Rising automotive electronics market and related testing priorities

Emerging automotive electronics market and related test focus Take automotive system entertainment information vs. Bluetooth mobile phone test as an example

As more and more smart portable devices continue to be introduced, similar technological developments have gradually expanded into the automotive electronics market. In addition to our known smartphones and smart TVs, even smart cars have begun to appear "Smart Car" Such a title. The new generation of Smart Car emphasizes that it can bring users (regardless of driver or passenger) a smoother and more convenient experience. Therefore, the application emphasizes the ease of use of the human-machine interface, and the technology focuses more on electromechanical integration, so that emerging technologies can be more It was successfully introduced into the application to enhance our experience in riding and multimedia use, and thus automotive electronics has become a product area that is now being valued.

In general, the coverage of automotive electronics is very broad, such as the tire safety monitoring system (TIre Pressure Monitoring), the electronic body stability control system (Electronic Stability Control), and the energy-saving smart grid ) And electronic car technology (Electronic Car) and so on; as for the general end consumer, the deepest experience is in the automotive entertainment information system (Infotainment) itself and the transmission of information with personal devices. Since the scope of safety and energy saving is wide and scattered, we will only discuss the last one.

Automotive entertainment information system and Bluetooth technology application

The automotive entertainment information system has been developing for several years. Many manufacturers such as Ford, Toyota, and Kia have also launched their own systems. Ford ’s “SYNC” combines communication and entertainment, and Microsoft ’s voice recognition technology to make the car understand. Acting on orders, in addition to supporting a variety of storage and music playback devices like general USB storage devices and iPhones, has now succeeded in making a fortune; Toyota ’s “Entune” released at CES this year is a combination of major theme sites like Bing, Pandora, OpenTable, iheartradio and other network services provide the possibility for passengers to perform network search, radio listening, restaurant reservations and other actions through the system, and even query real-time traffic conditions, weather, stock market, oil prices, etc. . As for Kia's recently launched "UVO", it also uses a voice control technology similar to SYNC to control the voice system under the premise of a safe design.

These car entertainment information systems usually need to be connected to the user's personal device or connected to the network. In addition to the compatibility of the interface between the devices must be verified in detail, the most important thing is the frequently used transmission technology: Bluetooth (Bluetooth). Not only can we see traces of the Bluetooth specification everywhere in our daily-used laptops, mobile phones and tablets, but now that Bluetooth technology is gradually spreading out, consumers are increasingly demanding to use Bluetooth devices for transmission in cars. Most automotive entertainment information systems also use Bluetooth technology to a considerable extent. Especially when safety awareness increases, many countries begin to prohibit drivers from answering mobile phones during driving, and hands-free answering via Bluetooth will be a major application direction of Bluetooth in the automotive market. In addition, besides being able to use the USB slot to transfer music files from mobile phones or pen drives to car audio players, it is more convenient to stream audio through Bluetooth. We do not need to use USB or cable to listen in real time The music content of each other's phones.

With the continuous development of high-speed Bluetooth technology, some car models can also use Bluetooth technology to perform data transmission such as text messages and contacts with mobile phones (such as the aforementioned SYNC), or other Bluetooth devices The sharing of data; it is expected that in the near future, Bluetooth can be used for warning transmission in safety control and monitoring of vehicle systems. When more and more In-Car CommunicaTIon and Surveillance begin to rely on Bluetooth, the functionality and reliability of the Bluetooth function on the car body and related devices become more important, so more Need to confirm whether it complies with the Bluetooth test verification specification.

In addition to the fact that Bluetooth has been widely used in the field of automotive electronics, other communication technologies including Wi-Fi and 4G LTE, WiMax also show their determination to work hard in the automotive electronics field. Car) and Car (to-Car) transmission development, the former can be used for data sharing between different devices in the car, the establishment of hot spots on the car; the latter can be used for road traffic condition reporting, accident notification Wait.