Infineon Technologies says it has started a collaboration with Synopsys, Inc. to accelerate the development of AI and neural networks for automated driving applications.
AURIX microcontrollers from Infineon will integrate a new high-performance AI accelerator called Parallel Processing Unit (PPU) that will employ Synopsys' DesignWare ARC EV Processor IP.
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The companies say AI and neural networks are fundamental building blocks for future automated driving applications, such as object classification, target tracking, or path planning. Furthermore, they maintain, they play an important role in optimising many other automotive applications, helping to reduce the cost of ECU systems, improving their performance, and accelerating time-to-market. For example, they enable an optimised engine auto-calibration and reduce the number of sensors by producing accurate mathematical models of the physical reactions occurring in a system.
At the same time, however, AI applications require much higher computing power than standard algorithms.
"By developing the PPU together with Synopsys we make sure that our future microcontrollers will provide the safety features, throughput, and power-efficient performance necessary to meet increasing AI computational requirements," said Peter Schäfer, head of the microcontroller business line at Infineon. "This will prepare the AURIX for data-hungry automotive applications such as future gateways, domain and zone controllers, engine management, electro-mobility, and advanced driver assistance systems."
Infineon says AURIX already supports certain types of neural networks. However, the PPU will take its real-time and AI capabilities to an entirely new level, the company claims. The PPU's performance will be significantly higher than that of today's accelerators, enabling the AURIX to process the data from advanced sensors where it is currently bounded by real-time constraints, for example. The PPU will accelerate AI algorithms such as Recurrent Neural Network (RNN), Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), and Radial Basis Function (RBF).
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By GlobalData"In many AI-driven applications, safety is paramount," said Joachim Kunkel, general manager of the Solutions Group at Synopsys. "Combining the processing power and safety features of our ARC EV Processor with the proven architecture of the AURIX will enable the development of automotive systems at the highest levels of functional safety."
The EV Processor is supported by Synopsys' MetaWare EV Development Toolkit for Safety, which speeds safety-compliant application software development for automotive designs. The resulting AURIX toolchain will support model-based designs, enabling the latest software design strategies and reducing the increasingly demanding automotive time-to-market.
Furthermore, by supporting convolutional neural networks, Infineon maintains the PPU will help pave the way to holistic security systems. It will enable layered security concepts supporting techniques for intrusion detection and prevention systems like deep packet inspections or system entropy monitoring, the company says.
