High-End Cockpit IVI Solutions for Instrument Cluster CAV Applications
Digital instrument clusters are advanced display systems used in modern vehicles, including commercial, construction and agriculture vehicles (CAVs). The digital dashboards, which replace analog dials and gauges, are used as a central interface to display important vehicle information and data to drivers. They typically consist of one or more highly customizable LCD or OLED panels that display a versatile amount of data, including vehicle speed, RPMs, fuel level, temperature and more.
The information panels can also display easy-to-read diagnostic data such as engine fault codes, fluid levels, tire pressure and even CO2 emissions. Of course, they can show additional information such as navigation, work and task management, efficiency monitoring and remote diagnostic applications. Moreover, they can be integrated with infotainment systems, providing streaming services, smartphone connectivity and more.
These digital instrument clusters provide a wealth of information and can be customized to suit driver requirements. As with the latest technologies, instrument clusters require powerful and power-efficient MCUs (Microcontroller Units) or SoCs (Systems on Chips) due to the complexity and the amount of information the clusters gather and the need for real-time data processing. They are essential for executing sophisticated software algorithms, rendering graphics and processing sensor information and control systems. The latest MCUs and SoCs must also ensure responsive and lag-free performance, even in extreme environmental conditions, to provide drivers with accurate and timely information.
To that end, Renesas has pioneered automotive digital instrument clusters to meet the demands of ever-evolving requirements to deliver a seamless driving experience. These include low-cost TFT instrument clusters with telematics, connected and in-vehicle infotainment systems (IVIs), high-end cockpit solutions with haptic feedback and other advanced clusters. Powering CAV HMI and cockpits require robust processing power, and Renesas' R-Car SiPs (System in Package) and RH850 MCUs are designed to meet and exceed those applications.
Renesas' RH850 D1 MCU solutions are ideal for any number of applications, including automotive body sensors, HVAC, and lighting and feature a 32-bit single-chip microcontroller with a G3KH CPU core. The RH850 series also provides low power consumption, high computational processing power, and offers many internal peripheral functions. The MCUs support internal flash memory from 512KB to 1MB, CAN FD interface, and feature a DeepSTOP mode, which turns off power to select circuits within the chip. The RH850 D1 series also features stepper-motor driver support, stereo PCM sound, SHE accelerator ICU-S security measures and RTC with clock correction capability.
The Renesas Flashdash demo shows a three-layer interface generated by the GPU, VRAM and Flash memory (Image source: Renesas)
The RH850 D1 MCUs are also outfitted with GPU support to manage 2D graphics (D/AVE-HD, OpenVG1.1, BitBLT, RLE) with 2.4Mb of VRAM, Serial Flash 8bit DDR memory, JPEG accelerator, HUD Warping engine, Sprite engine and more. The MCUs can handle various-sized backgrounds loaded with information without slowing by utilising the onboard memory and VRAM, which saves space, reducing the chips' size. Utilising the VRAM, the chips can handle typical BitBLT functions, various sprite engine features, direct RLE texture inputs, and various texture options, supporting OpenVG with 2D GPU acceleration.
Renesas states that the RH850 D1 series can handle many software for automotive use cases, including MCAL SW, RGL, SW Core Self Test, Safety Library, Smart Configurator, eFlashload programmer and more.
The R-Car H3 series is available in an evaluation board form that adds several features, including an HDMI port, Micro SD card slot, power/reset buttons and more (Image source: Renesas)
Renesas has also unveiled a new series of SiPs for high-end IVI and cockpit solutions. The company's R-Car H3 series SiPs come outfitted with 4x Arm Cortex-A57 cores, 4x Arm Cortex-A53 cores, and a dual-core lock-step Cortex-R7 for real-time processing, depending on the model. The R-Car H3 family also supports up to quad-channel LPDDR4-3200 RAM and incorporates either Imagination's PowerVR GX6650 GPU or a PowerVR GE8300 model. These SiPs are designed to handle digital clusters, HMIs, camera systems and sensor packages with more than enough processing power and power efficiency over current competitive hardware.
The R-Car H3 series also packs a plethora of connectivity options, including 2x PCIe, SATA, USB 3.0/2.0, Ethernet, 2x CAN and a comprehensive selection of I/Os, such as 6x UARTs, 5x H-UARTs, 4x SPIs, 7x I2Cs and DVFS. Of course, the R-Car H3 series can also handle a myriad of operating systems, including Linux, Android, QNX, Integrity, Autosar and FreeRTOS.
The H3 series of SiPs can come in an evaluation board form, allowing engineers to develop IVI and instrument clusters more easily and efficiently. They also pack many features, including Micro SD card slots, HDMI ports, fan connection options, power/reset buttons and more. Moreover, the chips offer several helpful features, including QT Cluster Fastboot for loading gauges in a single second and a complete UI in seven seconds.
Renesas has also developed several tools to help engineers with HMI creation, including an Automotive HMI Tooling Environment for high-end automotive projects that are scalable from low-end MCUs to high-end SoCs. The company also offers MCU support with a CGI Studio tool that provides support for adapting external peripherals, a MemoryPool feature to mitigate memory fragmentation and a Windows Build Environment for integrating graphics library packages. They also provide CGI Studio SoC support with notable features, including an OpenGl-ES 2.x/3.x Graphics API for 2D/3D graphics, scalability support for multiple application areas and ready-to-use Windows and Linux build environments. Renesas also provides extras for the R-Car H3 SiP series and the RH850 series MCUs, including PMICs, clock generators, full HD LCD controllers, and more.
Renesas is known worldwide for its semiconductor solutions for nearly every industry, and their R-Car H3 series of SiPs and RH850 series of MCUs are tailor-made for modern digital instrument clusters. Both have their merits, including being powerful and energy efficient and are capable of processing the complex data and graphics needed for today's vehicles. They are also engineered to provide reliability, even in harsh environments, making them ideal for CAV applications. Moreover, Renesas offers a comprehensive and robust ecosystem, complete with software libraries, documentation and community support, so it will be interesting to see what auto manufacturers create with the new technologies.
