The amount of processing power, software, communication, and data rates are continuously increasing; in all industries and also in automotive. In vehicles the need for higher data rates is driven by more electronic functions in general, but especially by ever more potent sensors, cameras, displays and high performance ECUs. Use cases in the realm of driver assistance (with the ultimate goal to support automated driving) spur the need for immediate availability of raw sensor data. The communication technology of choice for this purpose is often one of the many Automotive SerDes variants that allow for the asymmetric transmission of data in the multi-Gbps range.
The basic principle of SERializing-DESerializing (SerDes) as such is old, and also the automotive industry has seen its first deployment of the then called "LVDS" a while back (around the year 2000 the first car manufacturers introduced SerDes links for digital parking aid cameras). However, the importance, the choices, and capabilities of automotive suitable SerDes technologies are drastically growing just now. This book is justified, among other, especially by the following aspects:
- The field of application of the technology is greatly expanded by areas such as 5G connectivity
- The data rates are increasing
- automotive suitable SerDes standards available. This boosts the interest of third party support suppliers like test houses and tool vendors in the technologies
This book provides a holistic view on SerDes deployment in cars. It will help readers to understand the current eco system of different technical solutions. The goal is to generate a profound understanding for the specific requirements, by not only explaining the technologies but by providing context and background. Readers will learn how the standards can be incorporated into a fully unified End to End system.