Advanced Graphics in Automotive Instrument Clusters · TM Freescale, the Freescale logo, AltiVec, C-5, CodeTEST, CodeWarrior, ColdFire, C-Ware, mobileGT, PowerQUICC, StarCore, and

TMFreescale, the Freescale logo, AltiVec, C-5, CodeTEST, CodeWarrior, ColdFire, C-Ware, mobileGT, PowerQUICC, StarCore, and Symphony are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. BeeKit, BeeStack, CoreNet, the Energy Efficient Solutions logo, Flexis, MXC, Platform in a Package, Processor Expert, QorIQ, QUICC Engine, SMARTMOS, TurboLinkand VortiQa are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. © 2010 Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.

Advanced Graphics in Automotive Instrument Clusters

June, 2010

Michael StaudenmaierAutomotive Systems Engineer

FTF-AUT-F0674


Session Introduction

►Market Trend• Yesterday: electromechanical instrument clusters• Now/Future: focus on graphical displays

►New Challenges• Graphical expectations are driven from consumer world• Automotive Quality / Safety

►Presentation Provides an Overview of• Techniques employed to tackle challenges• Evolving tool support• Outlook where the journey might lead

2


Session Objectives

►After completing this session you will have an overview over: • Market segmentation into use cases• Key features of the applied graphic technologies• Design flow applied today• Potential evolution in the future

3

TMFreescale, the Freescale logo, AltiVec, C-5, CodeTEST, CodeWarrior, ColdFire, C-Ware, mobileGT, PowerQUICC, StarCore, and Symphony are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. BeeKit, BeeStack, CoreNet, the Energy Efficient Solutions logo, Flexis, MXC, Platform in a Package, Processor Expert, QorIQ, QUICC Engine, SMARTMOS, TurboLinkand VortiQa are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. © 2010 Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. 44

Agenda

►Overview of Instrument Cluster Evolution

►Use Cases

►Graphic Technology Overview

►Development Flows

►Outlook

►Demo


Overview

10 years ago

3 years ago

today

Audi A4 2009

Ford Focus 1999

Jaguar 2011


Overview

►New dimension of complexity to the instrument clusters• Arouses expectations from the compute area • Requires high performance graphic• Collides with limitations on embedded platforms: performance, memory• Imposes automotive specific requirements like safety to graphic

6


Use Case

►Center Add-On Display• Shows additional info

Fuel consumptionTemperatureTurn-by-turn navigationInfotainmentConfiguration

• Small displays~4 inches~272 x 480 pixelsPortrait orientation

Audi A4 2009


Use Case

►Two Displays with Central Gauge• Shows mandatory and optional info

GearEngine temperatureFuel levelEconomy displayAcceleration

• 2 large displays~800 x 600 pixels

• Configurable• Upcoming trend

Ford Fusion Hybrid


Use Case

►Fully Configurable Cluster• Big display

~1600 x 480 pixels~12 inches

• High animation frequency• High-end segment

Jaguar 2011


Use Case

►Head-up Display• In combination with TFT• Medium resolution

<= 640 x 480 pixels• Low animation frequency• Requires warping

Source: Wikipedia BMW 5 series


Techniques

►Requirements• Screen Resolutions

11

800 x 600 800 x 600

1600 x 480240 x 320 1000

0

500

KPixelsVary by factor 12.6!


Techniques

12

►Requirements• Screen Resolutions

►Summing up:

Animation Complexity

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

240x320 10fps 2* 800x600 30fps 1600x480 120fps

MPi

xels

MPixels Handled

Complexity varies by factor 120!


Techniques – Raster Graphic

319

239

0/0

319

239

0/0copy

319

239

0/0

scale

319

239

0/0

rotate

Fixed resolution



3190/0

239

3190/0

239

3190/0

239

BlendSRC Over



►Raster Graphic Processor• Executes graphic operation memory to memory• Requires additional memory• Fully flexible• Animation frequency depends on scene complexity• No standard API, but similar functionality

►Direct Blitting Engine (Sprite Engine)• Display controller assembling final image at runtime• Memory efficient• Fast animation frequency• Limited Flexibility• No standard API• Cost efficient

15


Techniques – Vector Graphic

►Vector graphics are drawn and stored as mathematical vector formulae►Each vector and fill is assigned color value, instead

of assigning color to each separate pixel►A black circle can be represented as:

• x = r cos θy = r sin θ

or: • x2 + y2 = r2• With color value 0000 for black

16

►Benefits• Infinitely zoomable• Independent of screen resolution• Saves data memory


Fill

A fill can be applied to any area within a path. Fills can be single blocks of color, gradients, patterns or images (raster or vector).

Colored fill Gradient fill Patterned fill

Techniques – Vector GraphicPath (Open path; Closed path)

The path is the basis for all vector objects. A path is made up of one or more line segments connected by two or more anchor points. Paths can be made from a combination of straight lines and curves, each of which may be made up of many connecting points. Paths can be open or closed. An open path is one with unconnected end points, while a closed path is one whose start and end points meet.

Open paths (anchor points and line segments shown in blue)

Closed paths (anchor points and line segments shown in blue)

Bézier curve (Curve)

A curved segment of a path is known as a Bézier curve (after French mathematician Pierre Bézier). Bézier curves are defined by mathematical equations - essentially, the coordinates of a curve can be calculated and drawn by knowing the position of two end points and two control points.


Techniques – Vector Graphic

►Vector Graphic Processor• Supported by various Freescale products

i.MX35i.MX51i.MX53

• Handles geometry and pixel processing=> Offloads the main core

• Allows resolution independent HMI• Standard API available• Supported by various graphic design tools


Techniques – OpenGL

3D Model

Texture

3DRendering


►3D Rendering Processor • Supported by various Freescale products

i.MX51i.MX53

• Handles geometry and pixel processing=> Offloads the main core

• Open Standard API availableFixed rendering pipeline OpenGL ES 1.1Programmable shaders OpenGL ES 2.0

• Good design tool support available• Standard fully accepted in the market

20


Techniques – OpenVG vs. OpenGL

►OpenGL API does not support curves

►Shape has first to be “tesselated” into triangles in software

►Performance impact

►Result is not scalable

21


OpenVG vs. OpenGL

► Ideal for:• Lines, curves, textures• Blurring, blending,transformation• Acceleration of Flash, SVG, etc.• Webbrowsers• GUI• 2.5D Navigation

►Not ideal for:• True 3D (depth component)• Photorealistic images

► Ideal for:• Manipulating objects

in 3D space• Lighting• Shading• 3D Games• True 3D Navigation• Photorealistic images

►Not ideal for:• Lines & curves• Fonts• GUI

OpenVG OpenGL


Freescale Graphic Controller RoadmapA

pplic

atio

n P

erfo

rman

ce /

Inte

grat

ion

2009 2010 2011

MPC5121eE300 @ 400MHz

OpenGL ES1.1 AcceleratorUp to XGA display

External Flash & DRAM i/f400 BGA

i.MX35GARM1136JF-S CPU @ 400MHz

Open VG 1.1 2D Graphics AcceleratorIp to SVGA display

External Flash & DRAM i/f400 BGA

Sin

gle

Chi

p In

stru

men

t Clu

ster

Hig

h E

ndM

ultim

edia

MC

U’s

Z0h CPU @ 64MHzDCU on 1MB & 768KUp to 160KB GRAM

Stepper Motor, LCD drive144 / 176 pin

MPC560xS

2D Raster Graphic

2D Vector Graphic

3D GraphicMPC560xS (Spectrum)

- Raster Graphic SupportDisplay Controller supports Sprites

- 16 Layers, 4 overlapping Planes

i.MX35G

- OpenVG 1.1 HW Accelerator- Display Controller with 2 Planes

MPC5121e

- OpenGL ES 1.1 HW Accelerator- Display Controller with 3 Planes

Cortex A8 600MHzOpenVG1.1 & OpenGL2.0 Accel

Up to WXGA displayExternal Flash & DRAM i/f

530 BGA

i.MX51i.MX51

-OpenGL ES 1.1 & 2.0 HW Accelerator- OpenVG 1.1 Hardware Accelerator- Display Controller with 3 Planes


Manual Development Flow

Artistic Design Studio Textual Description of HMI

Hand-written Application

/** HMI application*/

intmain(int argc, char *argv[]){

/* implementation... */

}

►Benefits• Benefit from specific HW features

►Drawbacks• Manual• Usually requires many iterations

+


Semi-Automated Development Flow

Design Studio

conversion

• Tool assisted

• Manual

Animation Sequences

Hand-written Glue Code

/** HMI application*/

intmain(int argc, char *argv[]){

/* implementation... */

}

►Benefits• Pixel accurate description• Less iterations• Some level of automation

►Drawback• Still significant coding work

Animation Sequences(e.g., Adobe FlashTM)


Integrated Development Flow

Main

Info-tainment

Navi

Settings

Radio iPod

Btn_infotBtn_set

Btn_back

Btn_back

HMIDescription

RuntimeEngine

ConsistencyCheck

Documentation

►Benefits• Fully automated flow• Fast turnaround times• Iterations easy• Consistency ensured


Outlook

►Full configurable clusters similar to mechanical solutions

►Attempt to simulate mechanical cluster►Even negative side effects like shadows are considered to be

simulated

27


Advanced Graphics offer Great New Opportunities

►There are huge opportunities not yet exploited• New ways to attract the focus of the driver

Blurring irrelevant informationPositioning critical information at a central positionIncreasing size of critical informationUse color to attract focus

• Better use of the displayDynamic positioning of elementsNew style of elements showing up

• Skins to provide an individual look and feel• Brandings

►New techniques allow to display more complex information in a simpler way

28


Demo

29

Add Demo Video here!


Questions?

TM

Documents

Advanced Graphics in Automotive Instrument Clusters · TM Freescale, the Freescale logo, AltiVec, C-5, CodeTEST, CodeWarrior, ColdFire, C-Ware, mobileGT, PowerQUICC, StarCore, and