By M31 Technological innovation
Abstract
MIPI is the abbreviation of “Mobile Market Processor Interface”. This report will introduce the actual physical layer technical specs of MIPI architecture, and explain the options and positive aspects of D-PHY and C-PHY respectively. Then, the MIPI standpoint on the growth and issues of automotive electronics and the professional MIPI technological expert services that M31 can provide will be shared.
MIPI and Physical Layer IP Framework Diagram
The MIPI Association is an open up membership corporation started in July 2003 by Texas Devices (TI), STMicroelectronics (ST), ARM, and Nokia. Over the earlier decade, this conventional has flourished and is applied in a massive quantity of programs in mobile products these types of as mobile telephones and wearable products, including shows, lenses, storage, bridging and other sign transceivers, all of which undertake the standards set by the MIPI Affiliation. These days, MIPI has been introduced into synthetic intelligence and automotive electronics applications, and is intently built-in with all sorts of digital goods used in human existence.
In the MIPI architecture, there are Application Layer, Protocol Layer and PHY Layer. In which, the bodily layer is liable for handling the sign transmission in the physical lane. In the M31 actual physical layer IP block diagram (Determine 1), it largely consists of two pieces, PCS (Bodily Coding Sub layer) and PMA (Actual physical Medium Attachment).The PCS utilizes the PHY Protocol Interface (PPI) to converse with the MIPI controller for details transmission and several mode switching the PMA has the analog circuits needed for exterior transmission, such as the clock generator, transmitter, and receiver, and so forth. The M31 maintains a standardized design and style for the PPI aspect to improve compatibility with the controllers of big MIPI companies. On the other hand, we have also reserved some particular sideband management alerts to meet customers’ needs for various applications.
With the rising amount of signal information, the MIPI Association has proposed a series of bodily levels, together with M-PHY, D-PHY and C-PHY, in addition to strengthening the operation pace. In the adhering to sections, the attributes and rewards of D-PHY and C-PHY are further more launched.
Determine 1: M31 MIPI Physical Layer block Diagram
D-PHY Options and Benefits
The D-PHY architecture is composed of a person clock lane and a person or extra data lanes, the place the clock lane is unidirectional and the facts lane can be unidirectional or bidirectional. The bodily layer is divided into 3 running modes: HS (Superior Velocity), LP (Small Power), and ALP (Alternate Lower-Energy) HS manner is a minimal-voltage differential signal with a greatest transmission rate of 11Gbps in accordance to the most recent D-PHY v3. LP mode is a solitary-ended sign for very low-pace transmission (<10Mbps) and relatively low power consumption ALP mode is a low-speed transmission through the HS circuit module to shorten the waiting time of the system during the switching process between HS and LP. By combining various modes, the D-PHY power consumption can be optimized, and the high-speed DDR (Double Data Rate) signal is transmitted from the transmitter to the receiver through the clock lane, which makes the CDR (Clock and Data Recovery) circuit design at the receiver much easier.
In terms of bi-directional data lane function, it can be applied to Escape Mode as well as the transmission of status and display module information. There are two types of bi-directional transmission, which are Control Mode Lane Turnaround based on LP mode and Fast Lane Turnaround based on ALP mode, the former being the traditional implementation and the latter being the new one proposed after D-PHY v2.5. Fast Lane Turnaround has the ability to switch between unidirectional and bidirectional transmission without the waiting time required to enter and exit LP mode, and although it requires the addition of a high-speed transceiver circuit to the transmitter and receiver, but the improvement to overall data throughput is phenomenal. The M31 IP supports both of these bi-directional transmission modes, and optimizes the circuit layout area simultaneously.
Figure 2: D-PHY Lane Module System Diagram
C-PHY Features and Advantages
Due to the increasing amount of signal data, C-PHY was developed with the structure of an A/B/C three-lane system, where the clock is embedded in the data signal without any clock lane, so as to increase the bandwidth and encode the data. First, the 16-bit signal is converted into seven symbols, each of which is transmitted through three lanes, and five Wire States Transitions are achieved using six Wire States, as shown in Figure 3 in the C-PHY datasheet. Every 3 bits of signal determines the next wire state transition, where Flip represents the positive and negative change of the signal while the wire state remains unchanged, Rotation represents the clockwise or counterclockwise change of the wire state, and Polarity represents the positive and negative polarity change of the wire state.
Figure 3 C-PHY Wire State Transition Diagram
Figure 4 C-PHY HS Signal Waveform Diagram
The physical layer is also divided into three modes of operation: HS mode is a low-voltage three-phase symbolic coded signal, and the conventional differential signal is obtained by pairwise subtraction (Figure 4), with a coding gain of 2.28 (16/7). According to the latest C-PHY v2.1, the maximum transmission rate is 8Gsps LP and ALP modes are similar to D-PHY. The bi-directional transmission also supports both Control Mode Lane Turnaround and Fast Lane Turnaround. C-PHY eliminates the clock lane, improves EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) that exists in D-PHY, further reduces the required power consumption, and achieves signal throughput by reducing pin count through coding gain (Figure 5).
Figure 5: C-PHY/D-PHY Pin Count
MIPI in Automotive Electronics Development and Challenges
In recent years, the demand for automotive electronics applications has increased significantly. Compared with consumer electronics, the difference is that there are strict requirements for safety and reliability standards such as high temperature resistance and failure rate therefore, the development of automotive IP must take into account the certification specifications such as AEC-Q100 and ISO26262, and pass the relevant functional certification. In addition, MIPI is also widely used in automotive applications, including display applications such as navigation, center console, dashboard, and entertainment systems camera-side applications such as panoramic view detection, driving status monitoring, ADAS, etc.
Currently, M31 has obtained ISO26262 certification for MIPI M-PHY, MIPI D-PHY Transceiver IP and design flow, and will be able to provide high quality IP with ASIL-B specification.
Figure 6: In-vehicle application diagram
M31 Professional MIPI Technical Support
M31 has been working in the MIPI field for 10 years and has a professional technical team that provides technology nodes from 55nm to 5nm. The team not only focuses on IP development, but also has complete technical support services. M31 has extensive experiences in cooperating with multimedia chip design companies such as display technology, smart image detection, and even automotive electronic chip design companies, and has built a complete measurement facility, from signal quality analysis, electrical characteristics measurement to system compatibility testing, to maintain close cooperation with customers. So far, M31 has a complete layout in the MIPI field for different needs, and can propose chip design optimization solutions for product applications to further enhance the competitiveness of customers’ products.
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