A growing number of automakers are looking to introduce animated lighting in the instrument cluster as a way to convey important driver assistance alerts and vehicle status information. Current design thinking envisions using an RGB LED light bar to communicate with the driver through color coding, color changes, and flashing sequences. Key engineering challenges include maintaining uniform color across all LEDs in the light bar and ensuring they all change together at the same time. The MLX81116 addresses this through its unique high-speed IP communication interface, MeLiBu™. MeLiBu™ controls each individual LED in the light bar separately to produce the lighting effects commanded by the vehicle. The intelligent RGB-LED controller also provides real-time compensation for any LED color mismatch caused by ambient changes.
The MeLiBu™ communication interface leverages the proven CAN-FD physical layer, ensuring robustness, reliability, and high speed (up to 2 Mbit)—key requirements for today's automotive manufacturers. Support for dedicated optical parameters enables color mixing accuracy with a 1% UV delta, guaranteeing no discernible differences between individual LEDs in the light bar. Furthermore, intelligent high resolution for temperature-related color drift helps maintain a consistent and distraction-free user experience under all operating conditions.
The MLX81116 IC driver has an extremely wide dimming range, allowing for optimal brightness adjustment for both daytime and nighttime driving. Meeting the ISO 26262 automotive functional safety requirements up to Safety Integrity Level B (ASIL B), the MLX81116 also features low EMI emissions and high immunity, thanks to the use of the CAN-FD physical layer, which facilitates compliance with applicable EMC regulations.
