FEATURE AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS TOP GEAR: CONNECTED AND AUTONOMOUS
James & Avinash Ghirnikar from Marvell look at the advanced wireless technology needed as the automotive industry gears up for increased adoption of connected cars, autonomous driving and beyond Alongside Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5 has an
T
he increasing array of features and functionality now being incorporated
into modern vehicles, means major steps forward are being made possible in relation to their fuel economy, comfort and the levels of safety that they offer to road users. Traditional mechanical systems are being supplanted by fully electronic alternatives. These are allowing reductions in the production cost and the overall weight of vehicles, and are also helping to curb their fuel consumption too. Through the widespread adoption of advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) technology, it will be possible to start the elimination of human error from driving tasks, thereby resulting in less accidents occurring. Implementation of a greater breadth of
connectivity in cars will be instrumental in the ongoing progression of the automobile business towards a point when autonomous driving is the norm. Cutting-edge wireless technology (which will be supported by high bandwidth Ethernet-based wireline infrastructure) will enable vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication to be benefitted from. The advent of intelligent transportation system (ITS) services will mean that vehicles will be able to transmit data pertaining to their current speed, position, direction of travel, etc. In relation to V2I/V2V, this technology will mean that valuable information can be exchanged between cars, as well as fixed infrastructure, in order that prior warning can be given of traffic jams or other issues that could affect the smooth running of our roads. Vehicles will be able to receive information from other cars in the vicinity so that they are made aware of any potential hazards that lie ahead. The first instance of such a system are basic service messages, which
8 MARCH 2018 | ELECTRONICS
are defined as part of the dedicated short range communication (DSRC) standard in North America. It will also be possible for them to interact with traffic lights concerning their stop-go cycles, thereby allowing the ADAS to decide whether it is worth slowing down to arrive just in time for the lights to turn green. Among the various wireless
communication protocols now being commonly utilised in automobile design is Wi-Fi. Though there are constantly evolving Wi-Fi protocols, in an automotive context this currently relies predominantly on 802.11ac technology - which mainly impacts the 5GHz frequency band and is capable of handling data rates in the hundreds of Mbps. It allows smartphones and other handheld electronic equipment to interface with the vehicle’s navigation and infotainment systems. It permits a cellular connection to be shared (thus delivering a Wi-Fi hotspot in and around the car) by the passengers in the car. In addition to all this, it can be used for carrying out firmware-over-the-air updates - something that is already highly advantageous to car manufacturers.
THE FUTURE OF 802.11P Expected to see strong uptake in vehicles in the near future is 802.11p. This protocol, which is related to Wi-Fi and occupies the 5.9GHz frequency band, is specifically focused on automotive deployment and will provide the ultra- reliable, low latency connectivity needed for V2V and V2I communication. It has a total of seven communication channels (each of them being 10MHz wide). six of these are service channels, with the remaining channel being used for control tasks. It has been tested now for almost a decade and is ready for prime time with regards to V2V and V2I communications.
Figure 1:
Marvell has introduced the 88W8987xA series of AEC-Q100 qualified wireless combo SoCs - which offer Bluetooth 5, 802.11ac (Wave 2) and 802.11p
important role to play in the proliferation of connected cars. This exhibits 4x greater range than its predecessor, Bluetooth 4.0, and also supports significantly faster data rates too. As well as enabling passengers to connect up their portable devices for accessing music content and giving drivers hands-free control, there are a host of further possibilities that can be explored here. Thanks to Bluetooth 5’s elevated performance characteristics, vehicles into which it has been incorporated will be able to interact with V2I beacons located along the roadside. These could be used to combat congestion problems, take tolls payments and assist emergency services to rapidly respond to accidents. Leading automotive manufacturers,
their Tier 1 suppliers and the semiconductor vendors that they partner with have all recognised that the continued evolution of connected cars will be strongly dependent upon the development of highly integrated wireless solutions. These will need to be able to encompass multiple protocols within small form factor packages that have automotive-grade robustness. This has led Marvell to introduce the
88W8987xA series of AEC-Q100 qualified wireless combo SoCs - which are the first to offer Bluetooth 5, 802.11ac (Wave 2) and 802.11p together. The series is made up of three footprint-compatible SoCs - offering a choice of 802.11ac with Bluetooth 5, 802.11p with Bluetooth 5, plus a switchable 802.11ac/802.11p with Bluetooth 5 devices. Different versions can be selected, so that economy models might only possess basic functionality, while luxury models can have more sophisticated functionality fitted. These SoCs can be interchanged without any modifications to the PCB being required, so that the feature set which, that particular vehicle model supports can easily be upgraded. Through the emergence of wireless technologies, we are getting ever closer to driving fully connected cars.
Marvell
www.marvell.com T: 01844 296800
/ ELECTRONICS
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