ST’s successful Accordo line of digital-infotainment chips has a new member, the Accordo 5 family. Drivers will appreciate the features that the Accordo 5 devices provide, such as smartphone mirroring that gives access to content, such as music and navigation services, on the phone safely through the vehicle’s own user interface. The Accordo 5’s powerful graphical capabilities is another attractive feature; it enables state-of-the-art digital instrument clusters. These clusters replace conventional dials and indicator lamps with complex and elegant displays that provide a much more flexible, detailed and precise display of information for the driver, making driving safer and more comfortable.
In addition, the Accordo 5 can also be used to create Audio/Video/Navigation (AVN) head units and enable dual screen capability, for example allowing simultaneous user-interface plus rear-view camera with navigation and video previews.
ST’s designers’ key engineering goal was to create a single-chip solution, integrating many state-of-the-art features in a cost-effective package. By integrating the complete graphics, video, and audio functionality on-chip to save design costs and simplify assembly, this level of infotainment is now more affordable than ever before. The new approach enables car manufacturers to offer higher value features and greater benefits to more customers in markets across the globe.
Apart from the Cluster and AVN applications, the Accordo 5’s powerful graphics engine can playback video, covering all the major formats including H.264 and DivX®. Built-in USB and SD-Card interfaces facilitate access to user video content. A DSP handles audio for supporting sound enhancement algorithms as well as Echo Noise Cancellation (ECNR) for Bluetooth hands-free phone calls. Moreover, the Accordo 5 also has analog audio interfaces (inputs and outputs), which eliminates external audio codecs.
Unfortunately, we’re seeing that as vehicles become more connected, the need for security increases. Another benefit of the Accordo 5 chips is their integration of a dedicated, isolated ARM® Cortex®M3 core that secures the interface between the head unit and the main vehicle network. The microcontroller features built-in boot-code authentication, secure interconnect, and high-performance data encryption to manage secure CAN (Control Area Network) connectivity in real time.
And finally, to get started on the Accordo 5, you can use the ready-to-go development board and the comprehensive software and middleware IP that will help you design  feature-rich displays and instruments.
Discover more in the animation or check out www.st.com/accordo5
