Week In Review: Auto, Security, Pervasive Computing

Automotive
Synopsys and 3D virtual-environment company Dassault Systèmes are collaborating on an automotive lighting system development platform. Synopsys’ optical design tools — LucidShape, LightTools, and CODE V — will be integrated with Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Platform, which is used by automotive teams from different disciplines to work together on designs and simulations. “Lighting is becoming more and more intelligent and a key component of active safety and ADAS. Its development cost has significantly increased. Our extended partnership with Synopsys complements our existing offerings to provide a first-of-its-kind solution for vehicle manufacturers and suppliers to define, test and experience lighting and sensors for intelligent driving systems from functional requirements to manufacturing within the 3DEXPERIENCE platform,” said Olivier Sappin, CEO, CATIA, Dassault Systèmes in a press release.

Infineon Technologies launched its SLS37 V2X hardware security module (HSM) for vehicles and roadside infrastructure to protect multiple streams in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication. HSM is built around a tamper-resistant microcontroller that meets security V2X requirements for telematics control units, said the company. The modules stores keys and generates signatures for outgoing messages, and removes the burden of a Security Certification from the host processor. The HSM is certified under the Common Criteria EAL4+ certification.

NI and S.E.A.’s bench test for cellular-based vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) now has an OmniAir Qualified Test Equipment (OQTE) certification. The SEA-NI V2X Bench Tester and the SEA-NI V2X Sniffer are the first modular bench tests for C-V2X and the first C-V2X/DSRC sniffer to get the OQTE certification. The bench tester hardware transmits and receives real signals to radio frequency and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) channels on C-V2X controllers and can send simulated C-V2X and GNSS signals that mimic real signals such as an emergency brake warning or four-way stop to help engineers characterize device performance in the lab. The bench tester has compliance testing, open-loop testing, closed-loop testing and HIL testing. The sniffer monitors and decodes C-V2X and DSRC signals and messages.

Orlando, Fla., is working with NASA to build vertiports, or airports for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) technologies and air taxis. The program is part of NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility Mission.

Siemens EDA enhanced the major place-and-route engines — from placement optimization to clock tree synthesis (CTS) optimization, route optimization, and timing analysis — in its newest Aprisa 21.R1 release. (Siemens acquired Aprisa in December 2020.) The update is now can be used for 6nm/5nm/4nm designs, with performance enhancements on almost all IC designs, and especially on large designs with complicated multi-corner multi-mode (MCMM) features. On these challenging designs, Aprisa is clocking up to 2X faster than the previous generation, said Siemens EDA in press release.

European automotive consultancy HORIBA MIRA is working with BT to give automotive OEMs a way to track cybersecurity, which will be required under a new regulation that mandates vehicle manufacturers provide a lifetime of cybersecurity stewardship to all customers.

Human Horizons successfully demonstrated its 5G autonomous driving traffic management archetype of the vehicle-road-city integrated smart city in China. The company’s HiPhi 1 electric car was used on the V2X autonomous driving traffic management system of the smart city, located in a 100,000-square-meter park in Zhangjiang, Shanghai since 2019. Also a V2X autonomous driving bus system also was successful using high-speed transmission under 5G in the demo. Human Horizons was demonstrating the future urban mobility plan of “accident-free, emission-free and congestion-free.”

Pervasive computing
Rambus is sampling its 2nd-generation RCD (registering clock driver) chip — the 5600 MT/s — to major DDR5 memory module (RDIMM) suppliers. The company says the data rate on the new chip is 17% faster than the 1st chip, the 4800 MT/s Rambus DDR5 RCD, while the latency and power usage have decreased. “The RCD is a mission-critical enabler of DDR5 server DIMMs that provide the bandwidth and capacity needed in next-generation data centers,” said Sean Fan, chief operating officer at Rambus in a press release.

Sivers Semiconductors says it will acquire 100 percent of the share capital of MixComm, a US-based mmWave challenger fabless semiconductor company that was founded in 2017.

The EU Commission extended its antitrust investigation of Nvidia’s deal to takeover Arm.

Apple, MediaTek, and Qualcomm will hold the top revenue share spots in the Arm-based notebook PC processor market in 2021, with Apple hitting as high as 80% of market, said Strategy Analytics.

Security.
The need is urgent for industry-vetted IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) certification programs, said the ISAGCA and ISCI in the first part of their two-part study, “IIoT Component Certification Based on the 62443 Standard.” The International Society of Automation Global Cybersecurity Alliance (ISAGCA) and the ISA Security Compliance Institute (ISCI) co-developed the study to determine how applicable their cybersecurity standard — ISA/IEC 62443 — will be to commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) IIoT components and gateways. The ISAGCA has over 50 industry members, including some large oil and gas, automotive, and pharmaceutical companies. Siemens, Synopsys, Schneider Electric, Johnson Controls, and Honeywell are members.

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