Amou Technology Liu Shu: High-performance converged computing IP platform empowers smart car chip innovation

On December 26, the China Integrated Circuit Design Industry 2022 Annual Conference and the Xiamen Integrated Circuit Industry Innovation and Development Summit Forum (ICCAD 2022) opened at the Xiamen International Convention and Exhibition Center. Liu Shu, head of product R&D of ARM Technology (China) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “ARM Technology”) was invited to attend the summit forum and delivered a speech entitled “High-performance Converged Computing IP Platform, Empowering Smart Car Chip Innovation” speech. Liu Shu introduced ARM Technology’s technology accumulation and leading advantages in the field of automotive electronics, as well as promoting the innovation of automotive smart chips by creating a high-performance converged computing IP platform.

Liu Shu, Head of Product R&D of Anmou Technology, delivered a speech

Vehicle architecture is in a cycle of change, and IP is a key part of vehicle-level reliability certification

As the world’s largest single automobile market, the Chinese market accounts for almost one-third of the global automobile market. It is developing rapidly, and the market share of domestic automobile brands is also steadily increasing. This brings great opportunities for the development of the automotive semiconductor industry chain. “In 2021, due to the combination of weak global auto consumption and the epidemic, global auto sales will continue to decline, but the market share of Chinese brand passenger cars will continue to increase, reflecting the strong resilience and endogenous growth momentum of my country’s auto industry. “Liu Shu said.

At the same time, with the continuous acceleration of automobile intelligence, networking, and electrification, smart cars have gradually become the main growth driver in the passenger car market. The number of smart driving functions is increasing, and the amount of information transmission is increasing. It has also evolved from the traditional distributed ECU architecture to the centralized architecture of domain controllers. The change of vehicle architecture has ushered in the challenges of safety, reliability, computing power, scenarios, etc., and the proportion of chips and software is getting higher and higher. Especially with the rise of smart cockpits and autonomous driving concepts, higher requirements are placed on the computing power of automotive chips. In the process of realizing autonomous driving from L2+ to L5, the complexity and scale of data are greatly increased. Smart automotive chips need With stronger computing power and performance to support industrial development, the underlying architecture of the chip and the combination of heterogeneous computing units also urgently need to be upgraded. IP, as the “raw material” of chip design, plays a vital underlying support role for industrial upgrading in emerging fields such as automotive electronics, and is an important part of automotive-level reliability certification.

IP is an important part of automotive level reliability certification

From traditional powertrain control, chassis control and body control, to ADAS/IVI, Arm IP is widely used in various components of the car. According to Liu Shu, since Arm entered the automotive semiconductor field in 1996, 15 first-tier automotive electronics chip developers have adopted Arm technology solutions, accounting for more than 65% of the high-computing automotive chips such as smart cockpits and smart driving. A common architecture for all electronics, supported by a leading ecosystem of tools, enables automakers and suppliers to rapidly innovate hardware and software that will improve safety and the driving experience while reducing energy consumption.

Arm IP is widely used in various components of the car

High-performance converged computing IP platform helps intelligent driving

Liu Shu said that Arm Technology has always been committed to creating local innovations based on global standards, investing heavily in local self-research, and cooperating with Arm IP business development. The company innovatively integrates the self-developed IP product matrix, including “Zhouyi” NPU, “Xingchen” CPU, “Shanhai” SPU, “Linglong” ISP and “Linglong” VPU, and intelligently integrates computing units, combined with the world’s leading Arm technology , build a high-performance integrated computing chip IP platform for smart cars, help domestic auto chip manufacturers to form advantages in artificial intelligence, image processing, information security, smart driving platform construction, etc., and provide underlying technical support for the development of domestic smart driving technology.

Anmou Technology’s high-performance fusion computing chip IP platform architecture

Among them, the “Zhouyi” NPU self-developed by Anmou Technology is the core computing unit of AI computing power, with a computing power of up to 320TOPS, and can expand computing power through parallel architecture. The complete and mature tool chain and software and hardware ecology meet the requirements of the entire vehicle Intelligent computing needs, covering computing power and performance index requirements from smart cockpit, ADAS to high-level automatic driving; the main computing unit built into the platform is the Arm Cortex-A78AE CPU processor, and the self-developed “Star” STAR-MC2 processor meets ASIL -D functional safety standard, which can provide powerful general-purpose computing and processing capabilities; in terms of image and video data processing, the self-developed “Linglong” ISP can provide guarantee for the data perception required for autonomous driving, and cooperate with the multiple high-definition video of “Linglong” VPU The codec, as well as the powerful 2D and 3D graphics computing and rendering capabilities of the Arm Mali-G78AE car-grade GPU, as well as its outstanding hardware virtualization features, can provide support for more complex image data fusion calculations.

Safety is the core and foundation of the sustainable development of smart cars. In terms of security, all computing units, interconnection mechanisms, and architectures of the platform have completed vehicle-level verification based on the ISO26262 functional safety standard. The CCA trusted computing of the Arm v9 architecture can ensure data security, and the “Star” CPU and “Shanhai” SPU further provide The vehicle safety mechanism provides support. In addition, ARM Technology also provides corresponding functional safety packages and software tools to help partners in the design and safety assessment of automotive products.

At present, a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is booming, and smart cars have become the strategic direction of the transformation of the automobile industry. Liu Shu said that as the largest chip design IP development and service provider in China, Arm Technology has always focused on the domestic industry’s demand for core technologies, increased investment in the automotive field, relied on the technological innovation of the local self-developed product matrix, combined with Arm’s leading With its ecological resources and technological advantages, it creates an IP platform for high-performance integrated computing chips, accelerates the rapid implementation of domestic smart car chip products, and the collaborative construction of upstream and downstream industries.