TE Connectivity GEMnet with TI’s FPD-Link IV

With the introduction of pillar-to-pillar displays, automotive infotainment panels are rapidly growing and proliferating. This increased display size and quantity necessitates car manufacturers also improve screen resolution and colour depth to scale proportionally to maintain the clarity and crispness of displays that consumers have become accustomed to in their everyday lives. This requires an increased quantity of data to be transmitted and received to multiple locations across the entire vehicle passenger areas while maintaining low latencies.

TI’s FPD-Link IV high-speed automotive serialiser/deserialiser (SerDes) is capable of supporting high-bandwidth automotive processors for display applications including 4K, 5K, and even 8K ultra-high definition (UHD) resolution displays with advanced multi-port synchronisation features, daisy chain and near-zero latency. These chips interface with TE’s GEMnet connectors, and across TE’s GEMnet cables, which are specifically designed to support Multigigabit Ethernet and SerDes applications and handle large data volumes over long runs up to 15M.

“At TE, we work with virtually every OEM and understand the complex needs of the industry as vehicle architectures continue to evolve,” said Nick Defensor, product manager at TE. “We are excited to work with Texas Instruments and use their FPD-Link IV interface chips to work alongside to our GEMnet connectors, and believe this collaboration demonstrates our commitment to offer solutions that not only support current and future vehicle requirements but also improve the driver experience.”

“TE and Texas Instruments have a long history in the automotive industry supporting global OEMs,” said Andrew Glenny, business manager for FPD-Link at Texas Instruments. “TE’s GEMnet connector working alongside our FPD-Link devices enables support for 4K and higher resolutions, with data rates over 10Gbps, which enables engineers to optimise high-speed data transfer in their automotive systems.”

TE’s GEMnet connector system offers the flexibility to support a wide range of Ethernet and SerDes applications and industry protocols including 4K displays, radar/lidar, high-resolution camera and safety-critical applications. It features 90° and 180° terminals and offers sealed and unsealed product types. Compatible with USCAR interface, TE’s GEMnet connector system can be used with a variety of different cables including shielded twisted pair, unshielded twisted pair and new high-performance cables. This provides automotive manufacturers with a high-performance connector system that can be used in a broad array of automotive applications and offers specific advantages in terms of automotive robustness, which include the robust ground contact design and integrated lead-in features and stub protection.