THE HANSEN REPORT ON AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS. A Business and Technology Newsletter

VOL. 19, NO. 10◆◆ PORTSMOUTH, NH USA DEC. 2006/JAN. 2007 Cost of Radar Is Hughes Telematics Makes Going Down Business Case First OEM Customer: Chrysler developed embedded equipment platform. “A big part of making the business case Knee-deep in a program to deliver an work for telematics is the cost of the em- SiGe Sensors by 2008 end-to-end solution for the Chrysler bedded equipment itself,” noted Erik Most innovation in automotive elec- Group by the 2010 model year, Erik Goldman. “The platform—including a tronics comes from the semiconductor Goldman, president of Hughes Telematics fairly powerful ARM processor, quite a bit industry. Improvements in silicon germa- Inc., thinks the time is finally ripe for of memory, GPS, a communications mod- nium (SiGe) technology will soon lead to telematics. “I’ve been watching the ule, CAN interface to vehicle buses, and radar sensors that are significantly more telematics space since the 1990s. I’ve seen possibly a Linux operating system—will affordable than sensors made using gal- it rise. I’ve seen it fall. I’m very familiar set a new pricing standard.” Mr. Goldman lium arsenide (GaAs), which is what they with some of the strengths and weaknesses indicated that the embedded platform will replace. GaAs semiconductors are far of the historical model. There’s a unique could cost less than $100 to OEMs, espe- more difficult to build than those made opportunity with the resources we have cially if it is employed as a standard fea- from SiGe. through Apollo Management, the re- ture across all the OEM’s vehicle lines. What’s remarkable about silicon ger- sources we have through Hughes Com- HTI aims to make its margins on the manium is that semiconductors made us- munications, the progress that OnStar telematics services it provides and plans to ing the material can be produced on the has made, and the real efficiencies that charge as little as possible for the embed- same lines, using the same processes, as technology can now deliver,” said Mr. ded equipment. In contrast, the embedded those used to make silicon integrated cir- Goldman from the company’s headquar- platform ATX uses in Mercedes vehicles cuits, and they function very well at fre- ters in Atlanta, Georgia. is produced by Continental, so the quencies that are way too high for silicon. Hughes Telematics is majority-owned supplier’s margin must be included in the In June 2006 a research team from IBM by Apollo Management, a private equity hardware price. (Continental also will and Georgia Institute of Technology dem- firm with $27 billion of capital under supply the hardware for the recently an- onstrated a SiGe transistor operating at management. In the mid-1990s when it nounced Ford Sync mobile device plat- 500 GHz, a record. The first radar sensors was part of GM, Hughes collaborated in form Ford developed with Microsoft.) made using a SiGe chip set will operate at the development of OnStar. Hughes Telematics had hoped to be 24 GHz, nowhere near the record. They The emergence of Hughes Telematics able to announce its deal with Chrysler in will be used in production vehicles as is the first serious indication that the in- time to make a big splash at the Los An- soon as 2008. dustry might be reawakening since Ford’s geles Auto Show, but the carmaker did The great benefit to the auto industry telematics entry, Wingcast, imploded in not give it the green light until January 5, is that radar sensors made from SiGe will June 2002. Two years later, in March just in time for the North American Inter- eventually cost as little as $20 each, 2004, Wall Street showed little interest national Auto Show in Detroit. Chrysler roughly one-fifth the OE price now paid when telematics service provider ATX has not yet announced which models will for sensors made from GaAs. Radar sen- tried unsuccessfully to launch its IPO. first be equipped with the telematics plat- sors are comprised of an RF (radio fre- ATX and OnStar have been the only form or when the service will be available. quency) front-end, which contributes major telematics service providers in Initially Hughes Telematics will pro- about 50% to the sensor’s cost, and a digi- North America. Much, much bigger than vide voice and data communications via a tal signal processor for computation, per- any other telematics service provider in digital cell phone network to supply basic haps 35% of the cost. The packaging of the world, OnStar says it has well over 4.5 emergency services like crash notification, the sensor and software account for the million subscribers. roadside assistance and stolen vehicle rest. Hughes Telematics Inc. (HTI) believes tracking. That capability would be With the RF part done in SiGe, not it can change the business equation by complemented in the first year by a data only will it be much smaller and cheaper, providing an end-to-end solution that in- downlink, provided by either XM Satellite but some of the circuits that had been cludes a national two-way digital com- Radio or , so the separate can now be integrated on the munications network, telematics service OEM or a dealer could broadcast to all or Turn to Radar, page 2 center and its own in-house designed and Turn to Hughes, page 3 German Carmakers Agree to XML Standard for HMI

At a meeting this past November at will lead to two important benefits. First, that will implement a use case based on DaimlerChrysler facilities in Stuttgart, the cost for software development should the standard. That developer could be Germany, Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, go down. And second, the bigger benefit: Elektrobit Automotive or IAV GmbH, an DaimlerChrysler and Porsche engineers If we have an automatic process for de- automotive engineering firm that’s a joint agreed to accept version 1.0 of a new stan- signing the HMI, creating this XML using venture between Volkswagen (50%), Si- dard they’ve been developing, which will tools, and then integrating the XML into emens VDO (20%) and others. Or one of use XML, the extensible markup language the software using an automatic process, the carmakers in the group could imple- used on the worldwide web, to specify the then we have the possibility to change ment the use case. HMI (human machine interface) require- HMI features very late in projects—by Initially the HMI standard will be used ments of audio and navigation systems. only changing the data, not the underly- to specify audio and navigation systems Further, the standard will also facilitate ing software,” said Mr. Pollex. and eventually it could also be applied to automatic testing of HMI code. Thomas Fleischmann, a project man- the instrument cluster. But that will have Volkswagen expects to be able to re- ager at Elektrobit Automotive, pointed to wait a few years until clusters have lease its first RFQ based on version 1.0 by out another benefit, “With this approach, enough memory and CPU power to the end of 2007. Volkswagen already has HMI development will become indepen- handle the XML software layer. some audio projects underway that use dent from application development, Now that version 1.0 has been agreed this XML process but not version 1.0 that which will help the OEMs establish their to, the HMI standards group is open to the group has developed. brand-specific look and feel.” Elektrobit taking input from engineers beyond Ger- “The benefit of this standard is that Automotive, formerly 3SOFT, has experi- many. “All of our results and our discus- every OEM will have the same interface ence working in an XML-based develop- sions are open to everybody,” said Mr. to its tier one,” declared Alf Pollex, who is ment process. Pollex. “It’s all free. They can look at responsible for HMI concepts, develop- The next step in development of the what we have done. If they want to ment and testing for the Volkswagen standard is to move beyond the paper change something they can make recom- Group. “The HMI framework of a radio specification, which is difficult to under- mendations, which we will consider.” built at Blaupunkt or Visteon will be stand because the XML description is very The specification is available in En- nearly the same regardless of whether it is complex. Some time in January, the stan- glish. For more information please contact for DaimlerChrysler, VW or Audi. That dards group intends to hire a company [email protected]. ◆

Radar... Continued from page 1 same chip, allowing designers to use a less As radar sensors trickle down from the expensive, garden variety DSP device. luxury-car segment to less expensive ve- THE HANSEN REPORT ON Lower cost radar sensors will help spur hicles, M/A-COM, which also makes an AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS significantly higher volume production of RF module used in 77 GHz narrow band advanced safety features such as side ob- long-range sensors for ACC applications, © 2007 Paul Hansen Associates, 150 ject detection and stop-and-go adaptive could be producing as many as several Pinehurst Rd., Portsmouth, NH 03801, cruise control (ACC). hundred thousand short-range and 30,000 USA. Telephone: 603-431-5859. Fax: 603- M/A-COM, a unit of Tyco Electron- or more long-range sensors annually by 431-5791. Email: [email protected]. ics, is likely to be among the world’s lead- 2011. All rights reserved. Materials may not be ing suppliers of radar sensors. M/A-COM Already producing discrete SiGe de- reproduced in any form without written per- presently makes the 24 GHz, short-range vices used in mobile phones, Infineon mission. The Hansen Report on Automotive sensors (six per vehicle) in the Mercedes Technologies has five automotive devel- Electronics is published 10 times a year, S-Class. It also supplies the 24 GHz short- opment projects underway for SiGe radar monthly; July/August and December/Janu- range sensor used in BMW’s stop-and-go transmitter-receiver chip sets. Testing is in ary are combined issues. The annual sub- ACC system, and will possibly supply the process for prototypes that are heading scription rate is $747 (North America), $787 side-object detection sensor used on a toward qualification. Three of Infineon’s (elsewhere). Back issues are available for future Chrysler vehicle. five tier-one development partners are $50 each; see our online index at In probably its biggest deal thus far, from Europe; one is from Japan and one is www.hansenreport.com. Paul Hansen Asso- M/A-COM will supply short-range sensors based in the United States. ciates is a strategy and market research to starting in 2009. M/A- A supplier of SiGe devices primarily firm consulting to the electronics industry. COM will likely make the transition from for use in cell phones, Freescale says it is Publisher/Editor Paul Hansen GaAs to SiGe in production shipments also working on a number of development Managing Editor/ Brianne Wolfe starting in 2008 possibly using chips from contracts with third- or fourth-generation Circulation Manager Atmel Corporation, a silicon foundry SiGe implementations aimed at automo- with headquarters in San Jose, California. continued on page 3 ISSN 1040-1105 Page 2, December 2006/January 2007 The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics, Portsmouth, NH USA www.hansenreport.com Hughes... Continued from page 1 multicast to a subset of the vehicles in the workcar equips vehicles with a telematics fleet. Common Parent: Apollo Management device that transmits diagnostics data and location information to a service center. Apollo Management is a majority owner of A unique feature of the Networkcar Integrated Satellite-Cellular SkyTerra Communications, a publicly system is its ability to automatically cer- Communications Network traded company. Sky Terra is the majority tify the vehicle’s conformance with the But in a step that the company thinks owner of Mobile Satellite Ventures. California Air Resources Board’s emission will distinguish HTI from OnStar and Apollo is a majority owner in Hughes requirements without having to bring the ATX, by year two or three after job-one, Communications, also publicly traded. vehicle to a CARB test station. Accord- HTI intends to provide two-way satellite Hughes Communications owns 100% of ing to Mr. Goldman, Networkcar has communications from Mobile Satellite Hughes Network Systems, service 30,000 subscribers, a number that’s ex- Ventures (MSV). The Federa Communi- provider to Hughes Telematics Inc. pected to grow to 120,000 by 2008. ◆ cations Commission has granted MSV the Hughes Telematics Inc. is a private first ever license to deploy and operate a company, majority-owned by Apollo satellite/terrestrial hybrid network that Management. will provide high-speed, two-way voice Networkcar is a wholly-owned subsidiary Radar... and data communications ubiquitously of Hughes Telematics Inc. throughout North America. The terres- Continued from page 2 trial component will provide coverage throughout major urban areas that suffer revenue. They’ve convinced themselves tive radar using BiCMOS (bipolar blockage from buildings, while the satel- that the data they’re collecting from the complementary metal oxide semiconduc- lite component provides coverage in rural vehicle has significant value. That’s one tor) processes. By mid-2007 Freescale aims areas. of the side benefits of being standard in to make public its intentions to serve the “About a year ago MSV issued a con- every single vehicle,” he said. automotive market with SiGe radar com- tract to to build two satellites that Along with collecting diagnostic data, ponents. will launch in the 2009 timeframe,” said Mr. Goldman also sees tremendous value While he did not indicate whether or Mr. Goldman. He continued: “These sat- in traffic data: “In the middle of next de- not IBM is currently working on SiGe ellites are the most powerful satellites that cade, if we stay on plan, we’ll have 10 mil- devices for radar sensors, Bernie have ever been launched for use by con- lion or more traffic probes running all Meyerson, chief technologist of IBM’s sys- sumers. You’ll be able to talk to this satel- over the U.S., on every road in America. tems and technology group, said that lite with a cell phone that is no different That kind of traffic data will give us a since “IBM invented the technology more in terms of size, weight, battery power or killer application.” HTI has developed than ten years ago,” deployment into the antenna size than the cell phone you carry intellectual property that collects traffic automotive market would require no new today. We can add this communications data based on exception reporting, to research. “This is something that you capability to our telematics platform for minimize the demands on the communi- could start work on immediately and it only $5 or $10, and you’ll never be out of cation system. would potentially take a couple of years to coverage whether you’re in Idaho or New Another source of revenue will come develop, certainly less than five years,” he York City.” from the insurance industry, which would said. MSV is controlled by SkyTerra Com- use data from the telematics terminal to Those interested in learning more munications, a publicly traded company bill policyholders according to actual about IBM’s SiGe solutions should con- whose majority owner is Apollo Manage- risk—determined by how and where they tact Tom Reeves, vice president for OEM ment. Mr. Goldman was a vice president drive. “I’m under nondisclosure, but there technology, at 802-769-3977 or email at SkyTerra before joining HTI. are insurance companies who have done [email protected]. extensive research into this. By the turn The Case for Telematics of the decade they will have millions of Too Many Frequencies The business case for Hughes Telemat- customers operating under real-time insur- With or without SiGe, radar sensors ics rides in part on the assumption that ance plans,” said Mr. Goldman. could be a lot cheaper if the world could OnStar is a positive contributor to GM. pick just one frequency. Europeans have “GM’s decision to put OnStar on every Networkcar clearance to use short-range 24 GHz sen- vehicle by the end of 2007 is telling in Somewhat tangentially, because it isn’t sors, but that’s limited to no more than this environment of intense financial directly related to HTI’s plans to become 10% of the vehicles in operation and only scrutiny, particularly when you consider a major telematics service provider to until 2013, after which they must switch the cost of putting the platform on low- carmakers in North America, this past to 79 GHz for the short range. In Japan, end vehicles whose owners are the least August HTI acquired Reynolds & 24 GHz is in use, but according to Niket likely to become paying subscribers,” ex- Reynolds’ Networkcar business for net Jindel, in charge of strategy and business plained Mr. Goldman. “OnStar bases their proceeds of approximately $21,000. Serv- development for Freescale’s transportation business case on more than just subscriber ing leasing companies and fleets, Net- continued on page 8 The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics, Portsmouth, NH USA www.hansenreport.com December 2006/January 2007, Page 3 The Company Profile... NEC Electronics

Thumbnail Sketch NEC Electronics Sales by Division Automotive and Industrial Division Sales by Fiscal Year Headquarters: 1753 Shimonumabe, FY 2006 Total Sales: ¥646.0 billion in ¥ Millions ($ Millions) Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, ($5.48 billion) 211-8668, Japan FY 2002 to 2006 CAGR: 12.6% Other, 4.1% FY 2006 Sales: ¥646.0 billion ($5.48 billion) Discrete, Optical Automotive FY 2006 Net Cash Flow Provided by and Microwave, and Industrial, Operations: ¥49,890 million ($423 million) 16.8% 16.1% FY 2006 Net Loss: ¥98,198 million ($833 million) Multi-Market Computing 64,472 80,109 90,707 102,784 103,780 Shareholders Equity: ¥298.027 billion ICs, 10.8% (547) (680) (770) (872) (881) ($2,529 million) as of September 30, 2006 and Peripher- Market Capitalization: ¥436 billion ($3,700 als, 19.6% million) Communica- 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Consumer Working Capital: ¥193,269 billion ($1,640 tions, 16.7% FY ends on March 31 Electronics, 15.9% million) as of September 30, 2006 Source: NEC Electronics Annual Report Products: Primarily system large-scale Automotive Sales by Product According to the company, the automotive portion of integrated circuits the Automotive and Industrial division sales figures, Employees: 24,000 FY 2006 Total Sales: ¥130 billion compiled by NEC Electronics’ investor relations de- Sales per Employee: ¥26,917 million ($1.10 billion) partment, are based almost entirely on MCUs. Auto- ($228,439) motive sales reported elsewhere in this profile include Other Devices, ¥5 billion all NEC Electronics devices used in automobiles, in- Ownership: NEC Corporation owns 70% Power MOSFETs, cluding power MOSFETS. ¥25 billion FY 2006 Automotive Sales: ¥130 billion Other Micro- Automotive Employees by Region ($1.1 billion), roughly controllers, Top Automotive Customers: #1 Toyota, ¥10 billion Japan 650 #2 Denso MCUs, ¥90 billion Europe 100 Automotive Employees: about 850, not United States 50 including those who work in production Elsewhere 50 Automotive Products: 8- and 32-bit between FY 2005 and FY 2006 were rela- Total 850 microcontrollers tively flat due in part to price deteriora- tion of car audio system components. MCUs, equal to ¥140 billion ($1.2 bil- Note: Fiscal Year 2006 ended March 31, 2006. lion) in sales. Automotive Business While initially that strategy could lead Background One of the most impressive things to depressed margins, in the long term it NEC Corporation spun off most of its about NEC’s automotive business is who could translate into greater profitability, semiconductor business—excluding the top-ranking customers are: Toyota is since market share leaders tend to be DRAMs—in November 2002, forming number one and Toyota affiliate Denso is more profitable than those with smaller NEC Electronics Corporation as a wholly- number two. In this industry, if you can shares. owned subsidiary. Following an IPO in serve Toyota, you can make a compelling When it comes to all automotive semi- July 2003, NEC Corporation’s ownership case that you can serve the world. conductors, NEC Electronics is the sixth- was reduced to 70%. NEC Electronics is Already the world’s number-one sup- largest supplier in terms of sales, behind listed on the First Section of the Tokyo plier of 32-bit microcontrollers in all mar- Freescale, Infineon, STMicroelectronics, Stock Exchange. NEC Electronics’ prod- kets, NEC Electronics’ goal is to become Renesas and NXP, in that order. Automo- uct portfolio features more than one thou- the world’s number-one supplier of auto- tive applications generate 55% of NEC’s sand microcontroller products ranging motive microcontrollers, regardless of bit microcontroller revenues today. from 4-bit to 32-bit configurations. In ad- size, by the fiscal year ending March 2011. NEC serves its automotive customers dition to microcontrollers, the company NEC expects to be able to grow its auto- from three automotive headquarters facili- offers an extensive variety of power motive MCU business by 10.5% annually, ties around the world: in Kawasaki, Japan, MOSFET devices well-suited to automo- to overtake Renesas Technology, currently Düsseldorf, Germany, and Irving, Texas, tive applications. the number-two supplier, and Freescale near Dallas. NEC’s efforts to develop its The company has been serving the au- Semiconductor, currently the market automotive market beyond Japan began tomotive industry for 20 years. Sales in leader. In five years, NEC says it will have nearly 12 years ago when the automotive the Automotive and Industrial segment a 20% share of the market for automotive industry first began to employ 32-bit Page 4, December 2006/January 2007 The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics, Portsmouth, NH USA www.hansenreport.com The Company Profile Continued

NEC Electronics NEC Electronics Automotive MCU Distinctions Claimed by NEC Electronics Automotive MCU Sales Sales by Region in ¥ Billions ◆ World’s number-one supplier of 32-bit By Fiscal Year in ¥ Billions ($ Millions) Fiscal MCUs FY 2002 to 2006 CAGR: 13.1% Region Application 2005 2006 ◆ World’s number-three supplier of auto- Japan Car multimedia 9.8 9.1 motive microcontrollers Powertrain 15.2 17.8 ◆ NEC has received from Honda North Body 12.0 13.3 America the Delivery Performance Award for seven consecutive years 55 70 80 84 90 No. America Car multimedia 7.3 6.9 ◆ In 1996 NEC created the V853, the (467) (594) (679) (713) (764) Powertrain 0.5 0.2 world’s first 32-bit RISC microcontroller Body 3.5 5.8 with on-chip flash memory 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Europe Car multimedia 6.8 6.6 ◆ Industry’s largest line of car audio MCUs By Application Powertrain 3.4 1.9 ◆ In the mid-1970s NEC developed the FY 2006 Sales: ¥90 billion ($764 million) Body 14.2 18.0 world’s first single-chip digital radio In ¥ billions tuning system Powertrain, Asia Car multimedia 8.8 7.4 ◆ More than half the cars on the road in 20.0 Car Powertrain 0.0 0.1 Europe have a dashboard controlled Multimedia, Body 2.4 3.0 by an NEC device Body, 40.1 29.8 Total 83.9 90.1 Car multimedia: mostly radio, some navigation Automotive Customers Powertrain: includes chassis Body: body, safety, dashboard By Region #1 Toyota #2 Denso FY 2006 Sales: ¥90 billion ($764 million) offices in Livonia, Michigan; Kokomo, In ¥ billions Indiana; and Huntsville, Alabama. NEC Others (alphabetically) Asia, 10.5 Electronics America provides engineering Autoliv Hella* Bosch* Johnson Controls* Japan, 40.2 support for customers throughout North Europe, 26.5 and South America. Continental* Panasonic* Founded in April 2000, NEC’s U.S. Delphi* Pioneer automotive business unit is the smallest in Harman-Becker* Siemens VDO* North America, 12.9 terms of sales. “In North America most of Honda Visteon* microcontrollers to meet increasing emis- our efforts have been focused on MCUs, *Major customers for NEC Electronics America sions, fuel economy and performance re- and only recently have we begun to pro- Note: Not all NEC Electronics customers are listed. quirements. In 1995 NEC established its mote our power MOSFETs,” said Jim European Technology Center, in Trent, associate vice president of NEC an 8-inch wafer, 0.15-micron process line. Düsseldorf, Germany, which today is Electronics America’s Automotive Strate- NEC Electronics’ worldwide manufactur- home to the company’s European Auto- gic Business Unit. “Our European coun- ing facilities are QS-9000 and TS16949 motive Business unit. terparts have been promoting power certified. As a preferred supplier to almost all MOSFETs for about five years and their European systems suppliers, NEC is well- business is growing and now they’re start- Automotive Microcontroller Product positioned to take advantage of those rela- ing to enter the analog ASIC realm as Strategy tionships as many of those suppliers, such well. We first make sure the infrastructure NEC Electronics is confident in its as Autoliv, Siemens VDO and Bosch, gain is developed in each region and then we plan to become the world’s number-one market share in North America. Within start pulling over some products into each supplier of automotive MCUs by 2010. the next four years, these three customers region.” According to Yoichi Yano, NEC Electron- will be among NEC Electronics America’s Pointing out how it is distinct from ics Corporation senior vice president re- top six. In addition to Bosch and Siemens automotive semiconductor market-share sponsible for the automotive and VDO, the company is currently working leader Freescale, Jim Trent, who used to general-purpose microcontroller busi- with Continental and Hella. work at Freescale said, “One of the advan- nesses, a lot of that business that will fuel NEC began marketing its products to tages of NEC is that we manufacture inte- sales growth is already booked. “And, the automotive industry in North grated circuits using our own fab and our since the number of microcontrollers in America in 2000. The company serves the own assembly lines. We are very focused the car keeps growing, and since our qual- U.S. auto industry from engineering of- on high quality.” NEC is currently ex- ity is high and we have a wide lineup of fices at its automotive headquarters in Irv- panding its production capability in products, I am confident we will attain ing, Texas, as well from engineering Roseville, California, with the addition of continued on following page The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics, Portsmouth, NH USA www.hansenreport.com December 2006/January 2007, Page 5 NEC Electronics our goal,” he said. In support of its zero- on a single architecture is what distin- Automotive MCUs Worldwide Revenue failure strategy, the company eliminates guishes it from Renesas. “This simplified CY 2005 Total Market: $5.034 billion early failures by burning in at the factory product line with a very wide variety of 100% of the microcontrollers it produces. $ millions Share products allows us to grow and support our NEC has two main microcontroller Freescale Semiconductor 1,256 25% customers in a simple way. Renesas is a product lines: the 78KO, built on an 8-bit Renesas Technology 860 17% combination of two companies, so they CISC (complex instruction set comput- NEC Electronics 627 12% have two product lines. They have been ing) architecture, and the V850, built on Fujitsu 369 7% trying to unite these two product lines, a 32-bit RISC (reduced instruction set Texas Instruments 334 7% but it looks like it still may take time to computing) architecture. Infineon Technologies 329 7% do that.” Much of the company’s success in the Intel 235 5% While Renesas has managed through automotive market is a result of its appli- Toshiba 195 4% its focus on navigation and infotainment cation-specific family of products based on Samsung Electronics 195 4% to become the world’s leading player in a single microcontroller core: the V850, STMicroelectronics 138 3% those markets with its SuperH, 32-bit first introduced in 1994. NEC has devel- Microchip Technology 127 3% microcontroller architecture, NEC says it oped several product families that line up Other 369 6% is far ahead of Renesas in audio system nicely with particular applications, for microcontroller applications. Data: Gartner Dataquest example the F Series is well suited to body electronics; the S Series is well suited to we can use the same peripherals (timer, A/ Wireless USB car audio; the D Series to dashboard appli- D, or serial peripheral interface), the same According to NEC, an important trend cations, and the R Series to airbag appli- tools, the same bus structure and develop affecting audio applications has been the cations. it for a long period of time using much of demand by consumers for increased con- Other families based on the V850 are the same code?’” nectivity for portable devices such as the well suited to chassis and gateway applica- Large flash memories are needed as en- iPod. That demand seems to be accelerat- tions. These products are primarily used in gineers rely increasingly on software to ing. While carmakers are already install- Europe today and are expected to be in- differentiate their products. NEC’s MCUs ing wired USB connectors into vehicles to troduced in North America in the future employ SuperFlashTM technology licensed link MP3 players with the vehicle’s audio as these markets develop. from Silicon Storage Technology. system, they are also inquiring about wire- By staying within a particular series or NEC Electronics is constantly looking less USB connectivity, even before the family, engineers can develop a line of at the V850 microcontroller core to make market for consumer products with Wire- applications ranging from low- to high- sure that it continues to meet automotive less USB links reaches high volume. end in terms of memory size, performance requirements for performance and With Wireless USB, consumers could and number of I/Os, while maintaining memory. The company has no plans at more easily download music or audio files the same architecture and reusing a lot of this point to expand its product line be- to their vehicles. In a demonstration at the software that’s common throughout yond the V850 family. the recent Convergence conference on the product line. Six working teams meet three times a automotive electronics in Detroit, NEC Another aspect of the family concept is year to develop global product strategies downloaded digital video entertainment that the 32-bit core microcontroller can for each family of application-specific content to a vehicle’s on-board hard drive economically be applied to applications microcontrollers: audio, powertrain, chas- through a wireless USB link. “It is a fea- usually served by 16-bit devices. Until sis, dashboard, body and safety. “Their job ture that would sell cars,” said Mr. Trent. February 2006, when it introduced its new is to develop product roadmaps that com- 78KOR line of 16-bit flash MCUs, NEC prehend future requirements for memory Body was unique in the marketplace in that it size, for flash-to-memory ratio, and net- Lately, NEC’s fastest-growing MCU didn’t have a 16-bit product. work connectivity, whether it’s LIN, CAN application is in body controllers, which Mr. Trent elaborated: “So in body ap- or FlexRay, or in which devices to imple- are general purpose machines that handle plications, for instance, as customers who ment AUTOSAR requirements,” ex- an ever increasing number of features usu- had been developing with 8-bit devices plained Mr. Trent. NEC is an active ally installed within the passenger cabin. evaluated their future they wondered, contributor to the European group devel- These include seat heaters, window lift ‘Should we go to a 16-bit device for two oping the AUTOSAR standard. controls, door locks, heated exterior mir- or three years and then jump up to a 32- The only player in the Japanese auto- rors, memory seat modules, wiper controls, bit processor? Or, should we skip over the motive semiconductor market larger than keyless entry system, anti-theft mecha- 16-bit CISC product line and go directly NEC is Renesas, a company created by nisms and lighting controls. to a cost-competitive 32-bit RISC proces- the merger in April 2003 of Hitachi’s and Most of the excitement in body appli- sor, that can expand from 128K of flash Mitsubishi Electric’s semiconductor divi- cations is about memory—the more the memory all the way up to two MB, where sions. According to Mr. Yano, NEC’s focus better. NEC MCUs designed for body ap-

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Automotive Products Taking input from camera sensors, the 8-bit 78KO microcontrollers High-end microcontrollers IMAPCAR LSI processes video data in Industry-leading low-EMI technology Industry-leading technologies focusing on real time at the rate of 100 giga (billion) Integrated peripherals with J1850, CAN and parallel processing and multi-threading operations per second, which is equivalent IEBus communications interfaces Suitable for car computers, voice recognition to 30 frames per second. It manages this LIN bus support systems, high-end audio systems and while operating at just 100 MHz, to limit Flash memories from 8 KB to 128 KB applications that require lower power power consumption to less than 2 watts, Suitable for low- to mid-end audio systems, door consumption and very compact board through parallel processing of 128, 8-bit modules, HVAC equipment, dashboard design processing elements that follow a single displays, low-end clusters and backup Ideal for next-generation applications ranging command using single-instruction, mul- engine control systems from video decoding for video over 8-bit 78KOS microcontrollers satellite systems to image processing for tiple data process instructions. Each pro- Flash memories from 1 KB to 32 KB driver safety systems (for example lane cessing element simultaneously executes 4 Suitable for remote keyless entry devices, center tracking, obstacle detection, driver instruction sets per word. The IMAPCAR console displays, immobilizer systems, alertness monitors and night vision) LSI is built from 0.13-micron process seat modules, wiper and alternator controls Third-generation CAN interfaces technology. 32-bit V850 microcontrollers FlexRay communications controller IP Scalable performance from 5 MIPS at 4 MHz to Power MOSFETs IMPACAR Applications 260 MIPS at 200 MHz On resistance as low as 1.2 milliohms Wide range of peripherals, up to 6 CAN Large portfolio handling currents up to 180 Lane tracking interfaces amps Pedestrian detection LIN bus support, up to 9 channels Intelligent power devices Object detection Flash memories from 64 KB to 2 MB Ideal for relay replacement, lamp, solenoid and Drowsy driver detection Wide range of packages from a 64-pin QFP to injector drive applications BGAs with 240 or more pins Cost effective multichip packaging of control While there is a great deal of interest Suitable for audio, body, telematics, mid-range chip and power MOSFET in IMAPCAR from several OEMs and to high-end instrumentation, low-end RF semiconductor products tier-one suppliers looking at pre-crash multimedia, electronic power steering, Including 24 GHz, GaAs short-range radar sensing and pedestrian sensing, along with gateways, smart junction boxes, ABS, and sensors other active safety applications, NEC engine control systems Electronics has had to limit its commit- plications can handle as much as 1 MB of Trent. “For future U.S. requirements, ment to development projects to only a flash; MCUs with larger memories, 2 MB more functionality will be done in soft- few, so far. The company wants to be care- or more, are coming out soon. ware, for example modeling virtual sen- ful not to overwhelm its internal support sors. The timers will be more complex, team. NEC has only recently begun talk- Powertrain and more DSP functionality with faster ing seriously to customers outside of Japan Compared with other semiconductor data conversion will be needed. Memory about IMAPCAR. Despite its disciplined makers serving the auto industry, NEC got requirements are also growing, up to six roll out of the technology, by March 2007 a relatively late start in applying its megabytes.” In contrast, Japanese custom- NEC expects to be producing IMAPCAR microcontroller expertise to powertrain ers are more inclined to use mixed signal chips at the rate of 10,000 units per applications. Those efforts began in Japan products and to be more conservative month. By 2015 NEC expects to have in 1996 with the V853, which NEC says is about applying new technology to main- won a 40% share of a ¥50 billion ($42 the world’s first 32-bit RISC microcon- tain the utmost in quality. million), global market for automotive troller equipped with flash memory. image recognition LSIs. ◆ Today NEC ships nearly ¥18 billion Image Processor ($153 million) worth of microcontrollers A key component in the very hot mar- Potential Market for Automotive to Japanese customers for powertrain ap- ket for active safety is NEC’s IMAPCAR Image Recognition Systems plications, which accounts for the vast (image memory array processor for car), in millions of units majority of the company’s worldwide an exceptionally fast image processing LSI 18 powertrain MCU sales. used for the first time in the new Lexus LS NEC expects to But success in Japanese powertrain ap- 460. Developed with Toyota and Denso, win a 40% share ➤ plications hasn’t yet translated to NEC’s the device is used to enable detection of customers in Europe or the U.S., where vehicles, pedestrians and lane markings. 8.6 the company’s powertrain applications The Lexus LS 460 employs some of the 4 have been almost nonexistent. “What we world’s most advanced active safety sys- have done in Japan doesn’t match what tems including brakes that are automati- our customers in the U.S. and Germany cally actuated to avoid crashes. 2010 2012 2015 expect from a powertrain MCU,” said Mr. Source: NEC Electronics

The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics, Portsmouth, NH USA www.hansenreport.com December 2006/January 2007, Page 7 Radar... Continued from page 3 and standard products group, “There is a one frequency it would have a dramatic be many more applications for short-range strong desire [in Japan] to keep away from impact on the cost side, because then you types including: 24 GHz, so they too are considering 79 could concentrate R&D on just one de- ◆ Blind spot detection GHz.” In the States, 24 GHz is a go. velopment path. Secondly, you could fill ◆ Pre-crash obstacle detection to actuate Worldwide, long-range radar sensors oper- up a fab with greater volume, which brakes and deploy airbags ate at 77 GHz. brings unit cost down further.” ◆ Parking assistance Infineon is supporting all three fre- While long-range types were the first ◆ Rear crash detection quencies, 24 GHz, 79 GHz and 77 GHz, radar sensors applied to vehicles—in ◆ Pedestrian detection ◆ said Hans Adlkofer, in charge of the sen- ACC systems to detect vehicles in the sor business unit. “[Though] if it were just same lane ahead—in the future there will The Telematics and Navigation Markets According to TRG Last month we were privileged to get like OnStar’s is expected to grow from telematics is going to be the tool that al- an update on the state of the telematics, slightly more than four million units in lows you to do that.” By 2020, TRG ex- navigation and other markets from one of 2006, to 13 million units by 2011. pects that all of the world’s autos will be the world’s foremost experts, Dr. Egil What features and benefits will drive capable of remote diagnostics and remote Juliussen, cofounder and principal analyst telematics growth? Dr. Juliussen sees two software updates. of the Telematics Research Group main beneficiaries of telematics: the As for consumers, Dr. Juliussen believes (Minnetonka, Minnesota). carmaker, who benefits the most, by far, their interest in navigation and traffic in- Dr. Juliussen is very optimistic about and the customer. “In the long term what formation services as well as entertain- the telematics market and believes that the carmaker gets out of telematics liter- ment and other information content will because of GM’s success with OnStar and ally will pay for itself several times over.” drive their demand for telematics. By because of the long-term potential of For example, a remote diagnostics link to year-end 2006 some 100,000 subscribers telematics, other carmakers will soon start every electronic control unit will provide were taking advantage of OnStar’s turn- deploying telematics products. TRG de- carmakers with an “information by-turn navigation feature, according to fines telematics as applications that are goldmine” that will be used to improve Dr. Juliussen. By 2011, there will be 3.5 based on information flowing from or to reliability and limit warranty costs, among million OnStar users of turn-by-turn navi- the car via wireless communications. other things. Eventually, carmakers will gation. As evidence of an enlivened telematics use telematics to remotely update the Founded in 2000, now with 15 employ- industry, Dr. Juliussen points to two key vehicle’s software. “I compare it to the PC ees, TRG maintains a database that tracks developments: GM’s decision to make industry; Windows XP sends new updates 32 features offered on 2,900 different car OnStar standard on all U.S. models by all the time because they keep finding models in 20 countries. Subscribers get the end of 2007 and the emergence of things to fix or improve,” he said. “With access to that data base. To learn more Hughes Telematics. the increasing penetration of driver assist about the Telematics Research Group’s Hughes Telematics had planned to an- systems, we are adding more and more products and services, please visit nounce agreements with two carmakers in ECUs. You have to manage those, and www.telematicsresearch.com. ◆ time for the Los Angeles Auto Show. To date, they have said publicly only that Worldwide Navigation Market by Year and Type Chrysler will be the first carmaker to inte- grate a Hughes Telematics solution. (See According to TRG, portable navigation is particularly hot today and will grow strongly, page one for more on Hughes Telematics.) because it will be used for both car and pedestrian navigation. With the wide availability of According to TRG, OnStar had a sub- low cost portable navigation devices, Dr. Juliussen expects the average price of in-vehicle scriber base of nearly five million at year navigation to decline significantly—to below $1,000 in five or six years, and down to approxi- end 2006, which yielded roughly $750 mately $500 in 10 years. million in revenue. By 2011 nearly 11 million OnStar subscribers are forecast, thousands of units with associated revenue totaling about 2006 2011 CAGR $1.7 billion. OnStar’s renewal rate is In-vehicle navigation 10,216 16,955 10.7% slightly over 60%, but it is expected to Portable navigation devices 11,174 24,401 16.9% decline somewhat as OnStar is offered Smartphone/PDA w/navigation 6,053 30,496 38.2% across all GM lines, even on the most ba- Cell phones w/ off-board navigation 4,858 73,476 72.2% sic models. Total portable navigation 22,085 128,373 42.2% Worldwide, the number of embedded In-vehicle + portable navigation 32,301 145,328 35.1% telematics platforms sold each year to sup- port OEM monitored telematics solutions Data: Telematics Research Group Page 8, December 2006/January 2007 The Hansen Report on Automotive Electronics, Portsmouth, NH USA www.hansenreport.com