With the advancement of the intelligent wave of automobiles, interior ambient lighting has been upgraded from a simple decorative function to a core element of intelligent cabin experience. Consumers' increasing demand for interactivity, personalization, and emotionalization in the cabin is driving the innovation of lighting systems towards dynamism and high integration. According to the QYResearch report, it is expected that the global market size of automotive ambient lighting will reach 4.616 billion US dollars by 2030, and the number of LED lights on bicycles can reach hundreds or even thousands. From this, it can be seen that in the competitive dilemma of hardware configuration convergence, the differentiation space between interior materials and car infotainment systems continues to narrow, and the atmosphere lighting system with emotional awakening ability has become a new track for brand competition.

To seize this high ground, various car manufacturers have installed LED light strips in their cars and equipped them with multiple color modes, allowing consumers to easily switch between different lighting effects according to their personal driving style and scene needs. The popular 007 model of Extreme Krypton is equipped with Ice Block ambient lights, with a total of 14 ambient lights inside the car, each with 176 LED light-emitting units. This highly integrated lighting system brings users a highly immersive visual experience and marks the official transition of automotive ambient lighting systems from "functional lighting" to "emotional value".

Breaking through the automotive LED connectivity architecture with an open OSP protocol

With the continuous increase in the number of LEDs required for automobiles, the connection technology of traditional ambient lighting faces problems such as complex wiring harnesses, high costs, and transmission speed and node limitations. To overcome the challenges of traditional connectivity architectures, AMS Osram has launched its self-developed OSP (Open System Protocol) open protocol. This agreement aims to change the way car interior lighting is used and revolutionize the concept of car cabin lighting.

Generally speaking, traditional ambient lighting systems are usually composed of multiple independent LED lights, which are connected through a LIN bus, and the overall display effect is centrally controlled by a master control unit. During design, each LED light group requires an MCU to control its brightness and color. However, as the number of LED lights continues to increase, the number of wiring harnesses required for the system also increases, which leads to complex overall design and relatively high costs. In response to this issue, the OSP open protocol adopts CAN-FD physical layer connection technology, which only requires two differential buses to connect up to 1000 LEDs. While simplifying the lighting system architecture, it greatly reduces the number of components and wiring complexity. Not only does it provide unprecedented flexibility and scalability for automotive lighting design, but it also adds assistance to cost reduction and efficiency improvement for enterprises.

LIN bus has inherent limitations in transmission speed and number of nodes, making it difficult to achieve large-scale lighting effects and complex pattern changes, resulting in relatively single lighting effects. In this regard, the high bandwidth feature of the ASME Osram OSP protocol can significantly improve data transmission speed and ensure real-time presentation of dynamic lighting effects.

The Core of OSP: From Technological Breakthrough to Ecological Collaboration

The AMS Osram OSP protocol is open to all developers, including any automotive LED、 Lighting system or microcontroller manufacturers can use it for free without authorization. This open design enhances the supply chain resilience of automobile manufacturers, allowing them to freely choose suppliers when purchasing ambient lighting LEDs and related components without worrying about authorization issues. At the same time, the OSP protocol is divided into a basic protocol and a device specific application layer, with the basic protocol covering the ISO/OSI basic three layers: the physical layer, data link layer, and network layer. This ensures that the system can connect and transmit data stably and reliably, thereby achieving effective control and management of ambient lighting.

The OSP platform includes intelligent RGB LED (RGBi module), intelligent independent driver SAID, and various sensors connected through OSP converters. Different components and devices can achieve efficient data exchange and collaborative work. This means that the OSP ecosystem will significantly increase the flexibility of in car system design, and any OEM that wants to add intelligent sensing requirements can more easily and conveniently integrate sensors into the lighting system.

· OSIRE?  E3731i：

As the world's first RGBi module based on OSP open architecture, this product has built-in driver and control ICs, allowing the main control MCU to stably communicate with various LED modules through OSP protocol, thereby achieving control over each OSIRE module? Status monitoring and independent control of E3731i. During design, up to 1000 RGBs can be connected in series with a simple twisted pair connection and SPI interface. Additionally, each RGB LED chip comes with factory calibration data such as current, voltage, color point, and brightness, ensuring consistent color performance across the entire vehicle without the need for online recalibration.

·Intelligent independent drive SAID:

As an independent driver, SAID has a very compact appearance with a size of only 0.85mm × 3mm × 3mm. It supports 9 independent PWM outputs and can drive 3 RGB LEDs or 9 monochrome LEDs. One of the channels can be used as an I2C bus bridge for external sensors and actuators. In addition, SAID supports parallel connections and has anti flicker function, which can achieve more stable and efficient lighting effects. With the help of SAID, RGBi intelligent ambient lights can be extended to the field of human-computer interaction. For example, SAID can be combined with infrared proximity sensors, capacitive sensors, etc. to achieve functions such as gesture recognition and proximity wake-up.

In the OSP ecosystem, RGBi modules can be mixed with SAID (Independent Intelligent Drivers) to achieve richer functionality and applications. For example, SAID's I2C can drive actuators and sensors, allowing the OSIRE E3731i to not only be used for lighting, but also to work in conjunction with other devices such as sensors, achieving a more intelligent interactive experience.

·Advantages of OSP Open Protocol:

Long distance transmission: In the design of automotive ambient lighting systems, it is necessary to achieve synchronous control of dynamic lighting effects in multiple areas, while also considering signal reliability under complex interior structures. The OSP architecture can support data transmission of over 10 meters through the CAN-FD physical layer, which is crucial for complex layouts inside automobiles.

Narrow board design, bendable: In car interiors, ambient lights need to be embedded in narrow areas (such as door armrests and dashboard gaps), and narrow board design can significantly reduce PCB width and adapt to irregular structures. OSP can support narrow board designs smaller than 5mm and 2.5D bending characteristics, which can be used on soft boards or films, providing greater flexibility and freedom for automotive interior design.

As a global leader in lighting and sensing innovation, AMS Osram is committed to driving innovation in automotive lighting technology with its profound technical strength and innovation capabilities. The OSP protocol launched this time adheres to the principle of openness and encourages more partners to join, in order to promote innovation and compatibility development in the field of automotive lighting.

Transitioning from lighting to interaction, light and sensing endow intelligent cabins with ecological value

As another major innovation direction of smart cars, the intelligent cockpit not only needs to provide a comfortable driving environment, but also needs to have highly intelligent interactive functions to meet users' needs for convenience and safety. With the development of intelligent cockpits, intelligent surfaces are gradually being applied in automotive interiors due to their simple appearance and powerful interactive functions.

In the design of intelligent surfaces, AMS Osram offers a variety of sensing and driving products, including advanced dToF, infrared, ambient light, capacitance, optical pressure sensors, as well as intelligent drivers and RGBi modules based on OSP protocol. These products enable cars to accurately perceive the needs of drivers and passengers through contact based touch, pressure feedback, or non-contact gesture/sitting posture, suspension/approach/wake-up detection methods, making human vehicle interaction more intelligent.

It is worth mentioning that the AMS Osram capacitive intelligent virtual button Virtual Button V3 Demo can achieve hands-free wake-up control function with only a single AS8579, with a sensing distance of about 5 centimeters, and can support multiple interaction methods such as touch buttons and gesture control simultaneously. In addition, this solution directly utilizes the PCB board as the capacitor sensing area, eliminating the need for traditional transparent capacitor films, which can significantly reduce design costs and simplify design requirements. Moreover, the light and sensing area are located in the same position and both are placed under the skin, allowing the light and sensing signals to be transmitted through the leather simultaneously.

The development process of car cabins is a microcosm of the transformation of cars from a single mode of transportation to intelligent living spaces. This process not only requires technological breakthroughs from the host factory and suppliers, but also requires collaborative innovation throughout the entire industry chain. The OSP open protocol developed by AMS Osram this time breaks the closed architecture of traditional lighting systems with an open attitude, opening up a new path for the intelligent development of automotive cockpits.

At the same time, the exploration of AMS Osram also proves that technological innovation is not just about piling up parameters, but about resonating between cold machinery and humans. When lights can read emotions and respond to needs, cars are no longer just mobile tools, but truly integrated into life as intelligent companions.

This is reported by Top Components, a leading supplier of electronic components in the semiconductor industry

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Name: John Chen

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