[Engineering Feature]
The Line Between Telematics And Infotainment Blurs Even Further
In the end, though, the only line that customers care about is the bottom line in terms of connectivity.
TTelematics and infotainment appear to be on a collision course within the automobile. The terms themselves have caused some confusion. Telematics refers to the combination of telecommunications and informatics, basically wireless communication. Infotainment indicates the combination of information and entertainment. Even the analysts can’t agree on what differentiates telematics and infotainment.
“You call five different people, you are going to get five different answers,” says Mark Fitzgerald, senior industry analyst, Strategy Analytics. “We drew a line in the sand with telematics, saying that it needs to have GPS capability and two-way communications.” For example, wireless, hands-free talking through a Bluetooth connection is considered infotainment, not telematics.
According to Fitzgerald, the connectivity of portable devices is really pushing market acceptance. “That’s why Sync has been very popular, very quickly,” he says. Ford says that its dealers have sold vehicles featuring its Sync infotainment system, which was introduced in the company’s 2008 vehicles, twice as quickly as those without the system.
CONNECTIVITY When it comes to wireless connectivity, cellular, GPS, satellite, and broadcast AM and FM are well-established technologies for vehicles. Wireless protocols emerging for vehicle usage include Wi-Fi, WiMAX broadband and 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) (broadband cellular), Radio Data System (RDS), and perhaps more. Increasingly popular navigation systems require GPS technology to precisely identify the vehicle’s location.
SiRF, a member of the CSR plc Group of companies and a leading GPS IC supplier, partnered with M/A-COM Technology Solutions to help create a networked GPS module. The new GPS transceiver provides location information to the new generation of vehicle-based communications and entertainment systems. To simplify system design, the unit’s antenna efficiency and receiver sensitivity allow for installation almost anywhere on the vehicle, including hidden mounting locations (Fig. 1).
For other wireless applications, Brian Droessler, director of Connectivity Group North America for Continental Automotive Systems, points out the difference between wireless alternatives depending on the transmission requirements. For example, the vehicle can receive traffic data from an RDS channel on the FM band, a satellite radio connection, or a cellular two-way communication. A one-to-many broadcast scheme works well for traffic information. However, a driver or passenger who is sending a search request and receiving data in the vehicle environment requires cellular.
“Just because of the reach and the coverage,” says Droessler. “Wi- Fi hot spots don’t blanket the road like cellular does. You can go through your different wireless technologies and for many reasons, you kind of end back at cellular.” Cellular technology is an integral part of OnStar, Sync, and Continental’s recently introduced AutoLinQ system.
Inside the vehicle, Bluetooth offers one more wireless connection, especially for interfacing to the user’s “brought in” cell phones. But hardwired connectivity also provides access for cell phones as well as other brought-in consumer electronics products. Direct audio connections to iPods and other music players are one means. USB provides multiple connection possibilities.
SMSC is involved with USB technology for vehicles with infotainment and telematics applications. “USB, of course, is the technology of choice for connecting to most consumer devices,” says Henry Muyshondt, senior director of business development for SMSC’s Automotive Infotainment Systems Group.
The company’s USB83340 and USB82660 deliver an automotive- grade USB 2.0 hub and flash media card controller, and its USB82514 is an automotive-grade USB 2.0 highspeed four-port hub. A USB controller can be used for connecting a consumer’s brought-in product to obtain data and for recharging its batteries, but it will also connect embedded devices such as a USB transceiver or mass-storage device inside the head unit (Fig. 2).
The availability of low-cost 2-Gbyte data cards opens new possibilities for in-vehicle telematics usage. For instance, navigation data could be saved on an inexpensive SD card instead of using a DVD player. The card can be easily and inexpensively upgraded, or a new map area can be added as required.
Muyshondt also has extensive insight into high-speed distributed systems in the passenger compartment. “The infotainment system is the only basis upon which you can bring telematics in and out of the car because the infotainment system is what eventually actually connects to the eyes and the ears of the people inside the car,” he says.
SMSC’s Media Oriented Systems Transport (MOST) provides the infrastructure where multiple devices can communicate with each other, automatically coordinate functions, and distribute audio and video around the vehicle (Fig. 3).
Initially introduced as a fiber-optic system running at 25 Mbytes/s, a version has been introduced that employs unshielded twisted-pair or shielded twisted-pair cabling that runs at 50 Mbytes/s. Toyota has this version in several models, including the newest Prius. The very latest generation of MOST uses optical fiber and runs at 150 Mbytes/s. “It’s not on the road yet, but the systems are being actively developed that use it,” explains Muyshondt.
INCREASING COMPUTING POWER General Motors’ OnStar pioneered telematics for the masses more than a decade ago and continues to increase its services. As a result, GM continually boosts the performance of its embedded processor (see “Expanding Telematics For The Masses”). The simple threebutton interface to an embedded cellular phone connects the user to a service center and automatically calls the center if an accident occurs (Fig. 4).
Announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2007, Ford’s Sync provides infotainment for the masses based on the ability to easily connect to the user’s cell phone, portable media players, and USB storage devices. Sync has had two system enhancements since its introduction (Table 1). Both GM’s OnStar and Ford’s Sync will be standard equipment on each company’s U.S. vehicles by the end of 2009. Not surprisingly, GM and Ford have taken rather different approaches to telematics and infotainment.
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