Automotive

At the Design Solutions Forum 2023 in Kawasaki, Japan, Alchip Technologies rolled out what is claimed to be the semiconductor industry’s first automotive ASIC platform. It targets the specialised needs of the global automotive industry and streamlines the ASIC design needs of global automotive IC module and component manufacturers, as well as automotive companies, said Alchip.

The platform consists of six modules: Design for Autonomous Driving (AD)/ Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS), Design for Safety, Design for Test, Design for Reliability, Automotive Chip Sign-off, and Automotive Chip Manufacturing (MFG) Service.
Design for AD/ADAS integrates a CPU and neural processing unit (NPU) into the smallest possible die size, while meeting aggressive higher performance and lower power consumption required by automotive applications, said Alchip.

The Design for Safety module follows the ISO26262 pre-scribed flow that includes required isolated TMR / lock-step design methodology. This module also features an experienced safety manager and includes the mandated Development Interface Agreement (DIA) that defines the relationship between the manufacturer and the supplier throughout the entire automotive safety lifecycle and activities.

Design for Reliability includes enhanced electromigration (EM) as part of silicon lifecycle management.  It also covers AEC-Q grade IP sourcing and implementation.

The Automotive Chip Manufacturing Service works with IATF16949 -approved manufacturing suppliers. Services include tri-temp testing by target AEC-Q grade, automotive wafer, automotive substrate, assembly and burn-in.

Design for Test capabilities support in system test (IST) and MBIST / LBIST design, critical and redundancy logic for yield harvest, automotive-level ATPG coverage, and physical-aware ATPG.

The final sign-off module covers an ageing library based on a customer mission profile, OD / UD / AVS / DVFS library support, and the final design for manufacturing sign-off.

The platform will “speed up the development and time-to-market of essential safety-critical ADAS applications, while significantly advancing the innovation with increasing complex autonomous driving implementation and features,” Alchip CEO, Johnny Shen.

Access to the new automotive platform is available now through Alchip offices in Taipei, Silicon Valley, Yokohama, Shanghai, Penang, and its affiliate office in Israel.

Alchip Technologies was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. The company provides silicon and design and production services for system companies developing complex and high volume ASICs and SoCs.  Alchip offers advanced 2.5D / 3DIC design, CoWoS / chiplet design and manufacturing management.

Customers include global leaders in AI, HPC/supercomputer, mobile phones, entertainment device, networking equipment and other electronic product categories.

http://www.alchip.com

Advanced automotive security together with concurrent dual Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 are enabled in NXP’s automotive wireless connectivity portfolio with the introduction of the AW693 wireless connectivity device.

The integrated AW693 enables multiple secure connections within the car, supporting the transition to software-defined vehicles, said NXP. It enables concurrent dual Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 connections and is protected by NXP’s integrated Edgelock secure subsystem.

Targeting telematics and in-vehicle infotainment, the AW693 supports connectivity across multiple automotive platforms when combined with NXP’s i.MX 8 and 9 series of applications processors. This enables secure delivery of the over the air software updates and also facilitates secure connections between various systems and mobile devices inside the car.

In addition to updates to ensure vehicle platforms are equipped with the latest features and security, new and future vehicles will require constant connection between vehicle systems, said NXP. This will include the secure upload and download of sensor information, camera feeds, diagnostics data and other features, as well as communication between the vehicle and mobile devices.

This requires low latency and simultaneous multi-band connectivity to support both legacy and new devices. It also needs connection stability to allow seamless communication throughout a vehicle. According to NXP, its AW693 can be used with its Concurrent Dual Wi-Fi to incorporate an access point-like design approach.

The AW693 offers concurrent dual Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 operation, with integrated 2.4GHz and 5.0 to 7.0GHz TX power amplifiers, RX low noise amplifiers, Tx/Rx switches and a full Bluetooth radio. NXP’s integrated EdgeLock secure subsystem supports hardware crypto-accelerated secure boot, key management, firmware authentication, secure life cycle management and anti-rollback protection. The AW693 is AEC-Q100 Grade 2-compliant.

NXP’s i.MX 95 family quickly and easily integrates the AW693 to enable safety-capable, secure automotive platforms and offers efficient machine learning acceleration, said the company2, adding that this helps to simplify development and reduce costs.

The AW693 is part of a portfolio of automotive wireless connectivity solutions that includes the AW692, the AW690, the AW611 and the Q9098. 

http://www.nxp.com