Event: On August 3, 2020, Goodix Technology officially announced that it has completed the acquisition of Dream Chip Technologies GmbH (DCT), a German system-level chip design company. Below we briefly sort out the business of DCT:

Company overview:

Dream Chip Technologies (DCT) is Germany’s largest provider of engineering services, specializing in the development and design of ASICs, SoCs, FPGAs, embedded software and discrete systems. The company has more than 25 years of experience in the microelectronics industry and is an expert in one-stop solutions. The products covered mainly include embedded Linux or Android Based Board Support Packages (BSP), Linux or Android Driver development or porting, high-speed PCB design. The company has all the necessary qualifications such as CE and FCC.

History

1990: Founded in Germany

2000: Acquired by Infineon and continues to operate under the name Sci-Worx

2006: Acquired by US company Silicon Image

2010: MBO (Management buy-out), renamed Dream Chip Technologies

2013: Become a complete supplier of microelectronics design services and components, with more than 30 customers from various industries

2014: Become the largest independent chip design company in Germany with more than 60 customers from various industries

2015: Established an office for embedded software solutions in Hamburg, became the designated European distributor of Chips&Media, and the company was certified by BSI common criteria free security

2016: The company launches its first HD/4k POV broadcast camera

2017: Dream Chip developed the first German ADAS chip in the global foundry industry with 22nm FDSOI technology, supporting autonomous driving and artificial intelligence based on Cadence Tensilica Vision P6 and ARM A-53 processors

Main business

Divided into design services (Design Services), automotive business (Automotive), products (Products)

3.1 Design service areas:

ASIC and FPGA Design

The company provides overall solutions from IC architecture to GDSII. Key services include: concept and feasibility studies, system specification, cost estimation and evaluation, architecture and interface definition, IP selection, including third-party IP, implementation in VHDL or Verilog, top-level and functional verification, FPGA mapping and verification, etc. .

[Figure: FPGA example]

Embedded Software Design

Dream Chip Technologies provides embedded software solutions, the company has the ability to provide efficient embedded software solutions for any type of microcontroller or FPGA. Specific services include: algorithm development for image processing and object recognition and detection, data streaming over wired and wireless networks, Gstreamer adaptation, Linux Board Support Package (BSP), bootloader and kernel porting, driver implementation and porting, C/ C++ and assembly, silicon extraction and testing, etc.

[Figure: Embedded software example]

PCB and motherboard system design

Dream Chip Technologies can provide customers with a complete technical engineering value chain. Specific services include: requirements capture and analysis, solution, architecture and implementation definition, schematic entry, HDI PCB design up to 24 layers, 3D M-CAD, prototype delivery, certification (CE, FCC, etc.), mass production delivery, etc.

[Figure: System Development Board Example]

3.2 Automotive field

Assisted driving

The challenge for camera-based advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) is to normalize the various output signals and convert them into distortion-free images. Dream Chip Technologies develops a unified SoC architecture that reduces the complexity of such devices and provides functional units for image signal preprocessing.

Since purely software-based approaches cannot meet the computational power requirements of some specific image conversion applications, additionally, the preprocessing of raw image signals in the camera can be decisive for scalability and cost. Based on this, technology developed by Dream Chip Technologies takes on the task of preprocessing this data and enables designers to integrate multiple different cameras on a single SoC.

The company’s chip architecture can be selected between pure hardware, pure software, and a combination of software and hardware, depending on resource efficiency, power efficiency and flexibility. This architecture can take full advantage of the 14/28mm FDSOI process while reducing cost and complexity. Additionally, the architecture enables multiple camera applications for ADAS, such as a 360° top-view camera, a stereo front-view camera, and a digital rear-view mirror application with up to four cameras, on a single SoC.

[Figure: ADAS Reference Platform Software Development Kit]

camera surveillance system

As autonomous driving continues to gain popularity, more and more cameras must be installed on vehicles to support ADAS and safety features. Dream Chip Technologies can provide customers with important algorithms for different platforms, such as real-time de-flickering of LED lights used in digital Electronic mirror systems.

[Picture: Platforms supported by the company’s camera surveillance system]

car safety

The company has many years of experience in the field of automotive safety, including developing safety-critical applications according to ISO 26262 ASIL B, Auto Spice Level 3 conformance development process, Infineon Aurix controller family including SafeTLib, Elektrobit TRESOS Studio for Aurix controllers, Autosar OS and Infineon MCAL etc.

3.3 Product Fields

video encoder/decoder,

miniature broadcast lenses,

super slow motion footage,

LTE to Ethernet converter,

real-time de-flicker handler for live TV,

Embedded Automotive Vision Application Module

The Links:   LQ181E1DG44   ADE7858AACPZ   IGBT-MODULE