Vehicle computing technology for smart mobility has been introduced by congatec, at Intertraffic Amsterdam (29 March – 01 April).
The rugged vehicle computing platforms are designed to simplify and accelerate digitisation and autonomous driving in harsh environments such as transportation, logistics, construction, and agriculture. The computing platforms target the next generation of real-time 5G connected, unmanned, functionally safe vehicles and systems designed for digitising the mobility kinematics of existing fleets. The goal is to provide accurate orientation data to improve situational awareness and to optimise the movement and operation of autonomous vehicles, said congatec.
Mobility OEMs and their Tier 1 suppliers must tackle a variety of tasks when designing the next generation of smart autonomous mobility controllers, advised congatec. The first is to integrate vision and other sensors for gathering situational raw data, and to implement data pre-processing and AI to improve data analytics. They also need to design controller logic for autonomous vehicle movement and operation. In addition, the systems need 5G network sliced device connectivity for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication. An added complication is that all of this needs to be implemented with real-time capabilities and functional safety.
One focus for congatec at Intertraffic Amsterdam, will be the Intel Xeon D processor-based COM-HPC server modules for edge servers in autonomous railway applications and 5G wayside equipment. Another is the 12th Gen Intel Core processor-based COM‑HPC client and COM Express modules for smart vehicle gateways and vehicle network controllers. There is also an application-ready, Intel Atom processor-based, real time kinematic platform by congatec’s partner Etteplan.
This is based on congatec Computer-on-Modules and features an RTK-enabled GNSS unit with accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer. It is designed for automotive voltage ranges up to 36V. It supports a wide operating temperature range of -40 to +85 degreesC and provides IP65 / IP67 protection.
For vehicle communication network connectivity, it offers extensions for real-time Ethernet (TSN), RS232, RS485 and CAN. Further edge connectivity options include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as well as LTE/5G. There are also ambient pressure, humidity and temperature sensors.
The platform is available as a prototype that can be ordered immediately for engineering purposes. For larger quantities, customisation is possible on a project basis. The standard system platform is scheduled to go into series production in the second half of 2022.
