[Editor's Note] Modern automobiles are gradually evolving beyond simple means of transportation into 'smart mobility' that requires advanced information processing and sensor fusion. At the center of this change are various subsystems such as ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) and IVI (In-Vehicle Infotainment). These systems are positioned as core technologies that synchronize all modules in the vehicle and enable smooth data communication with precise timing and reliable clocking (clock signals). Previously, quartz oscillators were mainly used, but according to recent technical data from Texas Instruments, BAW (Bulk Elastic Wave) clocks are overcoming their limitations and are attracting attention for their potential application in autonomous driving and high-performance vehicle architectures. Here we looked at the differences between the BAW clock and existing quartz watches.


Quartz oscillators have provided stable timing signals for a long time, but they have limitations in meeting the harsh environments and rapidly changing data processing requirements of vehicles.

In particular, it has poor vibration resistance and shock resistance, which can cause problems such as frequency drift when used for a long period of time, and its initial startup time is also rather slow at around 6ms.

In contrast, BAW clocks utilize piezoelectric conversion technology to achieve high-Q resonance characteristics in the gigahertz range and can be directly integrated into plastic packages. This allows for more functionality to be integrated onto the same sized board, resulting in board space savings of up to 55%.

BAW oscillators also excel in terms of stability.

It has proven its high reliability even under harsh conditions that meet military standards, maintaining stability of ±25ppm for more than 10 years and possessing excellent vibration and shock resistance at the level of 1ppb/g.

These characteristics greatly contribute to ensuring the accuracy of vehicle sensors and minimizing distortion of digital signals in systems where real-time processing is important, such as ADAS and IVI.

In particular, the BAW clock has a reduced startup time of less than 3ms, which provides fast booting, real-time vision analysis, and significantly improved response time.

In addition, BAW clocks offer not only improved performance, but also the advantage of dramatically reducing system cost and component count.

For example, BAW-based products such as the CDC6C-Q1 oscillator can drive two deserializers simultaneously, reducing component count and board complexity compared to traditional quartz-based architectures.

Even in the IVI clock topology, the introduction of integrated clock generators such as LMK3H0102-Q1 and LMK3C0105-Q1 allows the generation of output signals of the required frequency without an external clock, which leads to reduced design cost and power consumption.

In addition, sensor systems such as cameras, radars, and LIDARs, which are the core of autonomous vehicles, require real-time processing of data and high accuracy.

The ultra-low jitter (small time drift) and low FIT (Failure In Time, number of failures per billion hours) rate provided by BAW clocks are crucial to ensuring safety and functional reliability. Plays a role.

In fact, according to the International Electrotechnical Commission and ISO 26262 (Road Vehicle Functional Safety standard), while quartz oscillators have a FIT ratio of 30, BAW oscillators have a FIT ratio of 0.3, providing up to 100 times higher reliability.

These improvements in reliability are essential to meeting demanding safety certifications such as Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) D.

According to TI's data, the BAW clock can be integrated with various sensors such as front cameras in ADAS to support driver assistance functions through sensor fusion. In addition, it can be applied to high-performance computing (HPC) platforms as it is compatible with high-speed data networks such as PCIe 6.0, Gigabit Ethernet, and SerDes.

This technological innovation is expected to greatly contribute to creating a safe autonomous driving environment without collisions by enabling various subsystems within the vehicle to exchange data stably and quickly.

In fact, automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and component suppliers are actively considering switching from quartz-based clock solutions to BAW clocks for future integration and higher performance of vehicle electronic systems, and this is expected to become a key element of technological competitiveness in the autonomous driving and smart mobility fields in the coming years.

The introduction of BAW clocks will enable designers to build more reliable and cost-effective automotive electronics systems by reducing board area, simplifying components, and enhancing overall system safety.

Ultimately, the BAW clock, which has overcome the limitations of existing quartz oscillators, is emerging as an ideal solution for the complex sensor networks and real-time data processing of autonomous vehicles in many aspects, including precise timing, low failure rate, and fast uptime.br />
The technological advantages offered by BAW Clock are expected to play a decisive role in opening a safer and smarter autonomous driving future by innovatively improving the stability and performance of ADAS, IVI, and overall vehicle electronic systems.