Sensors and signal processors manufacturer Analog Devices India's (ADI) technical centre in Bangalore is driving design innovations in active-safety devices. According to managing director Somshubro Pal Choudhury, sensors and controllers for real-time adjustment of suspension systems are seeing traction in India and the chips that are designed in 2013 will find their way into cars by 2016-17,
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and gyroscopes are designed aplenty at ADI’s Bangalore facility for usage in active suspension systems, apart from engine stop/start systems, battery management monitoring for start/stop systems and theft detection systems.
“There are three big trends,” says Choudhury, “of making cars greener, safer and more comfortable.” A major movement in safety devices not necessarily restricted to India is that of active safety devices, he says. “In India, we focus on radar systems, camera-based systems, collision warning, lane departure and pedestrian warning using real-time processors to alert the driver or systems that automatically take corrective action.”
However, there are a number of challenges facing the chip manufacturer. Choudhury says that unlike some other vendors, “We have to look 5-10 years ahead and invest today. It takes 2-3 years to come up with a chip and then it undergoes rigorous testing for another couple of years.”
As regards India, he says that systems that demand real-time adjustment of suspension systems are unique to the country. He reveals that many Digital Signal Processing (DSP) systems, battery management technologies and entire active safety systems are under development in India.
Twenty percent of Analog Devices’ $2.7 billion (Rs 17,614 crore) revenue comes from the automotive sector, mainly in infotainment, safety and active safety segments. For the infotainment systems, Analog Devices manufactures chips that enable audio processing, digital to analog video encoders and decoders, HDMI chips and amplifiers.
“Mid- to high-end cars are where our audio processing technology is used for speakers,” says Choudhury. In terms of safety devices, the company manufactures accelerometers, gyroscopes and inertial measurement units. “A good portion of design work for this gets done in India,” adds Choudhury. For active safety, ADI produces devices that help processing signals for radar- and video-based devices. “Both hardware and software for the digital signal processors are done out of India,” he says. “Our systems engineers go out on the highways and do endless amount of testing to fine-tune the algorithms for these systems,” he says. ADI’s design centre in Bangalore is the second largest centre outside of the US and “10 percent of the work globally gets done here by our 350 engineers,” says Choudhury.
“Started in 1995, we started taking product ownerships recently,” he comments. “We began with processors and digital signal processing. Now India is the centre of excellence for DSP globally,” says Choudhury proudly. Explaining the process, he remarks, “We define the product from the tech standpoint, we design the chip, write the software on the chip, tape out the semiconductor chip, test the chip after fabrication and then we roll out globally, supporting our global customers from India.” Clearly, enough to make clients reach out for ADI's chips.