The first family in a range of SoCs intended to support 3D instrument clusters has been launched by Renesas. The R-Car D1 Series is intended to provide a smooth migration path for automotive system manufacturers as the use of colour LCD panels in instrument cluster systems becomes more widespread.
In the future, the company believes, display size and resolution are expected to continue increasing, even in low to mid range models. But it notes that, for these systems to become more mainstream, the ability to create displays that make full use of 3D graphics will be required.
The R-Car D1 is said to provide the functionality and performance required and, since Renesas users can take advantage of the R-Car Consortium ecosystem, they will be able to develop 3D graphics cluster systems quickly.
A number of D1 Series SoCs is available. Users can choose from single and dual ARM Cortex-A7 cores, with single core parts running at 660MHz and dual core parts running at 780MHz. 3D graphics on both options are provided by Imagination’s PowerVR SGX540 core. With a range of peripherals, the SoCs are supplied with Ethernet AVB capability and are packaged in a 543ball FCBGA.
Author
Graham Pitcher
Source: www.newelectronics.co.uk