Mentor Graphics has unveiled its DRS360 hardware and software platform that captures raw data from sensors and feeds it to a self-driving car’s central processing system.
Self-driving cars need the ability to process data from a wide range of sensors, including LiDAR.
Mentor Graphics’ DRS360 platform delivers the dramatic improvements in latency reduction, sensing accuracy, and overall system efficiency required for SAE Level 5 autonomous vehicles, or those that can truly drive themselves.
In a first for autonomous driving platforms, DRS360 directly transmits unfiltered information from all system sensors to a central processing unit, where raw sensor data is fused in real time at all levels. The platform employs innovative “raw data sensors,” which are unburdened by the power, cost, and size penalties of microcontrollers and related processing in the sensor nodes, in partnership with leading sensor suppliers.
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Eliminating pre-processing microcontrollers from all system sensor nodes enables a broad array of advantages, including real-time performance, significant reductions in system cost and complexity, and access to all captured sensor data for the highest-resolution model of the vehicle’s environment and driving conditions.
The platform’s streamlined data transport architecture further lowers system latency by minimizing physical bus structures, hardware interfaces, and complex, time-triggered Ethernet backbones. This architecture also enables situation-adaptive redundancy.
“For more than 25 years, Mentor has worked with the world’s top automotive original equipment manufacturers and suppliers to establish a leadership position in delivering solutions that drive innovation while meeting the industry’s unyielding requirements relative to safety, efficiency and quality,” said Wally Rhines, CEO and chairman of Mentor, in a statement. “With the introduction of the compelling DRS360 solution, Mentor extends this leadership and investment to the automated driving technology sector. We look forward to playing a major role in helping the industry realize the massive potential and benefits of the autonomous vehicles era.”
The DRS360 platform is engineered for production to meet the safety, cost, power, thermal, and emissions requirements for deployment in standard compliant systems. DRS360 leverages the flexibility and superior signal processing efficiency of field programmable gate arrays.
In the first generation, it uses a Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC device, while accommodating SoCs and safety controllers based on either Intel- or ARM-based architectures.
The result is a comprehensive solution that supports fully automated driving within a 100-watt power envelope.
“Mentor Automotive’s approach to centralized, real-time raw sensor data fusion represents a new innovation for automated driving system developers,” said Arun Iyengar, Xilinx vice president, in a statement.
The DRS360 platform for automated driving is the latest offering from Mentor Automotive, a division of Mentor. Currently engaged with 17 of the world’s top 20 carmakers, the company is a leading supplier of automotive networking solutions, and the number one supplier of automotive Linux. The company provides hardware and design tools in the areas of automotive connectivity, electrification, autonomous drive, and vehicle architecture.
