Kyocera in the Eyes of Professional Electronics Media | Moore Elite

What are Japanese semiconductor manufacturers concerned about?

In recent years, with the rise of the concept of smart cars, the industry has paid new attention to automotive electronics. For example, in terms of self-driving cars and ADAS, there has been an explosion in demand for products such as lidar, millimeter-wave radar, cameras and radar.

According to the Yano Research Institute, the market size of sensors related to autonomous driving will reach 3.2755 trillion yen by 2030, which is about 3.7 times that of 2017. The market size of LiDAR in 2017 was only about 2.5 billion yen, and it is expected to expand sharply by about 200 times to 495.9 billion yen by 2030. This has attracted the attention of manufacturers around the world, and Kyocera is one of them. At Kyocera's platform, we saw some unique designs.

Forecast for the development of Japan's autonomous driving sensor market

(Nikkei Business News)

First, there is a module that integrates lidar and camera.

As autonomous driving becomes more popular, the market demand for LiDAR is also rising. Because this product uses light instead of sound to measure the distance between the car and the obstacle, it can achieve non-contact long-distance testing, and has the advantages of fast speed, high precision, and strong resistance to photoelectric interference. In order to achieve accurate detection of people and objects, the past autonomous driving solutions all used LiDAR + camera solutions to perform road detection. However, Kyocera launched a module that integrates LiDAR and camera.

Kyocera's two-in-one solution of LiDAR and camera

According to Kyocera, with the help of this camera and LiDAR design, their solution has the effect of optical axis consistency, which allows them to identify people or buildings as three-dimensional objects as images, while also using LiDAR to focus on scanning the periphery of the three-dimensional objects, thereby achieving accurate detection of objects.

Kyocera said that the laser radar used in this solution is a product developed based on MEMS technology, which does not require mechanical drive to scan the laser beam. It can not only achieve a resolution of 0.05° for the laser radar, but also achieve high reliability and miniaturization.

Secondly, 79Ghz millimeter wave radar is another area of ​​focus for Kyocera.

Millimeter wave radars are another key focus for autonomous driving and automotive ADAS, because they not only have stable detection performance, but are also not easily affected by the shape, color and airflow of the object surface, and have good environmental adaptability, which also allows them to operate well in rain, snow, fog and other environments. They are an indispensable part of future cars, and this is certainly a market that Kyocera will not ignore.

Kyocera 79Ghz millimeter wave radar

At the exhibition, we saw the 79Ghz millimeter wave radar solution provided by Kyocera. According to reports, this solution can achieve a maximum test angle of 160 degrees, and the power consumption can even reach 3 watts. As for the test distance and size, Kyocera's solution has its unique leading advantages.

Parameters of Kyocera LiDAR

In addition, Kyocera also has some cameras with AI functions that can detect objects directly on the camera. This is also one of their contributions to automobile safety.

But in fact, in addition to automobile safety and autonomous driving, Kyocera has also brought more innovative solutions to automobiles. For example, in response to the current development trend of touch screens in smart cars, Kyocera has developed tactile feedback technology, which allows customers to get the operating effect of physical keys when operating on the touch screen. This allows drivers to operate and feel better during driving. This solution has also been recognized and adopted by Bosch earlier. In medical equipment and industrial machinery, this solution will also be a good choice.

Kyocera Touch System Solution Composition

At Kyocera's booth, the car HUD solution they exhibited also caught the eyes of the Semiconductor Observer reporter. According to Kyocera, they used new materials and new designs to develop a high-resolution, high-transmittance LCD screen for HUD. Different from the DLP commonly used in the industry, Kyocera uses a high-transmittance, high-contrast L LCD screen, and uses its own unique processing technology to display car navigation information on the screen. According to them, this solution has a very good display effect whether it is day or night.

Kyocera's HUD Solution

In actual operation, Kyocera's solution even displays the distance to the front and the person, as well as turning and lane change reminders and person recognition. According to Kyocera, they can help developers realize the display of almost all information on the screen.

In-vehicle communication is also a focus of Kyocera's automotive electronics field. We know that in the future, the development of autonomous driving and smart cars will require in-vehicle communication, and Kyocera can provide customers with high-quality solutions. They provide V2I road test equipment.

In addition to some solutions launched for automotive electronics, we also saw their new solutions to improve the experience of existing devices at the Kyocera booth. Here, we first introduce Kyocera's image correction technology.

Smartphones are now very common. When people use them, for example, when they are in a car, they will inevitably encounter bumps. At this time, the phone will shake with the shaking of the person, which brings a bad experience to people watching the content on the phone. Kyocera provides a software solution that can make the image change with the frequency of the shaking during the shaking of the device, so as to keep the image and human vision relatively "stable" and reduce the viewing experience of the eyes.

Kyocera has also developed a solution to solve the problem of antenna signals being affected when they come into contact with metal.

According to Kyocera, they combined their unique artificial magnetic wall (AMC) technology with the antenna function to generate a periodic structure, thus creating an independent, compact, and thin small antenna Amcenna. Since AMC is not affected by radio wave interference, Amcenna can still communicate even if it is in close contact with any material that will generate radio wave interference. This solution can be adopted by automobiles, smart devices, etc. In actual operation, we also saw the leading effect of Kyocera's antenna compared with other products.

Kyocera Amcenna Antenna

In addition, Kyocera has also developed a wireless vibration detection system for monitoring industrial equipment, which can accurately detect the working status of the equipment in real time, which no other manufacturer has been able to do before.

In addition to the above products, Kyocera has brought communication modules, power storage systems with V2H functions, 3-axis crystal gyroscope sensors, cell separation/concentration measurement devices, MSS olfactory Angel, scientific and technological loan equipment equipped with blood flow sensors, human body sensing visualization equipment, communication equipment supporting LPWA, handheld phase contrast microscopes and Sigfox and other products to the five aspects of mobility, energy, advanced technology, people and life, and network, bringing their expectations and layout for the future semiconductor world.

From the perspective of the entire business structure of Kyocera Group, the above products are just the tip of the iceberg of their rich product line. According to Kyocera Group's financial report, they now have parts business, equipment and system business and other businesses, including industrial parts such as automobiles, semiconductor parts, electronic components, information communications, office document solutions, life and environmental protection and even hotels. Among them, the parts business accounts for 53.9% of the company's revenue, and the performance of electronic components is the most outstanding.

Such performance is closely related to the corporate philosophy advocated by Kyocera's founder Kazuo Inamori.

Kyocera, headquartered in Kyoto, Japan, was founded by Kazuo Inamori on April 1, 1959. As a manufacturer that initially only engaged in the production of ceramic products, Kyocera rose to prominence in the integrated circuit industry, and established its position in the semiconductor field by developing ceramic materials with superior physical, chemical and electronic properties. For example, most of the CPUs widely used in the market today use Kyocera's surface packaging technology for precision ceramic ICs.

Looking at every transformation or layout in Kyocera's development, it is inseparable from the "Respect Heaven and Love People" and "Amoeba" advocated by its founder Kazuo Inamori.

The so-called "respect for heaven" means that when making any judgment, people must follow the laws of nature and do things that are reasonable. For business operations, "respect for heaven" means adhering to the business philosophy of the company and following the principles and principles of business operations. Kazuo Inamori believes that respect for heaven means having awe for things beyond human power, following the objective laws of nature, adhering to the correct way of thinking, and carrying it through to the end.

The "love of others" mentioned by Kazuo Inamori means to live in accordance with human nature. To love others is to be heart-oriented and create value for others with an "altruistic heart". In business operations, "altruism" means doing things that benefit customers, including customers, employees, stakeholders and society. Enterprises should be customer-oriented, starting from the perspective of customers, thinking from their perspective, and meeting their needs.

Amoeba management is a management method that Inamori created during his time at Kyocera to realize Kyocera's business philosophy. In Amoeba management, the company organization is divided into small groups called "Amoebas". The leaders of each Amoeba make their own plans for their Amoeba and rely on the wisdom and efforts of all Amoeba members to achieve the goals. Through this approach, every employee at the production site becomes the protagonist and actively participates in management, thus achieving "full participation in management."

With this kind of thinking, Kyocera has grown to its current size. Looking to the future, I hope they can bring us a better technology life experience driven by the "New Value Frontier" declaration.

*This article is transferred from Moore Elite Public Account