Scott Anderson
Renesas’s System Can Augment Reality
Among the next big things in automotive technology is “augmented reality.” For example, systems that transmit translucent images on the infotainment screens—or perhaps one day on windshields—to indicate a destination, a friend calling, or an appointment reminder from your calendar. But before augmented reality enters true reality, systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) will need more powerful platforms.
Renesas Electronics Corp. (am.renesas.com) and Renesas Mobile Corp. (renesasmobile.com) have introduced a new auto-focused SoC: the R-Car H2. This SoC is powerful enough to support 3D graphics for sophisticated multimedia, navigation systems, and real-time image processing to support augmented reality applications, the chipmakers note. Powered by an ARM Cortex A-15 quad-core architecture that also runs another a 7 ARM Cortex quad core, the hardware, Renesas says, supports things like HD 1080p video processing including Blu-Ray support at 60 frames per second, image and voice recognition, and high-resolution 3D graphics with “almost no CPU load.”
The R-Car H2 also features the Imagination Technologies PowerVR Series6 G6400 Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), which is the first global application of the GPU into an automotive SoC, making 3D graphics possible in the R-Car series, according to Renesas. R-Car H2 also supports up to four independent input camera channels for 360º camera views and image recognition to improve driver assistance functions.
“First generation R-Car series products are well accepted in the car infotainment market,” says Ryuji Omura, executive manager at Renesas Electronics. “To cover various customer demands, [the] second generation of R-Car, such as R-Car H2, aimed at the further expansion of ecosystem with a number of our partners including embedded OS, middleware and Tool vendors.”