QNX Whitepapers

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	Dennis Kelly dkelly@qnx.com Breaking up is hard to do Contrary to the title, this paper is not about romance. It is about embedded software design and how to avoid professional heartache.It’s a fact of life – embedded systems need human interaction. With some systems, so much work is invested in the HMI that it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the system exists for the purpose of performing work! This paper will deal with life-cycle issues of embedded systems requiring an HMI. Read More... February 2016 Download Tina Jeffrey tjeffrey@qnx.com A Software-Based Approach to Active Noise Control in Automobiles To reduce engine noise caused by fuel-saving techniques like variable cylinder management, automakers use active noise control, which plays “anti-noise” over the car's loudspeakers. However, existing ANC systems require dedicated hardware, adding design complexity and significant BOM costs. This paper examines how software-based ANC that runs on existing hardware in a car's infotainment or audio system can reduce costs significantly while offering better performance and design flexibility. Read More... March 2014 Download Tina Jeffrey tjeffrey@qnx.com In for the long term: what HTML5 means to the auto industry HTML5 has become the most widely supported platform for mobile app development, giving auto companies access to a vast pool of developers and applications. It is also OS and hardware neutral, enabling companies to avoid vendor lock-in and to choose platforms that offer the greatest speed, reliability, or flexibility. Moreover, HTML5 can work in concert with other HMI technologies. Developers can, for example, build an HMI with a native toolkit and blend it seamlessly with HTML5 content and apps. Read More... February 2014 Download Phil Hetherington phetherington@qnx.com Andrew Mohan amohan@qnx.com The Essentials of Automotive Hands-Free Systems This paper attempts to facilitate the task of choosing a hands-free system by describing key features and characteristics that contribute to system performance. After describing these features and characteristics, it presents a checklist which OEMs and Tier 1 manufacturers considering an automotive hands-free system for their vehicles can use to help them make their choices. Read More... January 2013 Download Scott Pennock spennock@qnx.com In-Vehicle Spatial Auditory Displays: Reducing reaction times, errors and cognitive load Spatial Auditory Displays (SADs) can help provide both a more agreeable and a safer driving experience. Among their benefits are reduction of reaction times, errors and cognitive load. By providing drivers with auditory clues that associate different activities and instructions with specific locations, spatial auditory displays help drivers “intuitively” identify speakers, the sources of instructions, and even the location and relative trajectory and velocity of danger. Read More... August 2012 Download Scott Pennock spennock@qnx.com Andy Gryc agryc@qnx.com Situation Awareness: a Holistic Approach to the Driver Distraction Problem There is little doubt that using a cell phone while driving is dangerous, but this practice is only a small part of the problem: 5% of distraction-related accidents resulting in injury, and 18% of these accidents resulting in death. A holistic approach to the problem of driver distraction could be more effective than prohibitions on any one activity, such as cell phone use. Situation Awareness can provide a framework for understanding and reducing driver distraction, whatever its cause. Read More... June 2011 Download Shree Paranjpe sparanjpe@qnx.com Scott Pennock spennock@qnx.com Phil Hetherington phetherington@qnx.com Acoustic Echo Cancellation for Wideband Audio Speech processing is transitioning to wider bandwidths. Benefits include increased intelligibility and comprehension, and a better communication experience. High quality, full-duplex Acoustic Echo Cancellation is an integral component of a hands-free speakerphone system. The challenge is to develop a robust Acoustic Echo Canceller that processes full-band audio signals while maintaining low computational complexity and reasonable memory consumption for an affordable telepresence experience. Read More... December 2010 Download Kris Cieplak kcieplak@qnx.com Rapid Development and Reusable Design for the Connected Car In-vehicle systems, and the connected car in particular, bring a host of new challenges to the manufacturing process. These challenges include aligning HMI design with multiple vehicle line branding requirements, safe integration of new applications and technologies, and protecting critical processes in a dynamic system. This paper briefly describes some techniques available for meeting these challenges when designing and building a connected in-vehicle system. Read More... July 2010 Download Scott Pennock spennock@qnx.com Phil Hetherington phetherington@qnx.com Wideband Speech Communications for Automotive: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Wideband (50-7000 Hz) speech communications brings improvements over traditional narrowband (300-3400 Hz) communications: it can increase intelligibility, reduce driver distraction, enable spatial auditory displays, and more. Unfortunately, wideband communications also has some drawbacks. This paper reviews some of the main benefits, challenges and unresolved issues with wideband speech communications in an automotive environment. Read More... July 2010 Download Andy Gryc agryc@qnx.com Digital Instrument Clusters: Technical Challenges, Market Opportunities Automakers are migrating to digital instrument clusters to reduce costs and enhance the market appeal of their products, while continuing to equip their vehicles with displays that present the vehicle's vital signs in an intuitive, immediately digestible fashion. This paper describes some of the requirements for building digital instrument clusters, and suggests some innovations enabled by this technology. Read More... April 2009 Download Andy Gryc agryc@qnx.com Synchronizing Content from Removable Digital Media To analyze and present metadata, such as song title or artist, a multimedia system uses metadata synchronization. This paper explores several synchronization techniques,and examines techniques for synchronizing metadata from iPods, using either the traditional iPod Access Protocol over serial/USB links, or the newer authentication IC approach. Finally, this paper discusses techniques of data persistence, with a focus on managing the reinsertion of previously inserted media. Read More... April 2009 Download Other whitepaper topics: Recent, Automotive, German Whitepapers, HMI + Graphics, Industrial, Medical, Multimedia + Acoustics, Networking, Operating Systems, Security + Defense, Safe Systems, Tools