Smart Camera for Automotive

Renesas autonomy — Our Open Platform for Sharp Vision

The automotive smart front camera is a unique sensor when it comes to ADAS and Automated Driving. The big difference to other sensor technologies like Radar, Lidar or Ultrasonic is that a smart camera can identify road markings, traffic signs, and traffic lights. Additionally, it can also recognize objects, provide data that facilitates their identification i.e. as cars or pedestrians, detect their motion path, and calculate their distances. This makes the smart camera a sensor that enables – under good visibility - features like automated emergency braking or provides the information necessary for automatic car steering.

Thus, front cameras play an important role for carmakers in complying with NCAP (New Car Assessment Program) standards, which are instrumental in reducing accidents with other traffic participants i.e. vehicles and pedestrians.

Smart cameras are expected to be used in high volume in future cars, which implies that they should be available at a low cost.

The challenges for a front camera include requirements for high-performance computer vision and high level of functional safety, moreover, at low power consumption. The latter is a stringent requirement, as the small smart camera housing, including the sensor itself and the SoC is mounted next to the windshield. At this position, the camera is exposed to direct sunlight, which raises the temperature in addition to the heat being generated by the components themselves. Therefore, the power dissipation by the components of the smart camera has to be as less as possible.

V3M and V3H SoC's, Innovative Solutions for NCAP Smart Cameras

High Level of Integration

The V3M and V3H come with an integrated ISP (Image Signal Processor) that enhances the quality of the raw image from the camera sensor and makes it thereby ready for machine vision. The integration eliminates the need for an external ISP component in the front camera or in the sensor itself. The system has a single DDR3L memory channel, which reduces the cost for memory components compared to other solutions for front cameras.

The V3M integrates a dual Cortex A53 and V3H a quad Cortex A53 for the application software and both have Cortex R7 Lockstep cores to run AUTOSAR.

This reasoned architecture reduces the need for external components and keeps the bill-of-material to a minimum, still offering high performance and ensuring safety at all times.