Qualcomm Snapdragon 820A: The SoC comes in automobiles
The automotive theme is definitely one of the most discussed among the stands of the CES in Las Vegas; Qualcomm means its presenting a family of SoC designed just for passenger cars, fighting the interesting paper of the modular approach can ensure updates in time.
Qualcomm chose to maximize the reach of their ads by choosing the CES 2016 in Las Vegas as an international megaphone, offering an overview of the new SoC to be fitted onto a very mixed range of products. Not only smartphone then, but also cars, drones, the Internet of Things and more.
Particularly interesting is the platform Snapdragon 820A, clearly derived from smartphones, which earns the ending to just to indicate the scope of use Automotive. It is a SoC with different characteristics, the first of which is the modular nature of the hardware. Basically, updates infotainment system on board will enjoy not only of software updates, taken for granted, but also of real substitution of physical modules if there was a need.
They were announced two versions, Snapdragon 820A and Snapdragon 820Am, the latter equipped with LTE modem. As an example of how modularity can meet the car manufacturers and not least customers, think of the possibility of replacing the single module LTE, because maybe in a few years there will be something more suitable and efficient. Since the car can have a very long life, the modular approach offers the possibility of keeping up with the times without keeping what is already there and have it fit somehow.
The family of Snapdragon SoC 820A is manufactured with 14nm FinFET production process and uses the CPU Kryo64-bit , Adreno 530 on the front GPU, Hexagon DSP 680 and in the version Snapdragon 820Am, the modem X12 LTE that promises maximum transfer speeds of 600 Mbps downlink and 150 Mbps in the uplink.
In a separate statement, Qualcomm announced that some models of Audi cars, from 2017, will be equipped with a different version of the infotainment system, Snapdragon 602A (CPU Krait, GPU Adreno 320, DSP Hexagon).
The collaboration with partners has shown a need for the car of the near future, to be able to manage multiple displays, in addition to the ordinary management of infotainment traditional. Think of the recent introduction of a certain class of car dashboards, which are effectively monitored, but also with separate navigation and audio-visual system in the rear seat. A SoC good power allows systems like overcoming the limitations of many current solutions, and it is precisely to meet the new requirements that Qualcomm has made the SoC Snapdragon 820A, sniffing obviously also an excellent business opportunity.
