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MIPI Alliance Releases A-PHY SerDes Interface for Automotive

Sept. 15, 2020

First industry-standard asymmetric long-reach physical layer interface enables ADAS, IVI, and other surround-sensor applications; A-PHY v1.0 forms foundation of comprehensive MIPI automotive SerDes implementations.

David Maliniak

Related To: MIPI Alliance

The MIPI Alliance has released its MIPI A-PHY v1.0, said to be the first industry-standard, long-reach serializer-deserializer (SerDes) physical layer interface. The new specification, available to MIPI members, provides an asymmetric data link in a point-to-point topology, providing high-speed unidirectional data, embedded bidirectional control data and optional power delivery over a single cable.

A-PHY v1.0 offers:

High reliability: Ultra-low packet error rate (PER) of 10^-19 for unprecedented performance over the vehicle lifetime
High resiliency: Ultra-high immunity to EMC effects in demanding automotive conditions
Long reach: Up to 15 meters
High performance: Data rate as high as 16 Gb/s with a roadmap to 48 Gb/s and beyond; v1.1, already in development, will provide a doubling of the high-speed data rate to 32 Gb/s and increase the uplink data rate to 200 Mb/s

In conjunction with the availability of A-PHY v1.0, the Alliance today introduced MIPI Automotive SerDes Solutions (MASS). MASS will provide automotive OEMs and their suppliers with end-to-end high-performance connectivity solutions for the growing number of cameras, sensors, and displays that enable automotive applications such as advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), connected in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), and, ultimately, fully autonomous vehicles. These solutions, with unprecedented functional safety and security built in at the protocol level, will help automakers integrate new and emerging safety features such as low-latency backup cameras, lane-keeping and sign-detection sensors and 360° camera, LiDAR, and radar systems. MASS also will support multiple high-resolution instrumentation, control and entertainment displays.

MASS protocol stack

As the physical layer cornerstone, A-PHY's primary mission is to transfer high-speed data between cameras and displays and their related domain ECUs. Through the development of additional supporting specifications, MASS will allow proven higher-layer protocols from MIPI (such as MIPI CSI-2 and DSI-2) and third parties to operate over physical links spanning an entire vehicle, eliminating the need for proprietary “bridges” and PHYs. For OEMs and system integrators this equates to simplified networks and reduced costs, weight and development time.

With A-PHY as the physical layer, the MASS protocol stack consists of:

Higher-layer protocols such as MIPI CSI-2 and DSI-2, with updated versions to be available later this year and early 2021.
Protocol adaptation layers (PALs) that map protocols to A-PHY's A-Packet format for transmission over A-PHY. PALs for MIPI CSI-2 and DSI-2, and for lower bandwidth interfaces such as I²C, I²S, GPIO, and Ethernet100, are expected to be completed later this year, and an I3C PAL can be expected in 2021. In addition, MIPI is working with other organizations to leverage additional established protocols. As one such effort, MIPI has extended its liaison with VESA and is actively developing an adaptation layer for use with its DisplayPort and Embedded DisplayPort standards.
MIPI camera service extensions (CSE) and display service extensions (DSE) in development will add functional safety and security capabilities required for ADAS, self-driving and other applications, and will also provide high-bandwidth digital content protection (HDCP) as required for display applications.

MASS will address functional safety over heterogeneous protocols and numerous topologies, including daisy chaining, according to ISO 26262. System-level engineers can use this architecture to build systems that meet ASIL (Automotive Safety Integrity Level) requirements at any level, from ASIL B to ASIL D. MASS also will provide end-to-end security to include authentication, integrity and confidentiality for data protection of MASS camera, sensor and display components.

MIPI member companies participating in the A-PHY Subgroup include: Beijing ASL Technology Co., Ltd.; BitifEye Digital Test Solutions GmbH; Intel Corporation; Luxshare-ICT, Inc.; MediaTek Inc.; Mixel, Inc.; ON Semiconductor; Parade Technologies Ltd.; Primesoc Technologies; Prodigy Technovations Pvt. Ltd.; Qualcomm Incorporated; Robert Bosch GmbH; Sony Corporation; STMicroelectronics; Synopsys, Inc.; Tektronix, Inc.; Teledyne LeCroy; Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation; Valens Semiconductor; and others.

MIPI Alliance, www.mipi.org

About the Author

David Maliniak | Executive Editor, Microwaves & RF

I am Executive Editor of Microwaves & RF, an all-digital publication that broadly covers all aspects of wireless communications. More particularly, we're keeping a close eye on technologies in the consumer-oriented 5G, 6G, IoT, M2M, and V2X markets, in which much of the wireless market's growth will occur in this decade and beyond. I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, developers, and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

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About me:

In his long career in the B2B electronics-industry media, David Maliniak has held editorial roles as both generalist and specialist. As Components Editor and, later, as Editor in Chief of EE Product News, David gained breadth of experience in covering the industry at large. In serving as EDA/Test and Measurement Technology Editor at Electronic Design, he developed deep insight into those complex areas of technology. Most recently, David worked in technical marketing communications at Teledyne LeCroy, leaving to rejoin the EOEM B2B publishing world in January 2020. David earned a B.A. in journalism at New York University.