With the rapid development of technology, intelligent vision IoT has become a hot topic in the technology field, bringing new opportunities to smart homes, smart cities, and other areas. However, the fragmented nature of the IoT market poses challenges to the design of intelligent vision chips. At the same time, the automotive industry is undergoing a technology-driven transformation, and the era of software-defined vehicles necessitates a rethinking of vehicle software and electronic and electrical (E/E) architecture design. As a long-term partner of Arm, Sierrich participated in the 2024 Arm Tech Symposia annual technology conference in the Asia-Pacific region and brought innovative solutions based on Arm technology in these two fields, empowering chip design and accelerating industrial innovation.
This time, Sierrich focused on intelligent vision reference design (for the IoT field) and automotive E/E architecture solutions, which not only accurately captures the current hotspots in industry development but also demonstrates a series of practical applications, providing a feasible technical implementation path for the domestic market and showcasing Sierrich’s investment and participation at the application level and in the ecosystem. Relying on the pre-integrated, fully validated standardized subsystems provided by Arm intelligent vision reference design, this solution provides customers with a stable and reliable foundational development platform, allowing them to directly carry out differentiated development without starting from scratch, thus accelerating time to market.
1.Accelerating Intelligent Vision IoT Innovation and Implementation
Intelligent vision IoT is currently a hot topic in the technology field, integrating artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and other advanced technologies, bringing new development opportunities to smart homes, smart cities, and other areas. However, the fragmented nature of the IoT market presents many challenges for the design of intelligent vision chips. Different application scenarios have varying demands for visual processing capabilities, complicating standardized design. Additionally, as the demand for visual application devices continues to grow, customers wish to integrate their own IP into the solutions to achieve product differentiation and integrate more functions. How to accelerate time to market and avoid unnecessary cost losses has become a key issue.
Arm Intelligent Vision Reference Design is an efficient solution specifically designed to accelerate the development of intelligent IoT devices, integrating heterogeneous, low-power, and high-performance intelligent vision technologies. This platform enhances the processing and machine learning capabilities of devices significantly by integrating market-leading Arm IP and self-developed IP from Sierrich, while also accelerating the development process. Through pre-integrated and validated IP components, as well as support from ecosystem software, tools, and the Arm prototyping platform, this solution greatly reduces design complexity and shortens time to market.
This platform not only provides developers with pre-optimized RTL code and PPA (performance, power, area) parameter configurations but also specifically designs a always-on system for low-power applications. Additionally, the platform offers comprehensive layout routing (P&R) and low-power design scripting tools, making the open process smoother.Customers can directly access the virtual model of Arm Intelligent Vision Reference Design through Arm virtual hardware or Sierrich prototyping verification, assisting software developers to start developing and optimizing code before the chip is complete, greatly enhancing development efficiency.
This intelligent vision platform possesses reliable underlying IP technology and has obtained important industry standard certifications such as Arm SystemReady™ IR and PSA Certified Level 2. At the same time, the platform also provides customization services, including expansion and customization services, mature module and system integration solutions, and extensive ecosystem support. Sierrich also has a wealth of sub-card options and service systems, and the platform is stable and mature, having been widely validated by over 600 global customers. Sierrich’s rapid response and delivery capabilities allow customers to quickly get started with efficient prototyping and evaluation.
Currently, there are two major demonstration cases on the Sierrich S7-VU19PD platform, successfully showcasing powerful capabilities for differentiated video processing needs of domestic customers. In the VPU media playback scenario, it can easily handle smooth processing of h264 encoded video files, quickly converting video content into clear visual image data using the efficient decoding technology of VPU. Another demonstration covers the complete process of ISP image capture, NPU recognition, and DPU display, showcasing different applications of the platform in intelligent vision processing.
2.Exploration of Future Automotive Architecture
In addition, the automotive industry is undergoing profound changes driven by technology, with the arrival of the software-defined vehicle era increasing digital functions and applications, as well as hardware and computing demands, with the total code volume of vehicles approaching a billion lines. The entire industry must rethink vehicle software and electronic and electrical (E/E) architecture design.
Sierrich demonstrates a hybrid prototype solution based on Arm cores for automotive MCUs, which is an innovative reference design for the future automotive multi-domain E/E architecture, aimed at helping customers conduct in-depth exploration and evaluation of new automotive architectures, thus providing strong support for their future automotive designs.
The hybrid prototype platform is equipped with Sierrich’s core prototype verification and automotive MCU chips, used for rapid prototype development of ECUs and regional controllers. It is equipped with multi-core Arm Cortex-R52+, assisting developers in analyzing workloads and developing applications during the evolution of E/E architecture. Through Sierrich’s prototype verification, it demonstrates the steps, advantages, and support resources for migrating to the new Arm architecture, simplifying the migration process.
3.Application-Level Ecosystem Cooperation
As technology continues to advance and the market expands, Sierrich will continue to innovate and strengthen ecosystem cooperation with outstanding global enterprises, jointly providing cutting-edge reference designs for customers in emerging fields. These pre-integrated, pre-validated standardized subsystems not only significantly shorten customers’ development time but also provide them with a solid foundation for innovation. On such a platform, customers can focus more on differentiated innovative development, thus standing out in a competitive market.
Zhao Yongchao, Head of Arm’s Intelligent IoT and Automotive Business Line, summarized: “In the face of the diversified demands of the IoT market and the continuous innovation of automotive architecture, Arm and Sierrich have taken solid steps in application-level ecosystem cooperation. As a pioneer in the domestic digital EDA field, Sierrich has gained industry recognition through its deep accumulation of prototype verification technology and market practice. We look forward to both parties working together, leveraging the globally leading Arm technology platform, deeply integrating and utilizing each other’s advantageous resources, to create a smarter, more efficient, and safer future mobility and IoT ecosystem.”
It is worth mentioning that the purpose of this ecological cooperation goes far beyond this. It is also to build a more complete ecosystem, allowing partners, customers, and the entire industry to benefit from it. Through collaborative innovation and continuous iteration, Sierrich and its partners are working together to create a more open, inclusive, and vibrant technology ecosystem, laying a solid foundation for the future development of intelligent IoT and automotive electronics.