Hardware and Software Stack Brings FPGAs to Autos
Modern cars are evolving rapidly, so it’s becoming important for companies to innovate under the hood while maintaining flexibility for future updates. For its part, Lattice Semiconductor is pushing its family of high-efficiency FPGAs as a possible solution.
Lattice Drive is the company’s latest application-specific solution stack, encompassing its modular CertusPro-NX and other FPGA-based hardware, IP building blocks, and easy-to-use Radiant and Propel software design tools. A wide range of reference designs are also part of the package, along with custom design services. It’s designed to enable dashboard display connectivity, sensor bridging, data processing for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), and energy-efficient zonal bridging.
Flexibility is one of the most important features of Lattice Drive. Up to 4K displays are supported, as well as multi-resolution scaling. The solution also enables the bridging of several displays at the same time, as it delivers an up to 1.5X faster DisplayPort interface than other devices in a similar class. DisplayPort up to HBR 3 is possible with Lattice Drive. In addition, it provides image and video enhancement with a scalable full array local dimming solution.
Another feature of Lattice Drive is its ability to enable more efficient data processing. Lattice said the FPGA-based solution gives customers the ability to process or co-process data to offload the CPU with up to 75% lower power than competitive devices in a similar class.