Software-defined vehicles (SDVs) are a big theme at CES this year, shifting vehicles from hardware-centric upgrades to over the air (OTA) software upgrades. In order to do this, vehicle subsystems must rely on a, more or less, generic processing platform that can perform a wide variety of functions to serve the various aspects of a car.
As shown in Figure 1, TI’s approach to this is shifting from a “domain” architecture to a “zonal” one where ECUs that were once custom-tailored to specific domains—for example, powertrain, ADAS, infotainment, body electronic and lighting, passive safety—are now more location, or zone-, -based to reduce weighty wire harnessing and improve processor speeds.
Figure 1 Traditional domain versus zone architecture. Source: Texas Instruments
TI’s radar sensor, audio processors, Class-D amplifier
TI’s automotive innovations are currently focused in powertrain systems; ADAS; in-vehicle infotainment (IVI); and body electronics and lighting. The recent announcements fall into the ADAS with the AWRL6844 radar sensor as well as IVI with the AM275 and AM62D processors and the class-D audio amplifier.
ADAS: passenger safety solution
The AWRL6844 radar sensor uses 60-GHz millimeter-wave (mm-wave) with a 4×4 antenna array and edge AI models running on an on-chip TI-specific accelerator and DSP to support several in-vehicle safety measures including occupancy monitoring for seat belt reminders, child presence detection, and intrusion (Figure 2).
Figure 2 A block diagram of TI’s AWRL6844 radar sensor and the three vehicle modes that the sensor can assist with (seat belt reminder, child presence detection, and intrusion detection). Source: Texas Instruments
Presently, OEMs resort to a combination of in-seat weight sensors, two UWB sensors for front-row and back-row child presence detection, and an ultrasonic intrusion module for the same direct-sensing safety measures, directly tracking human activity such as respiration, heartbeat, and movement.
The technology is designed to assist OEMs in meeting evolving regulatory safety requirements such as the Euro new car assessment program (NCAP) advanced that offers rewards to manufacturers for implementing advanced safety technologies as a means to complement its established star rating system.
Yariv Raveh, VP of business unit management of radar stated, “In 2025 the Euro NCAP requirement for child presence detection will only award points for a direct sensing system and in the near future, the in-cabin sensing system must accurately distinguish between a child and an adult in order to provide a good user experience.”
IVI: Premium audio solution
Some of the features of the new AM275x-Q1 and AM62D-Q1 processors are the integration of two vector-based C7x DSP cores, multiple Arm cores, on-chip memory, an NPU accelerator, and audio networking with Ethernet AVB. The differences between the processors is highlighted in Figure 3.
Figure 3 The AM275x DDR-less MCU and AM62D DDR-based process for premium audio in IVI applications. Source: Texas Instruments
“Tier 1 suppliers must elect the appropriate processing components to meet all of their customer needs across their fleets. So, our answer is to provide two different architectures to give engineers the flexibility to choose across the range of use cases, all using the same audio processing family where engineers can design standalone and integrated premium audio systems across a range of performance levels with minimal additional hardware and software investment,” said Sonia Ghelani, TI’s product line manager for signal processing MCUs.
The company is actively working with customers to incorporate AI into the audio signal chain for unique solutions in applications such as active noise cancellation (ANC) and road noise cancellation (RNC).
IVI: Class-D audio amplifier
The TAS6754-Q1 class-D amplifier (Figure 4) is meant to assist engineers with implementing TI’s “1L” modulation scheme, a technology that lowers the inductor count per audio channel to one (hence the phrase “1L”).
Figure 4 Sample vehicle speaker and mic distribution as well as a sample block diagram of an audio signal chain including TI’s class-D amplifier. Source: Texas Instruments
Modern vehicles can embed well over 20 speakers and, in an effort to reduce size, weight, and cost, class-D amplifiers are being used for their higher power efficiency and lower thermal dissipation. However, these amplifiers generally require two LC filters per audio channel to attenuate high frequency noise. “1L maintains class-D performance while reducing component count and cost, allowing the premium audio system to grow in terms of speakers and mics,” added Sonia Ghelani.
Blurring the lines between IVI and ADAS
One major discussion during the press briefing involved the industry trend of integrating ADAS and IVI functions on a single SoC. “So today we see that they’re in two separate boards, however, more and more we’re seeing that they end up being in the same board,” said Mark Ng, TI’s director of automotive systems.
Sonia Ghelani added with an example of an overlap between ADAS and IVI functions, “these chimes and seat belt reminders are ADAS requirements that fall into the audio domain. As we move into a world of software-defined cars with more zonal architectures, you’ll continue to see an overlap between the two.” She continued, “For TI it’s important that we understand exactly what the customer is trying to build so that we don’t silo these systems in one bucket or another, but rather understand what problems the customer is trying to solve.”
Aalyia Shaukat, associate editor at EDN, has worked in the design publishing industry for six years. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology, and has published works in major EE journals as well as trade publications.
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