Automotive technology company indie Semiconductor has introduced the iND880xx solutions line to its vision processor portfolio, to meet the advanced requirements of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and driver viewing applications, such as surround view systems and electronic mirrors.
This new family of processors enhances indie’s current range of sensing solutions for computer vision, lidar, radar and ultrasound. The solution line delivers low-light and high dynamic range sensing, enabling improved perception performance. It also supports real-time image signal processing (ISP) for four simultaneous sensor inputs, including emerging sensor types like infrared. This capability enables simultaneous human viewing and ADAS sensing within a single system-on-chip (SoC) platform.
Vision-based sensing
Vision-based sensing has become essential for ADAS, driven by government regulations, new car assessment programs (NCAP) and increased consumer awareness of vehicle safety.
Key applications of vision sensing include automated emergency braking (AEB), lane keep assist (LKA), blind spot detection (BSD), driver and occupant monitoring (DMS/OMS), smart back-up and vulnerable road user (VRU) protection. The US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has bolstered the need for VRU protection through the AEB regulation FMV127, which includes stringent testing requirements for pedestrian AEB (PAEB), particularly under low-light and night-time conditions.
iND880xx family
The iND880xx video processor SoC family “sets new benchmarks in image signal processing (ISP) performance and functionality for both viewing and sensing applications”, indie Semiconductor says, adding that it addresses challenges such as balancing low-light sensor performance and color differentiation, which are crucial for accurately perceiving traffic signals and other visual cues.
The ISP pipeline also supports concurrent, low-latency processing of four independent sensor inputs, achieving a combined throughput of 1400MP per second.
Key features of the iND880xx family include a 24-bit processing pipeline for high dynamic range (HDR) processing up to 144dB; support for various sensor color filter arrays (CFAs), including RGGB, RCCB, RYYCy and RGB-IR; and indie Semiconductor’s proprietary eWarp technology for dewarping image distortion from wide field of view lenses.
“The iND880xx product family represents a revolutionary step in performance and integration for automotive vision processing,” said Abhay Rai, indie’s chief product officer.
“The imperatives for vision-based ADAS sensing applications are growing, while in parallel, consumer expectations for camera-based innovation are accelerating. Auto makers need to deploy multiple cameras to drive various applications in demanding environmental conditions, including low light, as exemplified by the recent NHTSA PAEB regulation. Our groundbreaking iND880xx processor family delivers on all these challenges.”
The iND880xx family is sampling with select lead customers and will be in serial production deployment in 2025. The solution will be showcased at the upcoming AutoSens Europe 2024 in Barcelona, Spain, on October 8-10.