Peter Lefkin, MIPI Executive Director
Propelled by the momentum of a record-breaking year of specification adoptions and membership growth, along with other major strategic advancements, MIPI Alliance embarks upon 2022 securely positioned to continue advancing mobile, IoT, automotive and related marketplaces.
I encourage you to check out the 2021 Year in Review for a full picture of the range of accomplishments that will fuel important new efforts over the next year—from the development of 2022–2023 Strategic Priorities, to completion of another double-digit number of specifications, to new virtual and in-person education and engagement opportunities.
Driving Specification Development
MIPI adopted 17 specifications in 2021, including updates to MIPI CSI-2®, DSI-2℠, I3C Basic℠, and all four PHY specifications (A-, C-, D- and M-PHY), as well as introduced new components of the MIPI Automotive SerDes Solutions (MASS℠) framework.
Another milestone was reached this year with the adoption of MIPI's automotive SerDes specification, A-PHY℠ v1.0, as an IEEE standard, making it accessible to a broader network of system engineers. Just before the end of the year, A-PHY v1.1 was also adopted by MIPI and will be submitted for IEEE adoption in 2022.
The pace of specification development shows no signs of slowing—MIPI working groups closed out 2021 with a record number of proposals submitted for new and updated specifications, and as a result, development is currently underway on nearly two dozen specifications, including updates to multiple MASS interfaces and a new MIPI Security specification.
Advancing Implementation
The dedication of member and industry contributors over the past year has ensured we will continue to deliver the technical quality and implementation resources required by our ecosystem.
In 2021, working groups delivered multiple Conformance Test Suites (CTSs), App Notes, and FAQs for key specifications such as MIPI A-PHY and MIPI I3C®/ I3C Basic. The Debug Working Group also updated two key white papers, while the Display Working Group led the publication of a white paper focused on validating the use of compression for automotive displays, and multiple groups contributed to a comprehensive Introduction to MASS paper.
In addition, working group leadership and other contributors stepped up to host webinars, produce MIPI Bytes videos, publish MIPI blog articles, and participate in MIPI DevCon 2021 and the recent MIPI Automotive Workshop. The majority of these resources are available for public download, including all presentations and recorded sessions from the MIPI developers conference and the auto workshop.
Looking Forward
Education opportunities in 2022 will kick off with a MIPI Automotive Industry Forum later this month, and a call for presentations will be issued shortly for the virtual MIPI DevCon 2022, scheduled for 20-21 September. We've also begun planning for new webinars, additional Bytes videos, and participation in upcoming industry events.
The new year is also bringing new opportunities for engagement and collaboration. We’ll continue to coordinate requirements gathering, knowledge sharing and specification development across multiple working groups, and build on the liaison relationships that were expanded over the past year with organizations such as DMTF, OpenRF, PCI-SIG, IEEE SA, JasPar, VESA and ETSI.
Although we've adapted well over the past two years to all-virtual meetings, we're hopeful that 2022 will bring us all together again safely. Our events team is currently exploring both in-person and virtual options for upcoming member meetings, with the ultimate goal of continuing our work in the safest and most productive environment possible for all participants.
Moving forward, we'll further refine and prioritize efforts through our biennial strategic planning process, which launched earlier this week with an all-member survey to collect input on the 2022–2023 priorities. However, as you’ll see from a review of our 2021 accomplishments, we’re starting the planning process from a strong foundation with a sharp focus on the future.