Security chips are emerging! Goodix IoT Track Three New Chips Launched, Multiple Matrix Layout Formed
In the field of AIoT chips in China, there are only a handful of companies that have made achievements in security chips, NB-IoT chips and low-power Bluetooth chips. The networking application market brings a strong market boost.
On May 19th, “Intelligent Sense All Things Connect the Future”-2022 Goodix Technology Innovation Technology Seminar was held in Shenzhen. At the seminar site, Goodix Technology brought a new generation of security chips, a new generation of NB-IoT chips, a new generation of low-power Bluetooth SoCs, and ToF solutions.
Released a new generation of security chip GSEA0 and solutions to empower mobile applications
“In 2018, Huiding Technology established a security chip project, and by 2022, it will launch the eSE security chip GSEA0. This chip has passed a series of heavyweight certifications such as CC EAL5+, EMVCo, and NFTC, and its security level has reached the world’s first-class level.” Huiding Technology Security Ye Jinchun, head of BU, said.
Figure: eSE security chip GSEA0
“We have two considerations in making security chips. First, the whole society is transforming into digital and intelligent. It has become a common trend for foreign users to pay attention to privacy, and more and more people in China pay more and more attention to privacy; In the field of security, international chip giants are currently controlling the market. Since last year, there has been a serious shortage of chips, and some small and medium-sized manufacturers have not been able to obtain them. Local companies must grow up. Goodix hopes to challenge the innovation of such chips.” Ye Jinchun said.
After four years, Goodix’s self-developed eSE security chip GSEA0 has been officially launched. It has two key features: it is equipped with super large security storage, the dedicated security Flash IP brings super long native life, and the hardware erase and write equalization mechanism is the key security business. The data provides hundreds of millions of erasing and rewriting times, which greatly improves the reliability of terminal security applications; it has comprehensive international and domestic cryptographic algorithm support, and is equipped with self-developed COS to achieve efficient multi-task parallel processing. This chip and related security technologies can support new applications such as smartphones, wearable devices, digital RMB, digital identities, and digital car keys.
How is the design idea of this security chip different from that of international manufacturers? Ye Jinchun analyzed: “In terms of chip specifications, the security chip uses large storage and exclusive Flash IP, and the main consideration is to put more security applications into it, and to prevent multiple attacks on the chip. The memory unit in the security chip, the communication interface Security protection must be done. Attacks encountered by security chips are first physical attacks. Hackers can crack the keys by doing side channel analysis. In order to resist this kind of attack, the security chip is responsible for the interface between the internal chip modules, the communication itself, and the storage. Protection requires a lot of design. The larger the Flash, the more complex the wiring, which makes the design of these protection parts much more difficult.”
For the storage specifications of the eSE security chip GSEA0, Goodix also fully evaluated and calculated the application. It is reported that Goodix eSE security chip has entered the stage of commercial promotion. Combined with the company’s first NFC chip GSC10, the “eSE+COS+NFC” one-stop security application solution will also be launched to provide chip-level security protection for consumer smart terminals such as mobile phones and wearables.
Figure: eSE + NFC for mobile terminals
Ye Jinchun emphasized that Goodix’s strategic layout: sensing + computing + connection + security, security chips and NFC both belong to the security category, which will promote new security applications on digital mobile terminals. Regarding the size of the security chip market, Ye Jinchun said that eSE security chips have a global market of 2 billion to 3 billion US dollars, the traditional card market has a market of 1 billion US dollars, and eSE+ NFC has a market of more than 1 billion US dollars. There will be a larger market in the automotive field, IoT field, IoT firmware upgrade and data tamper prevention.
As a root technology of chips, security has also been widely empowered by other chips. Ye Jinchun pointed out that the Bluetooth chip launched by Goodix Technology today already uses security technology. The eSE security chip GSEA0 chip has passed a series of heavyweight certifications such as CC EAL5+, EMVCo, NFTC, etc., and can support financial payment, identity authentication, data encryption and other functions, and accelerate the popularization of security applications represented by digital RMB.
Connectivity: A new generation of low-power BLE SoC GR5526, the wearable market
With the development and improvement of Bluetooth low energy technology, Bluetooth low energy has ushered in considerable growth in wearable devices, smart phones and PC accessories, smart homes and other markets. According to statistics from ABI Research, in 2021, 987 million Bluetooth low energy devices will be shipped globally, a year-on-year increase of 26%. In the future era of AIoT, peripheral devices equipped with sensors + low-power Bluetooth or traditional Bluetooth devices will grow rapidly. The Bluetooth SIG expects annual shipments of single-mode Bluetooth low energy devices to triple from 2021 to 2025.
Figure: BLE SoC GR5526 chip
Goodix debuted the new generation BLE SoC GR5526 series at this seminar. Compared with the previous generation products, this product has greatly improved the graphics processing level and RF performance, and reduced power consumption.
The new generation of BLE SoC GR5526 series is aimed at higher screen display requirements of mid-to-high-end wearable devices. It is equipped with powerful screen drive performance, embedded 2.5D GPU to greatly improve graphics processing efficiency, independent display control module, and display at 454*454 resolution. The frame rate on the screen can reach 30+, bringing consumers a more extreme visual experience; thanks to the ultra-low power system architecture design, the Bluetooth power consumption is optimized by nearly 30% compared to the previous generation; it supports the latest Bluetooth 5.3 standard, Superior RF performance brings more stable and fast connection.
The target market of the next-generation BLE SoC GR5526 is the wearable device and PC market. Goodix will continue to launch a wealth of low-power Bluetooth products in the future. The GR533x series for IoT innovative applications such as smart home and electronic tags will also be launched soon.
Connectivity: NB-IoT smart meter redefines Open CPU
IoT Analytics predicts that by 2023, there will be more than 1.1 billion low-power wide-area network connections, and users will spend more than $4.7 billion on such connections, with NB-IoT accounting for the vast majority of public and private networks. The annual compound growth rate of the market exceeds 30%, and it has a wide range of applications in the fields of smart meters, smart cities, smart homes, and smart logistics.
Figure: Goodix’s NB-IoT
Facing the smart meter market, Goodix’s NB-IoT OpenCPU has attracted great attention from customers in the participating industries due to its advantages of higher integration, easier use and better BoM cost. This chip adopts AP&CP (application and communication system) innovative dual-core architecture to achieve ultra-low power consumption while ensuring more stable and reliable operation and communication of the entire system. Goodix Technology provides easy-to-use SDK tools for customers. At present, the company has successfully implemented a smart water meter case based on this solution with well-known industry partners, and is fully promoting it to a wider range of IoT industry applications such as metering.
In the field of NB-IoT, Goodix Technology has three major advantages: 1. Excellent communication performance. The advanced communication processing (CP) engine independently developed by Goodix Technology can still provide stable connection and reliable connection under weak coverage network. Data transmission; 2. Equipped with ultra-low-power OpenCPU dual-core architecture, providing enough on-chip resources, no external MCU is required, and the cost of the complete solution is better. Rich instruction sets and tools can help customers develop products quickly; 3. The scalable security solution not only supports current domestic algorithms, but also passed the certification of Deutsche Telekom.
Health Sensor Display and Application Cases
Focusing on the field of big health, Goodix Technology brought a variety of health sensors to display. The author saw at the scene: including GH3018, which supports heart rate, blood oxygen function, built-in 24bit high-precision ADC, and GH3220, which supports heart rate, blood oxygen and electrocardiogram functions. The customer product ECG has passed the international second-class medical device certification, suitable for Wearable products and medical accessories. There are also multi-functional interactive sensors. The products on display include GH6212 and GH611 dedicated wearing detection chip for TWS, which supports dual-position wearing detection + touch slider combination and is suitable for TWS headsets.
At the seminar booth, Huawei’s smart watch Watch3 attracted everyone’s attention. This product uses a combination of heart rate + blood oxygen health detection + ECG. It is reported that Goodix Technology has launched a rich combination of sensor solutions for health detection and multi-functional interaction , and obtained large-scale commercial use of well-known brands at home and abroad. With the advent of the era of national health, Goodix Technology has launched an integrated solution for blood oxygen clips.
In addition, Goodix demonstrated a 3D ToF solution integrating an image sensor and a laser driver, which can measure depth with high precision and support rich applications such as mobile phones and robots. On mobile phones, the solution has high-precision and low-power ranging performance within a range of 5 meters and an error of less than 1%. With self-developed densification algorithm, it can meet the application requirements of precise blurring of photo backgrounds and fast focusing of night scenes.
Figure: eSE + NFC for mobile terminals
Ye Jinchun emphasized that Goodix’s strategic layout: sensing + computing + connection + security, security chips and NFC both belong to the security category, which will promote new security applications on digital mobile terminals. Regarding the size of the security chip market, Ye Jinchun said that eSE security chips have a global market of 2 billion to 3 billion US dollars, the traditional card market has a market of 1 billion US dollars, and eSE+ NFC has a market of more than 1 billion US dollars. There will be a larger market in the automotive field, IoT field, IoT firmware upgrade and data tamper prevention.
As a root technology of chips, security has also been widely empowered by other chips. Ye Jinchun pointed out that the Bluetooth chip launched by Goodix Technology today already uses security technology. The eSE security chip GSEA0 chip has passed a series of heavyweight certifications such as CC EAL5+, EMVCo, NFTC, etc., and can support financial payment, identity authentication, data encryption and other functions, and accelerate the popularization of security applications represented by digital RMB.
Connectivity: A new generation of low-power BLE SoC GR5526, the wearable market
With the development and improvement of Bluetooth low energy technology, Bluetooth low energy has ushered in considerable growth in wearable devices, smart phones and PC accessories, smart homes and other markets. According to statistics from ABI Research, in 2021, 987 million Bluetooth low energy devices will be shipped globally, a year-on-year increase of 26%. In the future era of AIoT, peripheral devices equipped with sensors + low-power Bluetooth or traditional Bluetooth devices will grow rapidly. The Bluetooth SIG expects annual shipments of single-mode Bluetooth low energy devices to triple from 2021 to 2025.