Macroblock, which is actively developing in new fields, has recently begun to harvest in the automotive market, and major international manufacturers have successively adopted Macroblock’s
LED automotive driver ICs. In order to enhance brand visibility, Macroblock participated in Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 held in Las Vegas, USA for the first time. The exhibits include LED headlights, LED rear lights, and FALD (Full Array Local Dimming) LED backlight modules of in-vehicle display. The highlights will be explained one by one below.
The booth demonstrated automotive lights and backlight display modules with Macroblock LED driver ICs, including new types of automotive lights currently under development.
Headlights: Adaptive Driving Beam (ADB)
At present, high-end car manufacturers have launched car models with adaptive driving beam by arranging multiple LEDs into matrix-shaped headlights. Each LED can be lit individually. With lens modules, comprehensive consideration of environmental information, geographical location and even driving speed, the angle of high beam or low beam is changed accordingly to improve driving safety. The more LEDs, the more flexibility to adjust illumination zones. The adaptive capabilities improve visibility to reveal critical objects such as pedestrians, oncoming vehicles, and traffic signs while avoiding dazzling other drivers.
Macroblock demonstrates the ADB system by using 100 LEDs and LED driver ICs MBI6353Q. Features of the driver IC are: 1) Flexible current design 2) 4,096 steps of brightness adjustment to fit ambient light change 3) Meet automotive safety integrity level ASIL B.
Macroblock demonstrates an ADB system with LED driver IC, MBI6353Q.
Rear Light: Full-width Rear light
In recent years, automakers have successively introduced LEDs into the application of rear lights. What they are looking for is high-tech and exquisite outline that LEDs bring. Auto manufacturers design rear lights or the third central brake lights in a strip or narrow shape, forming a full-width rear light. The visual extension is achieved by increasing the illuminated area, and cars are easier to identify when lit up at night. A higher-end design is capable of independent control of LEDs, and welcome light effect of rear light can be programmed variously.
The exhibit is built in LED driver IC MBI5353Q that meets the automotive safety integrity level ASIL A, and the pitch of the module is 0.9375mm. The feature of independent control of LEDs are used for a rear trunk LED multi-function stripe to create more lighting effects and present a variety of appearance designs.
A full-width rear light used by LED display modules can create thousands of light shapes.
FALD (Full Array Local Dimming) LED Backlight Modules of In-vehicle Display
Two FALD LED Backlight modules were exhibited in the booth, including: 1) The backlight module for a mini-LED interactive safe driving display, which has been adopted in mass-produced cars. The display is embedded on the steering wheel to provide the driver with driving information. The backlight module is built in Macroblock LED driver IC MBI5353Q that meets the automotive safety integrity level ASIL A, providing 16-bit grayscale, and only one driver IC can control local dimming zones up to 1,536, which not only brings fine images to a small-sized display, but also due to the high-brightness feature of LEDs make it possible to watch displays in bright sunlight without disturbance. 2) The curved local dimming backlight module is built in LED driver IC MBI6353Q, and its hybrid dimming technology can generate excellent low-grayscale images, and the environmental information can still be clearly captured even in dim light. In addition, Macroblock's LED backlight driver ICs can provide automakers with flexible function design options for expanding application functions or simplifying circuit design.
The LED backlight display is not affected by external ambient light, and can present clear images no matter in the bright sunlight or in a dark room.
Macroblock which is gradually blooming in the automotive field, is based on the entrepreneurial spirit of constantly exploring the market. Expanding into the automotive market, Macroblock has accumulated a solid foundation in its automotive LED driver ICs certified by ACE-Q100 and ASIL A/B, and will continue to develop advanced products to tap into new opportunities in the future.