Advantech’s MIC-7700Q High-Performance Platform Enables Autonomous Vehicle Environment Sensing
8/31/2018
Introduction
Autonomous cars (also known as driverless/self-driving/robotic cars) are vehicles that are capable of sensing the environment and navigating without human input. To achieve next-generation mobility, the client, a renowned autonomous vehicle technology company, wanted to develop a vehicle equipped with self-driving technology in order to redefine the in-vehicle experience. Accordingly, the company contacted Advantech to collaborate on the development of a solution for accurate environment sensing.
System Requirements
System Description
Once processing is completed, the data I s then sent to various in-vehicle systems to enable autonomous driving. To facilitate in-vehicle communication, the MIC-7700Q was equipped with Advantech’s iDoor technology to expand the CAN bus I/O and support connection with the engine control unit (ECU), various inertial measurement units (IMUs), and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) that allow further decision making. With the provision of up to 8 x USB I/O, the MIC-7700Q can also be connected to external devices, such as 3D Lidar sensors, GPS modules, odometers, and an emergency brake. Furthermore, to enable convenient software development, Advantech also provided an easy-to-use SDK that supports stacking of multiple cards for vision capture applications.
Project Implementation
- MIC-7700Q: Compact fanless computer with 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i processor, Q170/H110 chipset, 2 x RS-232/422/485, 1 x 2.5” HDD, 1 x CFast, 1 x mSATA, and 1 x mini PCIe with SIM card slot
- MIC-75S20: 2-slot expansion i-Module with 1 x PCIe x16, 1 xPCIe x4, and 2.5" HDD/SSD bays
- DVP-7640HE: 8-channel SDI H.264 PCIe video capture card with SDK
- SKY-TESLA-P4:Tesla P4 inference accelerator
System Diagram
Conclusion
Advantech’s MIC-7700Q system provides a highly stable computing platform for vision capture and environment sensing applications. Equipped with multiple I/O for flexible expansion, the system’s compact and robust design ensures easy installation and reliable operation in industrial in-vehicle environments. The DVP-7640HE video capture card supports real-time video acquisition from up to 8 input channels for comprehensive sensing and video analysis. The integrated 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i processor enables high-performance computing for complex data processing. The inclusion of an MIC-75S20 i-Module as well as Advantech’s iDoor technology allows the system to support a GPU card and CAN bus I/O expansion for real-time in-vehicle communication. Finally, the added provision of a user-friendly, open-architecture SDK that supports multiple languages enables developers to quickly and conveniently develop unique software and applications according to specific usage requirements.
