芯片业者想“上车”可没这么简单！

一开始为智能手机设计的应用程序处理器现在已经被许多数字电视所采用，这已经不是秘密；随着智能手机应用处理器越来越普遍且性能强大，原产自智能手机的技术也不可避免地涉足至其他不同市场领域，包括机器对机器通讯(M2M)、医疗甚至汽车。 随着全世界开始把连网汽车形容为“四个轮子的智能手机”大肆吹捧(其实也就是为车用信息娱乐系统打造的调制解调器芯片与应用处理器)，车用领域也为芯片供货商带来了独特的挑战。笔者先前有一篇文章提到了高通(Qualcomm)开始供应车规 LTE 芯片(参考原文)，指出因为越来越多汽车厂商开始关注消费性电子技术，也让各家芯片厂商竞相将主要针对消费性电子设备开发的方案，升级成车规。

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高通身为全球最大智能手机芯片供货商，应该是最适合回答我称之为“车规难题”的人选；为何说是“难题”？因为要将原本为智能手机所设计的技术移植到汽车 应用，确实是很大的挑战，特别对那些没有车规芯片设计经验的公司(包括高通)来说。这家智能手机芯片大厂想进军汽车应用，需要先克服三个挑战： 1. 确保自家芯片的可靠性(符合汽车应用需求)； 2. 采用先进(且具备某种程度的成熟度)技术； 3. 为汽车业者寻找最经济的解决方案。 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 第2页：高通的“双管齐下”策略 第3页：车规LTE芯片验证难题

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{pagination} 高通的“双管齐下”策略 高通产品管理副总裁Nakul Duggal稍早前接受 EE Times美国版编辑电话采访时强调，该公司正针对汽车应用市场采取“双管齐下”的策略，一边进行车规骁龙(Snapdragon)应用处理器的设计，一边与第三方合作伙伴连手打造采用高通消费性调制解调器芯片的车规等级车用信息娱乐系统(telematic)模块。 针对进军汽车中控台(也就是车用信息娱乐系统应用)的芯片，高通致力于将自己的地位由第三线汽车零组件供货商，升级为第二线。在1月的国际消费性电子展 (CES)上，高通宣布将在今年底推出该公司首款车规 Snapdragon 应用处理器，且将进驻2016年上市的新款汽车。 Duggal表示，这些日子以来，市面上的应用处理器在“面积仅10x10mm大小的单芯片上整合了大量技术”；为了成为第二线的汽车应用处理器供货商，高通的任务重点是控管每一个进驻该单芯片的技术，确保各个功能区块是可靠的、且符合车规。 应 用处理器设计业者已经采用先进制程节点，因此芯片的功耗较低；此外这些业者也寻求采用先进内存技术，以支持更高带宽、更高速度以及更高组件性能。但 Duggal指出：“以 LPDDR4 为例，这种最先进的移动内存技术在智能手机上也是刚刚才开始应用。”所以LPDDR4 能用在今日的车规应用处理器吗？他的回答是“还不可行”。 智能手机应用处理器的生命周期比汽车短得多，并以非常先进的技术 为基础茁壮成长；要将之移植到汽车上，高通需要衡量可靠性因素。汽车产业希望尽可能跟上智能手机内的先进技术演进步伐，但包括高通在内的芯片业者要确认 的是，应用在智能手机内的最先进、最强大技术，是否在良率可靠度上“够成熟”，可做为车规解决方案。 至于车用信息娱乐系统应用的调制解调器芯片，Duggal指出，模块化解决方案是一条可行之路；他坦承：“我们已经在内部广泛讨论过这个问题。”也就是到底高通该不该自己设计车规LTE芯片，而不是仰赖第三方合作伙伴将高通的芯片应用包模块里、再取得车规。 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 第3页：车规LTE芯片验证难题

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{pagination} 车规LTE芯片验证难题 要打造车规LTE芯片(不是模块)，会面临两个问题：第一，调制解调器芯片必须能支持复杂的品牌以及蜂巢式网络的持续变动，以因应全球电信营运商的需 求；Duggal表示：“六或七年前，只有CDMA与GSM网络，我们只需要支持两种或三种不同频段；当全世界进入 3G 时代，我们需要处理6~10个频段。”而演进至今日的4G LTE (还需要考虑向后兼容)网络：“我们正在讨论的是对51个频段的支持。” 另一个问题是“网络验证”，调制解调器芯片除了要通过车规认证，还需要接受各家电信营运商所设定的严苛验证程序。因此假设你已经有一款车规调制解调器芯片，你该如何确保已经内建该款车规芯片的车辆通过某家电信营运商的网络验证测试？是把整辆车子都送交营运商吗？显然这是一个比营运商对验证手机的要求，更具困难度的后勤支持能力考验。 比较合乎逻辑的是打造一个调制解调器模块──内含基频芯片、电源管理芯片、射频芯片、内存、天线等所有零件──然后让该模块取得车规并接受电信营运商验证；不 过这样高通仍是第三线汽车零组件供货商，而且必须仰仗模块供货商如LG、Sierra Wireless与Gemalto等，接受繁重的蜂巢式网络验证与车规认证。Duggal表示，让一个调制解调器模块和营运商网络“与时俱进”的最佳方式，仍是依赖模块产业生态系统，才能确保长期可靠性。 为了成为二线车规芯片供货商，高通一直很努力，其工作包括为车规芯片选择合适 的制程技术；Duggal指出：“这是一个非常严谨的行动。”不过高通并不是把同样的Snapdragon应用处理器做两种设计，一种给智能手机用、另 一种给汽车用；“因为我们的消费性电子等级Snapdragon系列应用处理器产品种类很多，远超出汽车厂商所需要的。” Duggal进一步表示：“我们的任务是确认汽车产业需求，关注能符合车规的技术性能，并针对能运用汽车市场解决方案做适当的抉择。”但最棘手的部分仍是在对先进技术的强烈需求，以及汽车市场严苛的可靠性规格之间取得平衡点。 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 编译：Judith Cheng 参考英文原文：Qualcomm Answers 'Auto-Grade Dilemma'，by Junko Yoshida

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{pagination} Qualcomm Answers 'Auto-Grade Dilemma' Junko Yoshida, Chief International Correspondent MADISION, Wis. — It's no secret that apps processors originally designed for smartphones are now driving many digital TV sets. As smartphone apps processors get more widespread and powerful, technologies native to smartphones are spilling inevitably into different segments of the market -- from Machine-to-Machine (M2M) to the medical and even automotive fields. As much as the whole world likes to tout the connected car as analogous to smartphones (a modem chip for telematics and an apps processor for infotainment), automotive presents unique challenges to chip suppliers. I recently wrote a story entitled Qualcomm LTE IC Makes (Auto-) Grade, But Only in Module. The story was about a growing trend among car OEMs embracing consumer technologies. Its essence was to investigate how various chip vendors are scrambling to get their predominantly consumer technology solutions "automotive qualified." Qualcomm, the world's largest supplier of smartphone chips, is ideally positioned to answer what I call the "auto-grade dilemma." It's a dilemma because moving technologies originally designed for smartphones to automotive use is a big challenge -- especially for a company (Qualcomm) without background designing auto-grade chips from the ground up. The shift requires the smartphone chip giant to juggle three competing needs: 1) ensuring the reliability of its chips (for automotive use); 2) using advanced (and yet somewhat mature) technology; 3) finding the most economical solutions for car OEMs. Two-pronged approach In a phone interview with EE Times last week, Nakul Duggal, vice president of product management for Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., stressed that the company is taking a two-pronged approach to automotive: designing automotive-qualified chips for Snapdragon applications processors for cars; and working with third-party vendors to build auto-grade telematics modules that incorporate Qualcomm's consumer modem chips. For chips that go inside the center stack of a car (for infotainment applications), Qualcomm is committed to upgrading the company's status from a Tier-3 to Tier-2 supplier of auto-qualified parts. As announced at the International CES last month, Qualcomm is rolling out the company's first auto-grade Snapdragon apps processor by the end of this year, which will go inside 2016 model cars. Apps processors these days integrate "a lot of technologies on the same die as small as 10x10 mm," explained Duggal. To be a Tier-2 company for apps processor is important so that Qualcomm can control every technology crammed into the SoC, making sure each block is reliable and automotive qualified. Apps processor designers leverage the advanced process node so that their chips consume less power. They also look to use advanced memory technologies, to enable higher bandwidth, faster speed and higher performance for their devices. "But take an example of LPDDR4," said Duggal. The low-power double-data rate 4 (LPDDR4) is the cutting-edge mobile DRAM technology about to surface for smartphones. Could LPDDR4 be used in auto-qualified apps processors today? Duggal answered, "It's not feasible yet." Apps processors for smartphone, whose life cycle is much shorter than cars, thrive on building on a very advanced technology. But to spin that to cars, Qualcomm needs to weigh the reliability factor. The automotive industry hopes to stay as close as possible to the pace of advanced technologies used inside smartphones. But chip vendors like Qualcomm must figure out if the latest and greatest technologies used in smartphones are "mature enough" to yield reliability for automotive qualified solutions. In contrast, for modem chip sets used in telematics, the module-based approach is the way to go, according to Duggal. He acknowledged, "We've had extensive discussions on this internally." The question was whether Qualcomm should design an auto-grade LTE chip set, instead of relying on third-party vendors to package it in a module and get that module auto-grade certified. Submit a car for network certification? There are two problems with making an auto-grade LTE chip set (rather than modules). One, a modem chip set needs to support the complexity of bands and constant changes in cellular networks, in order to respond to operators' requirements -- on the global market. "Six or seven years ago, there were only CDMA and GSM. We only had to support two or three different frequency bands," said Duggal. "When the entire world moved to 3G, we need to handle six to 10 bands." But today with 4G LTE (which needs to be backward compatible), "We are talking about supporting 51 bands." Another problem is "network certification." The chip set needs to be qualified not just to be "auto-grade," but it needs to go through a rigorous certification process set by a cellular network operator. Assume you already have an auto-grade modem chip set. But how would you make sure a car integrated with that particular auto-grade chip set will pass a given cellular operator's network certification test? Submit a whole car to network operators? Obviously, this is an approach that presents far more logistical challenges than what’s demanded by operators for handsets. More logical is to build a modem module -- which includes everything from baseband, power management ICs to RF, memories, and antenna -- and make that module auto-grade. Then, have the module certified by network operators. Under this scenario, Qualcomm remains a Tier-3, and the company must rely on such module vendors as LG, Sierra Wireless and Gemalto to do the heavy lifting required for cellular network and automotive certification. Still, the best way to keep a modem module "very current with an operators' network is to depend on "the module eco-system for the long-term reliability," said Duggal. In its ambition to become a Tier-2 supplier for auto-grade chip sets, Qualcomm has been working hard. The task includes choosing the right process technology for automotive qualified chips. "This is a very serious initiative," said Duggal. Qualcomm, however, is not designing the same Snapdragon apps processor twice -- one for smartphones and another for cars. "Because we have a lot of Snapdragon apps processors in our CE portfolio -- more than what automotive companies need," Duggal said, “our job is to identify the automotive industry's needs, look at technology capabilities that can meet auto-grade, and make appropriate decisions on solutions that can be taken to the automotive market." The tricky part, however, remains the balancing act between the urge to use advanced technology and the discipline to go after the rigorous reliability demanded by automotive market.