STMicroelectronics launches multiband GNSS for autonomous driving

STMicroelectronics (STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, has introduced the world’s first multi-frequency satellite-navigation receiver chipset suitable for safetycritical automotive applications like safer autonomous driving and high accuracy positioning at the decimetre and centimetre-level for Precise Point Positioning (PPP) and Real Time Kinematics (RTK) applications.

Traditional in-car navigation systems help drivers reach their destinations using receivers and commercial satellite services that allow positioning accurate to within a few meters. With increasing use of autonomous systems such as lane-departure warning (LDW), adaptive cruise control (ACC), valet parking, and auto-pilot, greater accuracy is needed to ensure safety and reliability, in combination with proximity sensors such as cameras, radar, lidar, and others, to monitor the driving environment automatically. Fully self-driving vehicles of the future will also demand high-accuracy positioning.

By tracking satellites of all GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) constellations simultaneously on at least 2 of the frequencies used by each system (instead of one in other products),STM’s automotive-quality Teseo APP (Automotive Precise Positioning) receiver provides highquality raw GNSS data for PPP and RTK algorithm, which allows accurate positioning and rapid convergence time worldwide.

In addition to its high accuracy, the industry-unique receiver monitors the integrity of the satellite data to alert the system if accuracy is degraded for any reason. This permits Tier-1 manufacturers to certify safety-critical systems in accordance with the automotive industry functional-safety standard, ISO 26262, up to the highest Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL). Teseo APP also integrates a secure microcontroller for secure system boot and data-output authentication to keep sensitive data safe from attack.

Launched alongside Teseo APP, STM’s Teseo V chip provides equivalent multi-frequency precise positioning in a simplified device for non-safety-critical applications where integrity assurance is not required.

“High-accuracy satellite positioning makes autonomous driving safer, smoother, and more reliable. Our new Teseo APP GNSS chip combines extreme accuracy and precision with industry-unique integrity assurance for use in safety-critical applications,” Antonio Radaelli, Director, Infotainment Business Unit, STMicroelectronics, said.

STM is now supplying product samples to lead customers who are developing autonomous-driving systems expected to appear first in high-end vehicles to be launched in 2020-21.

Conventional GNSS-based automotive positioning and navigation systems use only singlefrequency GNSS receivers that operate in the L1 frequency bands available for consumer use, and are subject to environmentallyrelated errors such as multipath and ionospheric phase delays that impair positional accuracy. Teseo APP eliminates these errors by tracking all available GNSS signals in multiple frequency bands, such as the GPS and GLONASS, Galielo, BeiDou, QZSS, and IRNSS L1, L2, and L5 frequency bands, and the Galileo E6 signal that contains PPP correction data to allow worldwide decimeter-level accuracy.

Until now, GNSS signals containing precise-positioning information have been reserved for commercial and government organizations. Other techniques for enhancing accuracy have included expensive differential systems reliant on a combination of ground base-station signals as well as satellite signals, or techniques such as Real-Time Kinematics, which generally require a denser reference station network.

The new Teseo chips make high accuracy affordable for autonomous driving through an ingenious combination of tracking up to 3 constellations simultaneously over 2 frequency domains. These multi-frequency combinations bring reliable GNSS ionospheric and multipath modeling in most environments, thus allowing accurate positioning with faster convergence time for automotive applications, where timing is critical.

STM as a global semiconductor leader delivers intelligent and energy-efficient products and solutions that power the electronics at the heart of everyday life. STM products enable smarter driving and smarter factories, cities and homes, along with the next generation of mobile and Internet of Things devices.