At the Convergence 2006 trade show, Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc. introduced three 32-bit automotive microcontrollers, all with controller area network (CAN) interfaces; a FlexRay controller, and a graphics display controller.
The MB91F464AA, MB91F465KA and MB91F467RA MCUs are additions to Fujitsu’s MB91460 series. The MB91F465KA and the MB91F464AA target door, seat, air conditioning, and other vehicle body control applications. Both include a CAN channel, 32 CAN message buffers, and five UART channels that comply with the local interconnect network (LIN) standard.
The MB91F467RA is designed for car navigation, audio, and other information system control applications. It includes two CAN channels, 32 or 64 CAN message buffers, and seven LIN-compliant UART channels that can be used for vehicle door, mirror, and wiper controls. All three MCUs have embedded flash memory and run at clock speeds of up to 80 MHz.
Akio Nezu, senior marketing manager in Fujitsu Microelectronics America’s Embedded Solutions Group, said preventive safety, environmental performance, and intelligent transport system applications, among others, require microcontrollers that can process information in real time from a wide range of peripheral components.
Fujitsu’s FlexRay controller, MB91F465X, targets driver assistance applications. The device, currently available as a multichip module in a 100-pin QFP, is based on a 32-bit, 100 MHz Fujitsu FR CPU with a 3.0 V to 5.5 V voltage range. It comes with 544 KB of flash memory and 32 KB RAM. Fujitsu’s FlexRay Made Easy program includes hardware, driver and operating systems software, application software, development tools, and application development support.
The MB86297 graphics display controller is optimized for high-end vehicle multimedia and virtual dashboard applications. Based on a core that Fujitsu said delivers more than five times the performance of its predecessor, the chip provides features required for dramatic and realistic 3-D effects. With drawing performance at up to 10 million polygons or 250 million pixels per second, the device enables rapid rendering of point-of-view and bird's eye navigation, and it is said to produce images comparable to those available with desktop graphics.
The controller includes a PC166 host interface and a 64-bit DDR memory bus rated at 266 Mbit/s (133 MHz). Power consumption is less than 2.3 W. It offers two digital RGB display output channels with resolutions ranging from 320 x 240 to 1280 x 1024, and it can drive two displays with two different resolutions. For each channel, eight layers support alpha blending where a transparency value is applied evenly to the entire layer. Four of the layers are designated as alpha planes, enabling transparency at the pixel level. The alpha-plane function lets users create special effects such as spot lighting on maps, and the ability to zoom in and out of icons or menus to and from lower layers.
The MB86297 also supports two independent video capture ports for YUV/ RGB input. Video operations include up/down scaling, and brightness, contrast and saturation control. The I/O ports are independent, non-multiplexed, so no pins are shared and all features can be used simultaneously.
The MB86297 is RTOS-agnostic, according to Dan Landeck, senior marketing manager for Graphics Display Controller products in Fujitsu’s Embedded Systems Solutions Business Group, but Fujitsu is working with RTOS vendors to enable native support. It is compatible with OpenGL ES 1.1, and Fujitsu will provide customers with an OpenGL API and low-level access library to assist the software development effort.
Landeck, senior marketing manager for Graphics Display Controller products in Fujitsu’s Embedded Systems Solutions Business Group, described the MB86297 as the firm’s most advanced graphics display controller for automotive applications. He noted that Fujitsu’s graphics display controller market share exceeds 50% worldwide.