Company: OmniVision Technologies, Inc
Category: Automotive Product of the Year
The OAX8000 is the world’s first dedicated driver monitoring system (DMS) application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) with an integrated AI neural processing unit (NPU), image signal processor (ISP) and DDR3 memory. Additionally, most DMS processors on the market today are not dedicated to this application, which means they require added circuitry to perform other system functions that consumes more power, occupies more board space and doesn’t allow room for on-chip SDRAM memory. By focusing the design of our OAX8000 ASIC on entry-level DMS, we were able to create the automotive industry’s most optimized solution.
Specifically, the OAX8000 uses a stacked-die architecture to provide the industry’s only DMS processor with on-chip DDR3 SDRAM memory (1GB). Being the only dedicated DMS processor to integrate an NPU and ISP enables this ASIC to provide dedicated processing speeds up to 1.1 trillion operations per second for eye gaze and eye tracking algorithms. These fast processing speeds and 1K MAC of convolutional neural network (CNN) acceleration, along with integrated SDRAM, enabling the lowest power consumption available for DMS. Further optimizing these systems, the OAX8000 also occupies the least board area in the engine control unit (ECU), compared to other DMS processors.
Boot-up time for the OAX8000 is also significantly faster than its nearest competitor. This rapid startup eliminates any delay between ignition and activation of the DMS camera.
According to market research firm Yole Développement, the accelerated market demand for driver monitoring systems (DMS) is expected to generate a 56% CAGR between 2020 and 2025. This rapid growth is being driven by the European Union’s Euro NCAP requirement that all new cars sold in the region have a DMS camera by 2022.
OmniVision’s OAX8000 is uniquely optimized to process eye gaze and eye tracking algorithms for entry-level, stand-alone DMS. It provides the industry’s lowest power consumption, not just for the ASIC, but also in combination with any of a range of companion OmniVision automotive image sensors—consuming less than 1 watt, combined. Additionally, it occupies the smallest amount of board space for entry-level DMS processors. It also supports secure boot features to provide cybersecurity.
Other applications include processing occupant detection algorithms, such as distinguishing a baby from a grocery bag, and providing alerts when objects are left behind in the vehicle. Additionally, this ASIC can be used in automotive video security systems to perform functions such as FaceID, as well as preset driver-comfort settings (e.g., seat position) that are activated when the DMS first scans the driver’s face.
The OAX8000’s on-chip NPU is supported by the popular TensorFlow, Caffe, MXNet and ONNX tool chains. Additionally, this ASIC embeds quad Arm® Cortex® A5 CPU cores with Neon™ technology for accelerated video encoding/decoding and on-chip video analytics algorithms, along with hardware for image processing, video encoding and RGB/IR processing. Its high dynamic range (HDR) processing capability allows the ASIC to accept input from RBG/IR image sensors and support high quality output, for videos taken during the day or at night, in conditions with widely contrasting bright and dark images. The integrated video encoder accepts up to 5 megapixel captures from OmniVision’s automotive image sensors, and outputs up to 2K resolution video at 30 frames per second (fps).
OAX8000-TRAILER-720p.mp4
OmniVision_OAX8000_Product_Brief.pdf
A_Brief_Technological_Description_of_How_OmniVision-OAX8000_Works.pdf