable connectors for automotive Ethernet, to enable a faster time-to-market for Gigabit Ethernet in automotive systems. The new development platform supports audio bridging (AVB) switching solutions with 100BASE-T1 and 1000BASE-T1 Ethernet physical layer (PHY) capability. Manufacturers are now able to quickly prototype automotive systems with Gigabit Ethernet for electrical and electronic architectures.
The next generation of vehicle technology requires a high-speed, resilient data infrastructure that can operate in the robust conditions of the automobile. Applications such as autonomous driving, advanced safety features and immersive infotainment systems are driving these new architectures. Combining Marvell's expertise in network and Ethernet, with TE's experience in providing real world automotive connector and cable systems, this development platform allows vehicle architects to begin designing these systems for mass production.
This new reference platform includes support for the AVB networking standards of the AVnu Alliance's certification test subgroup and also supports Stream Reservation Protocol to provide end-to-end management of resource reservations for automotive data streams. In addition, Marvell's Ethernet PHY transceivers (88Q2112 100BASE-T1 PHY and 88Q1010 100BASE-T1 PHY) enable high definition and uncompressed video, high speed links, between domains to support connected and autonomous driving systems and the fastest system bring up from power down. Additional features and benefits include time sensitive networking technology to support time critical control applications, vehicle-to-vehicle Wi-Fi communication to improve safety and reduce response times using real time alerts regarding traffic and road alerts. The 88Q2112 is the industry's first 1000BASE-T1 automotive Ethernet PHY transistor that is compliant with the draft IEEE 802.3bp 1000BASE-T1 standard.
Marvell's commitment to extend connectivity to the automobile includes a number of solutions to meet the needs of designers for the cars of the future.
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July 21, 2015
Glimpses of the Connected Car of the Future
By Alex Tan, Automotive Solutions Group, Marvell
We’ve already seen integrated Bluetooth and Wi-Fi in cars and applications integrated into the user console. We’ve also seen Google’s fleet of prototype autonomous or “self-driving” cars. But a car that can fix itself? That’s just one of the many new transformations on the horizon when the Internet of Things meets the Connected Car. We will explore how connectivity will drive transformation in automotive infotainment technology, much like smartphones transformed telecommunications.
The idea of a connected car is all about making data available, both within the car and with the external world. For example, car manufacturers will be able to improve automobile quality by getting real-time data from individual vehicles and providing corrective updates when problems are identified. In addition, auto manufacturers are looking at completely new ways to use connectivity to make vehicles safer or improve the functionality of the car after it leaves the dealership. Tesla is a good example of this having recently introduced a firmware update that actually added new features, such as adaptive cruise control and blind spot detection. Imagine having the latest automotive features available to you AFTER you purchase the car. Consumers will no longer experience automotive obsolescence the second they leave the lot. It also allows auto manufacturers to strengthen ties with their customers.
There are also substantial changes in store for the internal vehicle data networks. Current systems use a combination of proprietary low-speed or single-purpose communication busses. Next-generation architectures are converting to an IP-based network using Ethernet hardware. This allows massive amounts of data to be easily sent between the various domains inside the vehicle and with external devices. Examples of this type of data include information from the body electronics components, commands on the control systems, multimedia information from the infotainment system and camera/sensor data for the Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS). For instance, video and application data from smart phones and the Internet can be distributed within the car and car information and video data can be sent outside of the vehicle and used in a variety of ways. Examples might include combining an IP-based vehicle’s camera data, alarm system and LTE to get uploads of pictures surrounding the car when the alarm is triggered. Or, with self-driving cars, who needs the valet? Vehicles can unload passengers and then head to a designated parking area awaiting summons from a smartphone for pick up. (Question: Do I tip my car?) In Europe, an initial set of technical specifications for Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communications, based on IEEE802.11P Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE), has already been created. The primary goal of this technology is to reduce traffic accidents and improve traffic throughput by allowing cars to communicate with each other in the case of accidents and congestion. V2V could also be used to improve traffic control, collect tolls or aid in police enforcement. Widespread adoption is needed for this to work, as well as addressing privacy concerns.
These are just some of the ways car connectivity will change the driving experience. Marvell is leveraging its strength in wireless and Ethernet technology to develop the latest high-quality AECQ100-qualified automotive products and solutions. To see what’s coming in automotive infotainment, wired/wireless connectivity and next-generation architecture platforms, join us at the 2015 IEEE-SA Ethernet & IP @ Automotive Technology Day that will be held in Yokohama, Japan October 27-28 -- because when you see the latest in automotive connectivity semiconductor technology, you will get a glimpse of the Connected Cars of the future.
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