Peter Lefkin, MIPI Executive Director
Looking back at our accomplishments and progress over this past year, I am struck by how much we can achieve with the support of our members. In 2018, MIPI adopted 11 specifications, hosted a DevCon event with record participation, advanced initiatives in key areas, established strategic priorities and released new resources, including a major 5G white paper and a half-dozen webinars.
Setting Priorities
We kicked off the year with a comprehensive and inclusive process to develop 2018-19 strategic priorities. Following a survey of all members, strategic planning sessions at the Vancouver member meeting and task group discussions, the priorities were approved by the board at the Glasgow member meeting. The process allowed us to solidify our direction and focus our activities in three key areas: Technical Roadmap (focus on 5G), Beyond Mobile, and Adoption & Enablement. MIPI members can visit the member website to access the priorities document and the strategic priorities webinar I presented with Kenneth Ma and Kevin Yee, chairs of the Technical and Marketing steering groups.
Delivering Specifications
In late spring, MIPI released eight specifications – a two-month period we referred to internally as "spec-palooza": Display Command Set (DCS℠) v1.4, DSI-2℠ v1.1, RFFE℠ v2.1, CSI-2℠ v2.1, Touch Command Set (TCS℠) v1.0, ALI3C℠ v1.0, I3C HCI℠ v1.0 and SyS-T℠ v1.0. We rounded out the year with the releases of Gigabit Debug for USB v1.1, UniPro® v1.8 and I3C Basic℠ v1.0, placing 2018 in second place for the most number of specifications adopted in a single year.
Advancing Initiatives
The past year included significant developments in key areas as well, and primary among those has been automotive. From the January formation of the Automotive Working Group (AWG) to the ongoing development of MIPI A-PHY, we continue to work to address the needs of the automotive industry. For the latest summary of MIPI's efforts in automotive, view the MIPI DevCon Seoul presentation, "MIPI Alliance Meets the Needs of Autonomous Driving," presented by Matt Ronning, chair of the AWG.
Also at MIPI DevCon Seoul, MIPI released a new paper, "Making the 5G Vision a Reality: A 5G Readiness Assessment of MIPI Specifications" announcing that all its specifications relevant for applications in mobile platforms are 5G ready. For additional details, be sure to check out the MIPI DevCon Seoul presentation, "MIPI – Making the 5G Vision a Reality," delivered by Kenneth and Kevin.
Providing Education
Speaking of MIPI DevCon Seoul, I encourage you to view the highlights video and browse the slides and audio recordings of all 11 presentations – from the keynote address and “state of the Alliance,” to technical presentations on the implementation of MIPI specifications. I hope you will be inspired to join us for next year's events in Stuttgart and Taipei.
2019 promises to be another productive year, with working groups advancing a host of new specifications, including A-PHY, and the expected adoption of new versions of I3C®, CSI-2℠, D-PHY℠, C-PHY℠, SoundWire® and others. In addition, planning is already underway for new MIPI white papers, webinars and other resources.
There's no doubt that MIPI had a strong year, and we are poised to accomplish much more in 2019. Reflecting on how far we've come in 15 years, and the rapid pace we're moving forward, I am eager to see what we can accomplish together in the next 15.