The navigation unit uses the application processor's enhanced map-drawing function to allow the simultaneous display of navigation information and one-segment terrestrial digital TV broadcasts

Sanyo Consumer Electronics develops and manufactures the Gorilla series of portable navigation products. This product line now is establishing a new niche market for multi-purpose models ― devices with internal map storage that can play one-segment terrestrial digital TV broadcasts while also keeping track of the user's location. To reduce system development times, the Sanyo development team has used Renesas microcomputers throughout the Gorilla series―chips in the SuperH family and SH-Mobile R series, among others. The Sanyo NV-SD700DT and NV-SB360DT models released in April 2008 are among the first products to use the new SH-Mobile R2 application processor. The superior processing power of this chip significantly boosts the performance of the latest Gorilla portable navigation devices.

The Gorilla series from Sanyo Consumer Electronics are portable navigation systems can be removed from a vehicle car and carried around. Consumers are impressed by the great convenience and utility that the products offer. As a result, products in the Gorilla series have earned the top share of market for portable navigation systems in Japan.

Sanyo chose 'Gorilla' for the name of the popular product line for an interesting reason. When viewed from the front, the shape of the earliest NV-P1 models was similar to that of a gorilla's face (see Photograph 1). The name choice was fortuitous and the brand is now widely recognized and favored in a very competitive field.

A key reason that the Gorilla brand has become so popular is that the product line is built on a design-engineering breakthrough. The portable navigation concept became a practical reality when Sanyo learned how to relocate internally the GPS antenna that receives the satellite signals needed to determine position location. In previous navigation products, that antenna protruded externally from the unit. Hiding the antenna made the Gorilla products more attractive and less cumbersome, without any sacrifice in performance.

Development of the Gorilla product line is ongoing. "We have continued to release new models every year since the first Gorilla products went on sale in 1995. We take pride in the accuracy of our positioning information, which we have been able to enhance due to the expertise we have gained over the years. Initially, we released a new Gorilla model roughly once a year. Recently, though, the pace of new product announcements has accelerated. Due to the rapid growth in demand for car navigation over the last few years, we have increased our R&D activities to the point where we can now announce several models at a time," said Mr. Tanaka.

There are two main models in the current Gorilla series lineup: HDD Portable Navigation models that store map information on a hard-disk drive, and SSD Portable Navigation models that use a large-capacity solid-state flash memory for data storage. The HDD Portable Navigation products feature an 8.0-inch-wide screen and include the NV-HD880FT, NV-HD871DT, and NV-HD831DT models, referred to as the 'Deka Gorilla' (literally: 'large Gorilla') series.

There are five different SSD Portable Navigation models. The NV-SD580DT has a 5.8-inch-wide screen and internal FM-multiplexed vehicle information and communication system (VICS). The NV-SD200DT and NV-SB260DT have a 4.5-inch-wide screen and are known as 'Mini-Gorillas' due to their small size. The other models in the series are the NV-DK631DT with a 6.5-inch-wide screen and DVD drive, and the NV-475 with a CD drive.

In addition to their navigation functions, most of these products also include a one-segment TV function that allows users to receive terrestrial digital-television broadcasts. The Gorilla series was among the first to offer this popular function. "When Sanyo develops new models, we put a lot of effort into finding ways to incorporate useful value-added functions into products―especially functions that competitors do not offer. Consumers have been very enthusiastic about the one-segment receiver function we incorporated into the Deka Gorilla model released in 2006," Mr. Tanaka said.

Sanyo maintains its prominent market position with a strategy of always keeping one step ahead of other suppliers. This successful approach is evidenced by products such as the NV-SB250DT Mini-Gorilla, which has an internal battery so that users can remove it from a vehicle and carry it around.

Sanyo's NV-SD700DT (see Photograph 2) and NV-SB360DT (see Photograph 3) are the latest models to be released in the company's range of SSD portable navigation units. The NV-SD700DT has a 7.0-inch-wide screen and an internal FM-multiplexed VICS function to obtain real-time traffic information. The NV-SB360DT has a 4.5-inch-wide screen and expands the battery-operated Mini-Gorilla series. Both models have large 4GB SSD flash memories capable of storing a database containing 34 million addresses and 30 million private-telephone-numbers. This capacity rivals that of HDD units.

The NV-SD700DT and NV-SB360DT offer improved processing performance compared to previous versions, thanks to the new Gorilla Engine for high-speed processing (see Photograph 4). In addition to enabling features such as realistic 3D intersection displays (see Photograph 5) and 3D graphic displays of city highway on- ramps, this engine also makes possible high-definition map drawing (see Photograph 6). "It is now possible to execute heavy processing loads simultaneously, such as navigation and one-segment playback, or navigation and MP3 music playback. Except for some map information, detailed navigation functions equivalent to those on HDD models can be implemented in our all-solid-state designs. Also, the maps now look much better and are easier to understand because the graphics functions we are using today are much more sophisticated than those we used in the past," Mr. Tanaka explained.

From the first product in the Gorilla series, the NV-SD10DT model, the engineers at Sanyo have continued to use SuperH processors. A device with an SH-2 CPU core was adopted for the NV-SD10DT. Subsequently, the engineers selected the SH-Mobile R application processor, which features an internal one-segment-TV signal-processing function, for the SSD portable navigation units. Now they are using the SH-Mobile R2 processor ― the newest chip in the SH-Mobile R series ― as the Gorilla Engine CPU in the new NV-SD700DT and NV-SB360DT models.

"The SH-Mobile R devices benefits from the extensive knowledge Renesas has accumulated from serving global mobile phone markets, expertise that includes functions such as navigation and one-segment reception. The application processor combines these functions in a single chip solution that also supports non-mobile-phone applications. Having used devices in the SH-Mobile and SuperH family in the past with great success, selecting the SH-Mobile R chip was a natural progression," Mr. Tanaka commented.

The SH-Mobile R series expands the market reach of SH-Mobile application processors for mobile phones into many other applications. For example, these SoC (system-on-chip) devices are ideal solutions for all types of portable multimedia products. The recently introduced SH-Mobile R2 devices are highly regarded because they deliver overall processing performance that is one and a half times that of the previous-generation SH-Mobile R chips. At the heart of the SH-Mobile R2 devices is an SH-4A core that achieves 720 MIPS at its maximum operating frequency of 400MHz, and an FPU that delivers up to 2.8G FLOPS.

Sanyo engineers exploited the SH-Mobile R2's processing capabilities in implementing the major features of the NV-SD700DT and NV-SB360DT Gorilla navigation units, especially the improved map drawing performance and ability to play music or display one-segment TV broadcasts at the same time that the navigation function is operating. Mr. Tanaka acknowledged that without the high performance capabilities of SH-Mobile R2 chips, the Gorilla products could not provide these very desirable features. Moreover, the enhanced application processors also help improve the responsiveness of the navigation units' user interface, allowing functions such as high-speed scrolling for easier operation.

Built into the SH-Mobile R2 is the VPU5 (Video Processing Unit 5) high-performance graphics processing IP that the Sanyo engineering team used to implement one-segment TV support. The VPU5 supports VC-1 decoding and also encoding and decoding of both the MPEG-4 protocol and the H.264 protocol used in terrestrial digital TV broadcasts. It also includes an expanded edge-enhancement function that improves image quality by compensating for degradation when QVGA images are enlarged for display on VGA or WVGA screens. Another advantage is that the application processor's SD card memory interface supports functions for the CPRM copyright protection standard. This feature simplified implementation of the recording and playback functions for terrestrial digital broadcasts.

Sanyo obtained an additional benefit by using of the SH-Mobile R2: reduced circuit board size. "Because the SH-Mobile R2 integrates more peripheral functions than previous chips, we were able to shrink the size of the circuit board in the latest Gorilla products, saving cost and easing packaging efforts. On our production line, we are applying high-density mounting technology developed for mobile phones," said Mr. Tanaka.

One more important benefit of using the SH-Mobile R2 chip is that it the chip's reduced power consumption allowed Sanyo to use a smaller-size battery. Despite having a processor with a faster 400MHz speed, the NV-SD700DT and NV-SB360DT Gorilla products still provide the same four hours of continuous viewing time for one-segment TV, as did the previous models.

Hardware is only part of the Gorilla product development story. Software takes up the largest part of the development workload for portable navigation systems. Here, Sanyo values the extensive support resources that Renesas provides for chips in the SuperH family, finding them to be very helpful. "We have already put together a standard system development platform that extends from vehicle-mounted to portable navigation system designs. This allows up to achieve short development times by sharing and repurposing previously developed software resources," said Mr. Tanaka.

Sanyo's development time for Gorilla models like the NV-SD700DT and NV-SB360DT is around nine months. "Besides being able to reuse software that has already been tested, we have discovered that when we use SH-Mobile chips it's easy to port graphics, too. That capability derives from the fact that these Renesas microcomputers come from the same family of chips as the SH-Navi devices used in vehicle-mounted navigation systems. And because the SH-Mobile R2 has a built-in graphics accelerator, it provides better response than previous-generation chips, even if all we do is port an application to a new navigation product without making any changes," explained Mr. Tanaka.

In the future, Sanyo expects that resources developed for portable navigation will also be ported back to vehicle-mounted navigation systems. This is just another one of the benefits of sharing a common system development platform.

When Sanyo was developing the NV-SD700DT and NV-SB360DT, the company's engineers communicated frequently with Renesas about the features and performance they needed in a new application processor. Engineers at Renesas took this information into account when developing the SH-Mobile R2 device.

"Renesas was quick to meet our particular needs, such as integrating an A/D converter for the touch panel and adding a second SD card interface port. We also benefitted from the chip's short development time, which was due in part to the fact that the SH-Mobile R2 is based on an SH-Mobile chip used in mobile phones. Only by having advanced processors available in a timely manner can we rapidly produce the variations of Gorilla products needed to successfully address new market opportunities," Mr. Tanaka stated.

Speaking about his hopes for Renesas, Mr. Tanaka commented that was that Sanyo "looks forward to the continuation of this very speedy approach to microcomputer development and anticipates support and product enhancements aimed at facilitating moves into overseas markets." The aim of Renesas is aligned with Mr. Tanaka's vision, as we work to ensure that the processors in the SH-Mobile R series contribute to the growth of the global portable navigation market long into the future.