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Why You Should Use a Class-D Audio Amplifier
in Your Automotive Infotainment System
By Texas Instruments
Have you seen all of the latest technology that is being
integrated into today's new cars? Well, it is quite impressive and
some of these technologies are even being offered in entry-level
and economy vehicles:
• A forward-collision warning with emergency braking system
that automatically brakes your car to avoid a rear-end collision
in case the car in front of you stops too suddenly.
• An advanced parking guidance system that will automatically
back your car perfectly into a parallel parking spot.
• Lane-keeping assist technology vibrates your seat to alert you
that you are drifting across the lane; it can even automatically
control the steering to ensure that your car remains within the
white lines.
New infotainment systems Figure 1 handle the navigation,
music, radio, and streaming services inside today's vehicles. As
customers buy more mid-range or entry-level cars, it is a natural
expectation that their infotainment system have a large liquid
crystal display (LCD) touchscreen, like on our smartphones and
tablets. They also expect their cars to support Bluetooth
®
and/or
Wi-Fi so that they can stream music, podcasts or news.
Figure 1: Automotive infotainment system
In this post, I will discuss several key design considerations for
audio amplifiers in new automotive infotainment system.
Size
Some advanced features need their own dedicated processors
and sensors, which are typically located in their own separate
electronic control unit (ECU) box mounted behind the
dashboard. Space behind the dashboard is very limited, so
Tier-1 ECU suppliers are always looking for ways to shrink the
footprint of these boxes, including the size of the infotainment
head unit (where the radio and audio amplifiers are located) to
allow more room for advanced features.
