(iTers News) - More and more of automotive parts and components are going digital, coming awash in tons of silicon chips. The digitalization of cars is in line with growing market demand for greener and smarter cars, as a growing number of consumers are clamoring for more fuel efficient and a lot safer cars.

Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. sees opportunities in the way that cars are going digital. The San Jose, U.S.-based chipmaker already generates about 10% of its revenue in the automotive market, supplying a wide range of chip solutions from sensors to power management and power supply IC solutions to RF chip solutions.

As cars of today are implementing more of digital technologies like advanced drivers assistant systems, or ADAS, LCD-based car infotainment systems, and head-up displays, and telematics system, LED lamp cluster, and a camera-based surround view system, it is presenting a lot bigger total addressable markets for chipmakers like Maxim Integrated Products.

For example, lots of CMOS image camera and image process signal chips are being adopted into the car to power an array of vision-based car safety and driver assistant features like a lane departure warning system, ADAS and a surround view system.

Car makers are even replacing an in-vehicle instrumental cluster and headlight lamps with digital technologies not only to reduce the car weight, but also consume less gasoline.       

“If you look at automobiles 20 years ago, there were only AM/FM radios. But if you look today, there are center LCD panels, telematics, and always-on 4G connectivity in the cars. Touch panels are also very popular. Not only do they do multimedia functions, but also control a heating, ventilation system and an in-vehicle air conditioner. And, new popular features are coming into cars, including ADAS and a 360 degree surround-view parking system. What’s really coming are… All the smart phone functions are being brought into cars,” said Kent Robinett, managing director, automotive solutions with Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.

He also bets that LED lighting will continue becoming very popular in the cars, as car makers are rapidly replacing traditional bulb-based car lighting and lamp systems with LEDs.

Wireless connections and RF chip technologies are being more widely used in the cars, too, as consumers are eager to have a smartphone-like multimedia user experience in their cars, he added.

Maxim Integrated are mainly focusing on four emerging automotive applications like car safety areas, infotainment systems, RF-based smart keys, and hybrid and EV, or electric vehicle power trains such as battery systems and electric motors. 

The growing complexity of car systems is another boon for Maxim Integrated. As consumers are demanding more of user friendlier features in their cars, car makers are integrating more functionality into the car system. That’s where the forte of Maxim Integrated comes in.

As Maxim Integrated has transformed itself from a mere, simple discrete analog chip maker into a total chip solution provider, it has an expertise in integrating many functional circuitry blocks into a single piece of silicon chip.

“Car makers are trying to put into much more functionality which consumers want. So, there are many any electronic control units or ECUs in cars. That’s’ why we bring our integration capabilities to automobile market, because we are able to take multiple functionality integrated into a single chip solutions for ECUs,” stressed managing director Kent Robinett.

One prime example is its RF-to-Bits architecture that combines RF or radio frequency circuit blocks with ADC, or analog to digital converter and filter. The architecture is a sort of front-end RF chip to receive a wide range of RF signals from DAB to terrestrial DMB to FM to DRM.

What sets itself apart from conventional RF chips is that it comes built with a very high-performance ADC, an analog to digital converter chip that converter analog RF signals into digital signals. It also comes embedded with a filter that filters the digital signals to keep them clean from inherently remaining noises.  All RF signals are inherently analog so that they are rich in noises. Even though they are converted into a string of 0s and 1s, noises are still lurking.  

Traditionally, the ADC and filter block have been embedded into a DSP or digital signal processor chip to convert analog signals into bits of 0s and 1s digital and then filter noises.

The integration helps reduce silicon footprint, consume less power, and more importantly cut costs. In addition, it can save clock cycles or MIPS (millions instructions per second) in DSPs, allowing it to perform other tasks and features.

Called as ‘Keyless Go’, its smart car key solution is another example of how Maxim Integrated excels in the system integration.

The smart key solution comes complete with a RF transceiver chip and a LF, or low frequency receiver SoC.

Unlike other conventional smart key solution that comes with a separate discrete LF analog chips and a microcontroller, the LF SoC of the ‘Keyless Go’ solution integrate a microcontroller, a LF receiver, and a 3D immobilizer reader on a single piece of silicon chip, allowing car owners not only to remotely open their car doors with no physical key, but also activate an engine ignition start key.

 What makes differences from other RF only-based smart key solutions is that its built-in LF circuitry block enables car drivers continuously communicate with their cars to keep track of the whereabouts their cars. The function allows cars to automatically detect their car owners in a very secure manner and then automatically open the car door and start an engine ignition. The function even enables cars to automatically switch on an in-vehicle air conditioner when car owners approach their cars.

The RF-based smart key also can continuously keep track of their car owners’ whereabouts, but consumes more power than LF signals. It also boasts of no blind spots as well as a long and wide range of communications with fewer antennas.     Maxim also unveiled high performance and high efficient LED driver ICs for a LED backlight units of an in-vehicle LCD panel systems and LED-based high-and low-beam signal lights and fog lights.

(Photos and videos by JH Bae)