Dedicated Driver Monitoring System ASIC with Image Signal Processor and DDR3 Memory

OmniVision Technologies, a world-leading developer of digital imaging solutions, released the OAX8000 before CES today. This AI-powered automotive ASIC is optimized for entry-level standalone driver monitoring systems (DMS). The OAX8000 uses a chip stacking architecture to provide on-chip DDR3 SDRAM memory (1GB) for the industry's only DMS processor. It is also the only dedicated DMS processor that integrates a neural processing unit (NPU) and an image signal processor (ISP), providing dedicated processing speeds of up to 1.1 trillion operations per second for eye gaze and eye tracking algorithms. Thanks to high processing speeds, 1K MAC convolutional neural network (CNN) acceleration, and integrated SDRAM, DMS systems can achieve low power consumption - the total power consumption of the OAX8000 and OmniVision automotive image sensors under typical conditions is only 1 watt. This integration further optimizes the DMS system and also reduces the board area of ​​the engine control unit (ECU).

Yole Développement said that as market drivers accelerate, DMS is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 56% from 2020 to 2025. (1) According to the European Union’s Euro NCAP requirements, all new cars sold in the region must be equipped with DMS cameras by 2022, and this requirement is driving the development of DMS.

“Most DMS processors on the market today are not purpose-built for this application and require additional circuitry to run other system functions, which increases power consumption, takes up more board space, and leaves no room for on-chip SDRAM,” said Brian Pluckebaum, automotive product marketing manager at OmniVision Technologies. “We focused the design of our OAX8000 ASIC on entry-level DMS and developed an optimized solution for the automotive industry.”

The OAX8000’s on-chip NPU is supported by the widely used TensorFlow, Caffe, MXNet, and ONNX toolchains. In addition, the ASIC embeds a quad-core QuadArm® Cortex® A5 CPU with Neon™ technology to accelerate video encoding/decoding and on-chip video analytics algorithms, as well as hardware for image processing, video encoding, and RGB/IR processing. With high dynamic range (HDR) processing capabilities, the ASIC can receive input from RBG/IR image sensors and support high-quality output for video capture in conditions with strong light-dark contrasts during the day or at night. The integrated video encoder can receive up to 5-megapixel images captured by OmniVision’s automotive image sensors and output up to 2K resolution video at 30 frames per second.

The OAX8000 boot time is significantly shorter than the closest competitor. This fast boot time eliminates any delay between DMS camera ignition and activation. In addition, the OAX8000 supports secure boot functionality to provide network security.

Other applications include processing occupant detection algorithms, such as differentiating between a baby and a food bag, and sounding an alarm when an object is left in the car. In addition, the ASIC can be used in automotive video security systems to run functions such as FaceID and activate preset driver comfort levels (such as seat position) when the DMS first scans the driver's face.

Samples of the new OAX8000 ASIC are available now in a BGA196 package. The product is AEC-Q100 Grade 2 qualified for automotive applications.