Bosch, Intel, Sony among backers of MIPI automotive data-interface specs
The MIPI Alliance, an international organization that develops interface specifications for mobile and mobile-influenced industries, today announced it has mapped a course to address the automotive industry’s needs for high-speed data-interface specifications. With development of the MIPI A-PHY physical layer specification already underway to meet 12- to 24-Gb/s, requirements-gathering has begun to support higher speeds including over 48 Gb/s for display and other use cases. When complete, these specifications will serve a broad spectrum of the industry’s connectivity needs.
Technology and automotive companies are invited to join the many MIPI Alliance members already involved in these efforts. Companies participating in the MIPI Automotive Working Group include Analog Devices Inc., Analogix Semiconductor Inc., BitifEye Digital Test Solutions GmbH, Cadence Design Systems Inc., Fraunhofer IIS, Intel Corp., Keysight Technologies Inc., L&T Technology Services, MediaTek Inc., Microchip Technology Inc., Mixel Inc., Mobileye (an Intel company), NXP Semiconductors, OmniVision Technologies Inc., ON Semiconductor, Parade Technologies Ltd., Prodigy Technovations Pvt. Ltd., Qualcomm Inc., Robert Bosch GmbH, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Socionext Inc., Sony Corp., STMicroelectronics, Synopsys Inc., Tektronix Inc., Teledyne LeCroy, Toshiba Corp., University of New Hampshire InterOperability Lab, and Valens Semiconductors.
“Automakers around the globe are amid a tremendous wave of innovation related to autonomous driving, ADAS, new fuel-economy standards, vehicle electrification and connectivity, new business models, new forms of in-car infotainment, and more,” said Ian Riches, executive director, Global Automotive Practice, with Strategy Analytics. “With so many new applications to be supported in and across the vehicle, the auto industry is under pressure to more simply, efficiently and cost-effectively integrate disparate, high-speed data components from an increasingly large supply base.”
MIPI A-PHY v1.0 is expected to be available to developers in late 2019. The specification will optimize wiring, cost, and weight requirements as high-speed data, control data, and optional power share the same physical wiring. The asymmetric nature of the MIPI A-PHY link, its point-to-point topology, and its reuse of generations of mobile protocols promise overall lower complexity, power consumption, and system costs for developers and automotive OEMs. It’s anticipated that the first vehicles using A-PHY components will be in production in 2024.
In addition to automotive uses, the configuration of the specification will be suited for applications such as IoT and industrial.
“MIPI Alliance is uniquely positioned to bring its strong knowledge and expertise of developing low electromagnetic interference (EMI) and low-power interfaces in mobile to new environments such as automotive and IoT,” said Joel Huloux, chairman of MIPI Alliance. “Mature MIPI interface specifications for camera, display, sensors, and physical layers are deployed in billions of mobile devices and are already prevalent in mobile-influenced industries such as automotive today. As MIPI’s specifications are designed to work together as a complete ‘stack,’ the addition of the longer reach MIPI A-PHY will provide greater ease of integration, resulting in an even richer solution.”