By Joe Rodriguez | Product Marketing Manager, Interface IP
With the increasing sophistication of Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS), cars sport a growing array of cameras and sensors to enable functions including automated parking, adaptive cruise control, enhanced night vision, and more. Data from lidar (light detection and ranging), radar and traditional global shutter cameras are combined to create and update the digital twin of the world the car traverses. All this converged sensor data takes tremendous bandwidth, and the MIPI® Camera Serial Interface 2 (MIPI CSI-2®) is a great solution for efficiently transporting this volume of data.
To make way for even greater adoption of CSI-2 in the automotive market, the MIPI Alliance and the Automotive SerDes Alliance (ASA) have announced an agreement that will ultimately enable MIPI CSI-2 controllers to interface directly with ASA Motion Link (ASA-ML) PHYs. Supporting specifications, such as MIPI Camera Service Extensions (MIPI CSESM) providing protocol-layer security and additional functional safety support, will be made available as well.
Under the announced agreement, ASA will develop an Application Stream Encapsulation Protocol (ASEP) to enable native CSI-2 transport over the ASA-ML PHY. Then, once MIPI has approved ASEP, ASA will include the CSI-2 ASEP in its next specification release as the only recommended camera protocol interface. The agreement also engenders further collaboration opportunities between the two organizations such as the use of MIPI Display Serial Interface 2 (MIPI DSI-2SM) with ASA technology for automotive display-centric applications.
This is great news for makers of automotive chips and systems as it expands the choice of technologies and lowers the costs of ASA solutions by eliminating the need for a MIPI-compatible bridge chip. Rambus has been a leading provider of MIPI CSI-2 and DSI-2 controller IP for over a decade having enabled over 250 ASIC and FPGA MIPI designs.
If you’re designing a chip for the rapidly accelerating ADAS market, we have automotive-specific MIPI solutions with expert technical support, a full suite of customization and integration services, and applicable safety manual, FMEDA and DFMEA. As the MIPI CSI-2 standard continues to evolve its solution set for the automotive market, Rambus will be there to enable the latest capabilities for your designs.
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