DSP occupies more of the automotive chip market

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DSP occupies more of the automotive chip market [Copy link]

In the current market dominated by digital audio, car audio equipped with DSP has been commercialized and widely used compared to models 10 years ago. By digitizing various sound effects and sound field control, a variety of audio processing with less sound quality degradation has been achieved. In recent years, mid-to-high-end car audio models including navigation systems have indeed penetrated the market, especially in Japan and Europe and the United States. In the past, compared with analog signal processing ICs, the cost and price were not always advantageous, but in recent years, due to the improvement of DSP signal processing performance and the reduction of system costs brought about by the integration of analog circuits and peripheral components, it has become more and more advantageous than analog systems, which has become an important reason for its popularity.

　　Among the recent in-car DSPs, the so-called digital IF system, which not only performs audio processing but also performs digital signal processing after the IF stage of AM/FM, has attracted much attention. Digitalization has the remarkable feature that dynamic control can be performed according to the situation to improve the characteristics under adverse conditions such as adjacent channel interference and multiple reflection interference, and improve noise resistance. In addition, by setting from a microcomputer, common hardware can be used to correspond to various models. This flexibility is different from analog technology and is gradually becoming the mainstream DSP used in current car audio. In addition, the ability to support diversity systems such as 2 antennas and 2 tuners, which will increase with the improvement of reception performance in the future, is also a highlight.

　　In audio functions, the need for entertainment such as DVD playback has increased the demand for multi-channel data sources. It is also required to achieve higher processing capabilities for related sound processing, high sampling rate processing, etc. In addition, with the popularization of portable audio players, the decoder of compressed audio and its sound quality interpolation processing, and the connectivity with various digital media represented by digital broadcasting, which is expected to become popular in the future, are required to have multiple functions. In addition, low power consumption, noise resistance, and EMC reduction required by the in-vehicle environment must also be considered. On the other hand, due to market requirements, the price of equipment has dropped significantly, and the demand for low cost of equipment will be even greater than it is now. Therefore, while improving performance and expanding functions, it will become increasingly important to develop ICs that reduce the cost of the entire system, whether it is a digital or analog system. While considering reducing costs by reducing peripheral components after high integration, miniaturization of IC processing, and reducing analog circuits, in order to support various platforms, it is also necessary to consider appropriate system division that is flexible and highly scalable. There are many issues.

　　The latest trend in car entertainment demand is that the in-car entertainment system should have the same environment as at home. From audio, navigation, portable audio players, telematics to video, the diversification of digital media continues to develop, and the need to connect them will make the importance of electronic systems in cars more and more prominent in the future. Due to the popularity of car navigation, it is expected that cars will be equipped with multiple video displays in the future, which can process multimedia data and import broadband in-car networks. At the same time, a large amount of storage, hard disk drives and large-capacity memory will be required. Through the portable player connected to the USB or various memory with the advantage of rechargeability, the content will be played directly from the portable player. After the widespread use of storage devices such as HDD and the maturity of digital copyright management methods related to content, the content can also be widely used by downloading. While the variety of multimedia has greatly increased, it is also necessary to be able to support multiple standards and interfaces. For example, although each person can save their own playback content in a portable player and play it, there is no guarantee that the standards and interfaces between devices are compatible. Although various portable players and interfaces have become popular in their respective markets, they are not necessarily standardized. As the scope of use from home to car expands, this will become a major technical problem. Since in-car applications are somewhat fixed to previous standards and interfaces, supporting all types is not easy. In addition to the multimedia content that users bring into the car, the next generation of systems must also be able to support radio and TV broadcasts that were previously transmitted via terrestrial waves, satellite information used by navigation systems, and digital media transmitted by satellite digital broadcasts. Similarly, wireless connectivity must be possible. Bluetooth technology is currently integrated into car entertainment systems for "hands-free" answering of mobile phones, and in the future, it may be possible to connect via Wi-Fi just by parking the car near home. Recently, the function of connecting to mobile phones has begun to be added to cars, thereby providing advanced data communication services such as automatic emergency calls in the event of an accident. Such connections may need to develop into services provided by the Internet through the car and the driver in the future. For terrestrial broadcasts, since the reception performance needs to be protected from multiple reflections and interference from adjacent channels, the system technology provides the necessary functions for digital signal processing using software and hardware. In the case of digital radio broadcasts, since the standards vary depending on terrestrial waves, satellite broadcasts, and regions, currently dedicated chipsets and software are required to receive signals of each standard. In the next phase, it is hoped that a general-purpose processor can be used to perform software processing on signals of various standards, thereby realizing a general platform that can immediately rebuild systems for receiving different broadcast signals.

　　The basic elements required for the next generation of in-vehicle multimedia systems that can meet the above requirements are: high-performance digital signal processing, the ability to reconstruct and process multiple multimedia data. This requires a flexible platform, and the same as daily-use equipment, it is required to easily realize system reconstruction and function addition by changing the software. Among them, a highly integrated media processor that can support advanced multimedia functions, including sufficient interfaces, and combines powerful DSP and processors will be used. In addition to the currently popular digital audio and navigation, it is difficult to make a correct prediction on how advanced data communication services, video functions and other media will be introduced. Due to the long design cycle of automobile OEMs, it is almost impossible to send a car multimedia system product with perfect in-vehicle functions to the market in one cycle. First, it will start from the existing system of the existing car radio and upgrade it in this form. Although it is expected that there will be a comprehensive form of digital audio, navigation, mobile phone, digital video broadcast reception function plus connectivity with multiple digital media in the future, it is necessary to conduct a thorough investigation based on market forecasts to determine what kind of function and system division is more reasonable. Due to the need for a system that can make flexible processing, it is expected that the number of devices that operate based on software will increase, and software development should become a focus in the future. On the other hand, the role of the navigator will not be limited to an entertainment system or information terminal. Considering that the security field will receive further attention in the future and requires advanced video processing, DSP-based media processors may also be used in this field.

　　In the next 10 years, all people involved in the automotive electronics industry will be faced with the above requirements for complex architecture and high performance, and a huge market will be born behind the strong challenge. For users, being able to bring multimedia from home to the car will benefit them greatly.