Marelli and Microchip sent central-computer video to displays over an open standard
The two companies demonstrated streaming graphics and video from a vehicle's central computer straight to displays over ASA Motion Link, an open alternative to the proprietary links that normally carry it.
Marelli and Microchip said on September 3 that they had built a demonstrator streaming graphics and video generated by a vehicle’s central computer directly to automotive displays over ASA Motion Link, an open standard for automotive video and serializer-deserializer communication defined by the Automotive SerDes Alliance.
In the arrangement the companies described, content from the central computer is processed and transmitted through Microchip’s VS7000 ASA-ML chipset over a standardized link, and Marelli handles the display side by configuring the deserializer to decode the standardized streams at the display itself. The companies listed link-layer authentication and encryption embedded in the communication channel, data rates of up to 16 Gbps, embedded time division duplex and simplified forward error correction.
Kelei Shen, president of Marelli’s electronics business, said the move to software-defined vehicles was driving demand for more open, flexible and scalable electronic architectures. Kevin So, a vice president in Microchip’s communications business unit, said open standards reduce dependency on proprietary technologies.
The Automotive SerDes Alliance is a consortium of vehicle makers, tier one suppliers and semiconductor companies. Neither company named a vehicle manufacturer, a production program, a volume or a start-of-production date, and the announcement described a demonstrator rather than an award. Microchip filed no report with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the day, which is consistent with a technology collaboration rather than a transaction.