The MIPI Alliance – an international organization that develops interface specifications for mobile and mobile-influenced industries – and the Automotive SerDes Alliance (ASA) – a non-profit industry alliance of automotive technology providers working together to standardize asymmetric SerDes technology – have entered a liaison agreement for the creation of a pathway to enable implementers to use MIPI Camera Serial Interface 2 (MIPI CSI-2) directly with the ASA Motion Link (ASA-ML) physical layer (PHY) interface.
Supporting specifications will also be made available via the pathway, including MIPI Camera Service Extensions (MIPI CSE). This provides protocol-layer security and additional functional safety support. MIPI CSI-2 is considered the preferred camera and image sensor interface by the extended automotive ecosystem.
MIPI and ASA each have standardized asymmetric SerDes PHY interfaces (MIPI A-PHY and ASA-ML, respectively) for advanced driver-assistance systems, autonomous driving systems (ADS) and in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) that use cameras, sensors and displays.
MIPI members can implement CSI-2 directly only with a MIPI PHY or MIPI Board-approved non-MIPI PHY. Products using other PHYs may use CSI-2 with a bridge device following a MIPI-approved PHY. Upon successful completion of the process defined under this liaison, ASA-ML will be approved for native integration with CSI-2.
Following the new agreement, ASA will work on the development of an Application Stream Encapsulation Protocol (ASEP) to enable native CSI-2 transportation over the ASA Motion Link PHY. Once the CSI-2 ASEP is approved by MIPI, ASA will include the CSI-2 ASEP in its next specification release as the only recommended camera protocol interface.
“This agreement supports the continued coalescence around MIPI CSI-2 in automotive applications,” said Sanjiv Desai, chair of the MIPI Alliance. “The specification is already strongly established in the market, and we believe alignment on CSI-2 will help foster a streamlined development environment for the global automotive industry. At the same time, MIPI will continue to support MIPI A-PHY and the rapidly growing ecosystem around it.”
“ASA is pleased to work with the MIPI Alliance to expand the ways the ASA-ML SerDes can be deployed in automotive industry,” added Christoph Arndt, chair of the Automotive SerDes Alliance. “The ASA-ML specification has been tuned for multi-gigabit connectivity in harsh automotive environments and as a result has been gaining strong momentum. This liaison creates a pathway to new implementations and a broader ecosystem.”