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With regard to the use of portable consumer electronic devices in an automobile, Bluetooth has become a widely accepted method for short range wireless communication between a vehicle and a portable device. One Bluetooth connectivity protocol for this use case is Audio/Visual Remote Control Profile (AVRCP). Currently, AVRCP specifies mandatory commands for both target devices (cellular phones and audio players), as well as for control devices like an audio head unit. However, there is no requirement that control devices and target devices implement the same commands, nor is there a requirement that supported commands utilize information that would be useful in improving the driver's experience (i.e. metadata). This paper will describe the impact of this reality from the perspective of the automotive consumer, and propose an “automotive grade” AVRCP that could provide a more consistent consumer experience in the automotive market.

A new method to simulate “the FM radio reception on the road” in an open space is proposed. It can provide reliable and objective evaluation of the radio system including a vehicle. It can reduce the cost and time of the driving test on roads. It is based on two technologies. One is a wave-extraction system of incoming waves on the roads and the other the field reconstruction in an open space. For the extraction, 3-D software based on AIC is developed and can estimate the number of waves and the amplitude, phase and polarization of the waves from the field data. The software showed the extraction accuracy of 90% in simulation. This method was applied to the road test, and it was found that the software could extract the waves. And through several tests in the space, the feasibility of the reconstruction of standing wave was confirmed (Maximum-minimum ratio: 18 dB and 22 dB at FM-band for the horizontal and the vertical polarization).

The rapid growth of electronic feature content within the vehicle continues to challenge the automotive industry. Customers want cutting edge consumer electronics features in a vehicle before the features are obsolete. However, automotive manufacturers continue to struggle with introducing new features into vehicles before they become obsolete to the customer. The ability for automotive manufacturers to seamlessly upgrade existing products with new and improved products continues to plague the automotive industry. Vehicles traditionally take 4 plus years to design and manufacture. Automotive manufacturers need to plan consumer electronics features early, but not actually integrate those into the vehicle until late in the design cycle, possibly on the production line. This would help facilitate providing the most recent features.

New vehicle systems that stop and restart the engine to avoid prolonged idling place new requirements on audio systems. In particular, there is a need for the audio system to continue to operate during the engine start sequence. In the past this was not an issue, as audio systems could be turned off during the engine start sequence. Among the ramifications for this “operate while starting” requirement is that the audio system must operate at a lower voltage, say 6 volts, instead of 10 volts. Audio system operation in this context means continuing to play music without interruption or spurious noises. The main focus of this presentation is on audio circuits, both line-level and speaker level. In the past, line level outputs could be fed by linear regulated power supplies that developed 8 to 10 volts. The signal levels sent from one module to another could thus be in the 3 volt RMS range.

The rapid growth of vehicle feature content continues to challenge automotive designers. The total vehicle feature content seriously impacts the manufacturing complexity of any single vehicle. Traditional strategies for introducing new features into high-content luxury vehicles before moving the feature into economy vehicles have been undermined by the fast moving consumer electronics field. The challenge for automotive OEM and Tier 1 suppliers is to optimize the vehicle architecture in order to provide more efficient means of introducing features expediently and efficiently. Therefore, any production vehicle's Electrical, Electronic, & Software (EES) architecture must successfully support modular sourcing, modular assembly, global manufacturing schemes, cost and weight issues.