Renesas Unveils AHL Technology for Cameras in Vehicles
Renesas Electronics has launched its new Automotive HD Link (AHL) technology that enables automotive manufacturers to deliver high-definition video over low-cost cables and connectors that currently support standard-definition video.
HD video is an increasingly important in-car safety system for object recognition functionality.
“Advanced safety systems are no longer only available in luxury vehicles,” said Niall Lyne, Vice President of the Automotive Analog Power and Video Business Division at Renesas. “The AHL system enables our automotive customers to now deliver these features in all new vehicles, including economy models.”
Renesas is a leader in the Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS) market, and AHL can be paired with other Renesas products, such as the R-Car Automotive SoCs, RH850 MCUs, automotive PMICs, and analog components to cost-effectively implement numerous safety features in virtually any vehicle.
The new RAA279971 AHL encoder and RAA279972 decoder use a modulated analog signal to transmit the video, enabling transmission rates 10 times less than required to transmit HD signals digitally.
AHL is robust against noise and has a bi-directional control channel that operates independent of the video data and can initialize, program, and monitor the camera module. A key AHL performance and cost-reducing feature is the ability to control the camera simultaneously over the same pair of wires (UTP) during video transmission.
Another safety benefit of AHL is its performance in comparison to a digital link. In a rearview camera application, a digital link will degrade due to a failure in the cable harness or connector assembly, as weak signals can cause macroblocks to appear, hiding large portions of the viewing area.
Key Features of AHL
- Supports resolutions from VGA up to 720p/60 or 1080p/30 for flexibility to implement non-standard vertical resolutions (not just the TV video standard 16:9 resolutions)
- MIPI-CSI2, BT656, & DVP inputs and outputs provide a flexible interface to support old and new image sensors
- Requires only 27MHz crystal clock, with internal PLLs able to generate the necessary clock frequencies for higher resolutions
