Spherical Camera System Development

Project in Nutshell:
We helped our customer, a supplier of automotive surround vision systems, overcome vendor lock-in when some system components were discontinued. As a result, our client received an updated 360 camera based on Crosslink-NX FPGA from Lattice and S32K228 microcontroller from NXP. We also brought the entire system into compliance with ASPICE CL2 and ASIL-B safety standards.

Client & Challenge

Our client, a well-known supplier of rearview/side mirrors and advanced camera-based vision systems for vehicles, requested an upgrade to an outdated 360-degree camera system.

The problem was that components of the system had been discontinued. Promwad's engineering team was tasked with reworking the software and replacing discontinued components, while the customer was hardware design and mesh.

Solution

1. System Overview

The spherical camera vision system is based on a combination of the Crosslink-NX FPGA from Lattice and the S32K228 NXP MCU that is responsible for CAN communication with the vehicle, power management and user interaction.

The FPGA board responsible for processing the video streams:

resizing the frame;
combining the processed frame and user information;
implement an on-screen display menu (OSD) to control and configure the device.

Regarding connectivity and interfaces, the platform is equipped with MIPI CSI and MIPI DSI, as well as CAN and USB.

This system receives video streams from 4 analogue cameras and, after processing, displays them on a 7-inch display.

2. Software Development

Our team solved the following tasks:

Organising the development process in compliance with ASPICE level CL2.

Defining the system architecture and requirements.

Establishing the software architecture and requirements, along with its management in Polarion.

Conducting unit, integration, HIL, system tests, and validation.

Business Value

Collaborating with Promwad enabled our client to successfully complete a project and compensate for its lack of automotive software development experience and engineers' absence.

As a result of the project, our client received an upgraded multi-camera system for trucks with modern components, expanded its product line and gained a competitive advantage in the automotive market. This 360-degree camera system solution ensures the safety of all road users.

The modernisation helped ensure business continuity, which could have been disrupted due to the lack of essential components. Promwad's partnership with Lattice and NXP guarantees the availability of components and priority technical support at all project stages.

The software was developed following the ASPICE Level CL2 standard, ensuring a high-quality product with strict compliance with industry standards. Using the Polarion platform for requirements documentation and tracking ensured transparency and traceability of the development process.

Reach Out

More of What We Do for Automotive Vision Systems
Digital Mirrors: Explore our digital Mirror services (DMS), camera monitoring systems (CMS), and surround view monitors (SVM) for a variety of vehicle types.
Lattice FPGA for Digital Mirrors: our study of the benefits of FPGAs for the development of digital mirrors and other ADAS systems.
Access Сontrol System with Facial Recognition: a case study of developing a hardware and software platform for tracking access to carsharing and other restricted areas.

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