SoC solution for car navigation systems

These include a newly developed graphics engine optimized for map drawing, a 3-D graphics engine for high-level drawing processing, and a GPS baseband processing function. The SH7775 is the third-phase product in Renesas Technology’s line up of car navigation SoCs, following on from the current SH7770 and SH7774 and the successor to the SH7770. From July 2007, Renesas Technology also plans to offer a reference platform that will enable users to carry out efficient system development.
The SH7775 offers the following features.
1) SH-4A CPU core operating at 600 MHz with 50% increase of current Renesas SoC products:
The SH7775 has a maximum operating frequency 50% higher than that of current SH7770. Both products incorporate the SH-4A, the SuperH family top-end CPU core. The SH7775 achieves high processing performance of over 1 GIPS (giga instructions per second) at a maximum operating frequency of 600MHz and the processing performance of the floating-point processing unit (FPU) is 4.2GFLOPS (giga floating-point operations per second). This high processing power of the CPU and FPU makes it possible to realize high-performance systems to be developed. The instruction set is upward-compatible with the SH-4, allowing existing programs to be used and system development time to be shortened.
2) Newly developed on-chip graphics engine optimized for map drawing and 3-D graphics engine:
The SH7775 incorporates a graphics engine that retains the 2-D drawing functions of its current products, such as a bold-line drawing function, and adds specialized 3-D drawing functions for map drawing, such as triangle 3-D drawing and texture mapping. This enables representation of a wide variety of 3-D objects in maps and a single drawing engine implements the necessary drawing functions for car navigation system displays. The development of application is greatly simplified because that engine is upward-compatible with existing engine and allows existing software to be used. In addition, Renesas Technology plans to offer MAPGL*³
Graphics Software Engine, further improving application development efficiency and a high-performance drawing software package designed to extract maximum performance from the new graphics engine, with samples to be available starting in July 2007. This software package is expected to reduce the time required to develop graphics applications for the SH7775 by up to two thirds. As in the SH7770, the SH7775 incorporates PowerVR® MBX*4 from Imagination Technologies, Ltd., of the United Kingdom as its 3-D graphics engine. This makes it possible to use graphics application programs developed for earlier systems with the SH7775.
3) Comprehensive range of peripheral functions for next-generation car information systems:
The SH7775 incorporates comprehensive peripheral modules required by car navigation systems. These include a GPS baseband processing module, an ATAPI interface, a USB v2.0 host/function interface, and a CAN*5 in-vehicle LAN interface. It also uses a Unified Memory Architecture allows memory to be shared by different modules, enabling the number of external memory parts to be reduced. GPS baseband processing module utilizes IP licensed from SiRF Technology Holdings Inc. of the United States. This comprehensive range of peripheral functions helps reduce the total number of component parts needed and makes it possible to achieve superior system performance at a lower price.