Redefine camera power modules with scalable PMIC simplified design

In addition to solution size, thermal performance, electromagnetic compatibility issues and power supply rejection ratio performance of automotive camera module power supply circuits, platform scalability is also a key factor to be considered in automotive camera module power supply design. Choosing a PMIC that enables platform scalability/reusability reduces time to market and saves development costs across platforms.

Automotive camera module designers must reduce time to market while creating smaller camera module designs that are scalable and reusable for various types of image serializers and sensors. In this article, I will address several key design challenges in automotive camera module design, including design simplicity and platform scalability.

Simplify design and accelerate time to market with scalable PMICs

Maintaining a common power supply design platform helps engineers reduce design time, thereby shortening time to market. Pin-to-pin and programmable power management integrated circuits (PMICs) with integrated voltage monitors scale from non-functional safety applications such as surround-view cameras to functional safety applications such as driver monitoring in autonomous vehicles, electronic rearview mirrors and cameras) without redesigning the power circuit.

There are two types of programmable PMICs: software programmable PMICs and hardware programmable PMICs. Software programmable PMICs enable a fully scalable power management platform without the need to redesign printed circuit boards (PCBs).

Let's illustrate with the TPS650330-Q1 software programmable PMIC. The software features an integrated toolset that supports design reuse and simplifies design. The TPS650330-Q1 also enables platform scalability through electrically erasable programmable read-only memory programming for output voltage and power supply sequencing settings, with sufficient current headroom to support image sensors with a wide range of resolutions. Engineers can reuse the power supply design between image sensors because there is no need to redesign the power supply circuitry.

The TPS650330-Q1 integrates a voltage supervisor and also supports pin-to-pin platform scalability from non-functional safety applications to functional safety applications without the need to redesign the power circuitry.

The same power supply board can support multiple types of image sensor circuit boards by using two stacked PCBs, which can be found in some automotive camera modules. For example, when an application must comply with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 26262 functional safety standard, engineers can upgrade the same power board to a functionally safe TPS650330-Q1 derivative simply by placing it in a TPS650330-Q1 functional safety device. For a single PCB design, engineers can also reuse the same power supply design by copying and pasting it into multiple platforms.