Product category:
Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
News Release from: Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe | Subject: MB86R01 Jade
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 27 February 2008
Graphics controller sports automotive
display
Instrument panel has one large central mechanical gauge with all the other instruments rendered graphically by Jade and projected onto the LCD.
Fujitsu's MB86R01 graphics controller, codenamed Jade, plays a crucial role in enabling a state-of-the-art instrument panel in the futuristic Artega GT sports car Artega is not only the name of the car but also of the company, set up by Klaus Dieter Frers, CEO of Paragon
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 16 Feb 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Jasmine controls automotive dashboard displays
New from Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe, the Jasmine graphic display controller is a successor to the MB87J2120 Lavender, announced at Electronica.
Leo aims at European navigation applications
Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe is releasing its Leo FR-V (Fujitsu RISC-VLIW) chip, based on the FR-V architecture announced last year.
The idea was to design a sports car for the future that is able to take advantage of the latest technologies without any of the brand expectations and history that can restrict well-known and established manufacturers.
The entire car is crammed with technological advances, with a reconfigurable LCD instrument panel using FME's Jade graphics controller.
The instrument panel consists of a high-resolution, illuminated 10.2in 800 x 480 pixel colour display and a digitally controlled dual-pointer analogue instrument with a high-quality metal clock face acquired from the luxury watch segment.
Further reading
Flash programs into microcontrollers
Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe and UNIS have introduced the Flash-kit programmer, a high-speed, in-system programming solution for all Fujitsu Flash microcontroller families.
Low-power dual PLL frequency synthesisers
A new series of dual phase-locked loop (PLL) frequency synthesisers designed by Fujitsu feature extremely low power consumption, fast lock times and ultrasmall packaging.
Next generation terrestrial DVB demodulator
The next generation single-chip COFDM DVB-T compliant demodulator, developed by Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe is now available in volume quantities.
This displays engine speed and road speed on one axis and is a patented world first.
There is a trend developing in the automotive industry to move away from the mechanical pointers and gauges that we are all accustomed to in favour of graphical representations of these shown on LCDs.
It has been found, however, that while appreciating the benefits that this new technology has to offer, drivers still prefer a traditional look and familiar layout.
In the Artega GT, the instrument panel has one large central mechanical gauge with all the other instruments rendered graphically by Jade and projected onto the LCD.
This requires a controller able to produce sophisticated 3D graphics - right down to the shading around instruments - to make them look like a mechanical gauge.
This is a typical application for Jade.
As an SoC, Jade is not just a graphics controller, it also contains the ARM9 CPU, a fully synthesisable processor with a Jazelle technology (Java Acceleration) enhanced 32bit RISC CPU, 16Kbyte instruction cache, 16Kbyte data cache, 16Kbyte ITCM, 16Kbyte DTCM and a memory management unit (MMU).
In reality this makes Jade a single-chip graphical su-system, which can be controlled externally just by sending it information, for example, display the oil gauge with value x, y, z.
This single-chip unit can calculate all the necessary information, produce the graphics and feed the display.
The result is an impressively realistic "mechanical-look" instrument panel that can be configured to meet individual customer specifications.
Introduced in 2007, Jade was the first device in a new family of graphics controllers aimed at high-end embedded automotive graphics applications and the first Fujitsu SoC to integrate the powerful 32bit ARM926EJ-S CPU core with the company's successful Coral PA graphics processor.
Based on Fujitsu's proprietary 90nm CMOS process technology, Jade is optimised for applications requiring high CPU performance combined with sophisticated 2D/3D graphics features.
Target applications include onboard and mobile navigation systems, graphical dashboard systems, HUD (head up display) units, rear seat entertainment, point-of-sale terminals and industrial control panels.
Fujitsu's Coral PA processor provides sophisticated features for embedded graphics applications, such as in-car infotainment systems, which require more display and rendering functions.
These features include a rendering engine for 2D/3D graphic acceleration functions, a geometry processor supporting floating point transformations for smooth graphics animation and a dual-display capability (two RGB digital outputs) that enables independent contents to be shown on two connected screens.
Packaged in a 484-pin BGA, the device requires a supply voltage of 3.3V (I/O), 1.8V (DDR2), 1.2V (internal) and is designed to operate over a temperature range of -40 to +85C.
Further features include an ETM9 (medium) and JTAG ICE interface, eight-channel DMA and 32bit timers.
Core frequency is 320MHz (generated by on-chip PLL).
onboard peripherals include a unified DDR2 memory interface supporting 320Mbit/s (up to 128Mbyte), a parallel flash/SRAM host interface with decryption engine, parallel ATA, SD-Card, CAN, Media LB, USB 2.0 (Host and Function), ADC, DAC, I2C, I2S, PWM, SPI, UART, GPIO and an external interrupt.
Display resolutions from 320 x 240 up to 1024 x 768 are supported.
For application development support and functional evaluation, a number of evaluation boards are available from Fujitsu, together with a stand-alone starter kit for all graphics controllers, which enable the evaluation of the features and application building.
Source code for various application examples, application notes and the Fujitsu Graphics API is included. Request a free brochure from Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe ...
• Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Electronicstalk email newsletter
• Electronicstalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
