Friday, June 06, 2014: As consumer interest in high-end infotainment and telematics options in automobiles continues to grow, vehicle manufacturers are striving to provide cost-effective solutions to meet these demands. Today, Texas Instruments (TI) (NASDAQ: TXN) is delivering these advanced functions and features with the newest member of the “Jacinto” platform, the DRA72x “Jacinto 6 Eco” system-on-chip (SoC). With the DRA72x processor, manufacturers can now cost-effectively integrate and deliver high-integrity audio, simultaneous multimedia streaming and device connectivity in a wide range of automobiles, including the burgeoning entry- to mid-level segment.
Redefining infotainment performance
With the increased demand for mobility and differentiation for entry- to mid-level In-Vehicle-Infotainment (IVI), the DRA72x has an optimal mix of acceleration capabilities. This includes the IVA-HD video co-processor capable of decoding H.264 1080p resolution at 60 fps, which enables standard multimedia simultaneously streaming and the emerging bring your own device (BYOD) connectivity. Additionally, drivers and passengers will experience an enhanced user experience of voice functions while hosting Acoustic Noise Cancellation (ANC), speech enhancement and audio post-processing algorithms on the integrated digital signal processor (DSP). The DRA72x stays true to TI’s automotive SoC approach of the “Jacinto” family including ARM® Cortex®-M4 to offload the main ARM Cortex-A15 CPU from real-time, interrupt intensive tasks, as well as vehicle connectivity peripherals including DCAN, Ethernet AVB, MOST Media Local Bus (MLB), PCIe, and USB2.0 and 3.0. The new DRA72x processor also works with TI’s WiLink™ 8Q Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GNSS combo connectivity family, creating out-of-the box ready automotive infotainment offering.
Scalable platform of devices
Developed on the same architecture as other members of TI’s “Jacinto 6” platform, the new DRA72x processor enables manufacturers to scale product investments and deliver a diverse portfolio of products with software and hardware compatibility with the broadest array of ARM Cortex-A15 devices. The addition of the “Jacinto 6 Eco” family creates a processor portfolio that includes single- and dual-core ARM Cortex-A15 configurations with a range of 2,800 to more than 10,000 Dhrystone million instruction per second (DMIPS), single- and dual-core Imagination Technologies’ POWERVR™ SGX544-MPx graphics cores and automotive peripherals. Further scalability is achieved with processor variations having single and dual external memory interfaces and different CPU clock speeds. This allows customers designing infotainment systems to develop products for a broad range of vehicles, such as entry-to mid-level up to luxury, on the same platform and level of investment to reduce cost and time to market.
Reduced system cost for customers with integrated acceleration capabilities
The “Jacinto 6 Eco” processor enables car manufacturers to reduce the overall cost to customers with integrated acceleration capabilities, auto peripherals and software availability. The integrated DSP, complete with flexible software-defined architecture, provides a simplified and cost-reduced multi-tuner radio solution for AM/FM/RDS, HD RadioTM, DAB, and/or DRM. The on-chip auxiliary CPUs (ARM Cortex-M4s) offload the main CPU of real-time, highly interrupted intensive tasks to increase software performance. The “Jacinto 6 Eco” tools, software and ecosystem, including QNX, Linux and Android high-level operating systems, are available to customers to ease design and reduce time to market.
Infotainment leaders support “Jacinto” processor family
TI is proud to work with industry leaders to engineer the future of in-vehicle infotainment and telematics capabilities. Many of these companies leverage TI’s scalable “Jacinto” processors and applaud the newest member of the “Jacinto 6” platform.
“TI and QNX Software Systems have a long-standing relationship focused on the development of connected automotive solutions that enhance in-vehicle infotainment experiences,” said Peter McCarthy, director of global partnerships, QNX Software Systems. “The latest in the line of TI’s processors, ‘Jacinto 6 Eco,’ helps us deliver feature-rich infotainment capabilities that scale across entry-, mid- and high-end infotainment platforms, while providing the flexibility to support ADAS features such as cameras for adaptive cruise control.”
“At Alpine, we are proud to work with key technology partners like TI to redefine the way passengers and drivers experience telematics and in-vehicle infotainment features,” said Shuji Taguchi, Director, OEM Product Development, Alpine. “The ‘Jacinto 6 Eco’ is the latest of TI’s scalable ‘Jacinto’ family of processors that allows us to reach high performance, value-minded infotainment platforms.”
“With the ‘Jacinto 6 Eco’, Texas Instruments enables a common Jacinto 6-based software and hardware platform that scales from entry level to high end, positioned to address the different and evolving requirements of current and future driver information/infotainment platforms,” stated Dan Mender, vice president, business development, Green Hills Software. “Combined with our INTEGRITY® Multivisor™ secure virtualization solution, customers future-proof their designs by seamlessly and safely hosting the latest infotainment operating systems such as Android or Linux, while providing fail-safe isolation between digital cluster, rear-view camera, and other safety critical automotive functions – delivering unequaled, cost effective reuse and configurability.”
Analog solutions complete infotainment designs
The DRA72x “Jacinto 6 Eco” processor can be combined with complementary devices from TI to deliver a robust system solution for infotainment designs. TI has developed a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) specifically for powering the Jacinto 6 Eco processor, helping customers reduce development time and risk. The PMIC supports the full performance range of Jacinto 6 Eco and includes the power management functions necessary to minimize system-level power consumption. Engineering evaluation samples are currently available. The processor can also be combined with TI’s FPD-Link III automotive-grade serializer/deserializer family to deliver uncompressed high-definition (HD) digital video and audio to touchscreen LCD panels in a vehicle’s central information display and rear passenger seats.
Availability
The DRA72x “Jacinto 6 Eco” processor is currently sampling and is expected to be available for production by the first half of 2015. The DRA72x is intended for high-volume automotive manufacturers and is not available through distributors.
