Automotive pixel link

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Automotive pixel link, or APIX, is a serial high speed gigabit multichannel link to interconnect displays, cameras and control units over one single cable targeting automotive applications. APIX2 transmits up to two independent high-resolution real-time video channels and has bidirectional protected data communication with Ethernet, SPI, and I2C, including 8 channels for audio.

Contents

APIX, APIX2 and APIX3 were designed by INOVA Semiconductors based in Munich, Germany. INOVA provides its own chips and licences the IP to other semiconductor suppliers such as Fujitsu, Toshiba, Analog Devices, Cypress, and Socionext.

Popularity

The standard [1] is used by a growing number of car OEMs especially in the infotainment area.

It was licensed in 2008 by Fujitsu [2] for use in their automotive controllers. There are also Commercial off-the-shelf boards available from e.g. Congatec. There are also implementations as IP block for Xilinx FPGAs.

Specifications

APIX (or APIX1) logo APIX1 Logo.png
APIX (or APIX1) logo

APIX (or APIX1), [3] [4] which is on lifetime buy through the end of 2019, allows for:

APIX2 logo APIX2 Logo.png
APIX2 logo

APIX2 [5] [6] [7] allows for higher link speeds and more flexibility:

APIX3 logo APIX3 Product Logo.png
APIX3 logo

APIX3 [8] [9] adds higher link speeds:

Notes

  1. VDI-Buch Advanced Microsystems for Automotive Applications 2008
  2. Fact sheet of APIX deployment in Fujitsu silicon
  3. Inova APIX product flyer Archived March 26, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  4. "APIX 1 - INOVA Semiconductors GmbH". inova-semiconductors.de. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  5. "APIX2 page". Archived from the original on 2012-03-26. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  6. Elektronik-Praxis article
  7. "APIX 2 - INOVA Semiconductors GmbH". inova-semiconductors.de. Retrieved 2019-09-04.
  8. EDN-Europe article on APIX3
  9. "APIX 3 - INOVA Semiconductors GmbH". inova-semiconductors.de. Retrieved 2019-09-04.

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