Join VSC-IG
CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
OpenGMSL Vehicle Sensor Compression Investigation Group (VSC-IG)
OpenGMSL invites experts across the automotive sensor ecosystem to help define the requirements, evidence and interoperability needs for possible future vehicle-sensor compression work.
━
PARTICIPATE IN THE VSC-IG OpenGMSL is seeking experienced contributors from vehicle manufacturers, Tier 1 suppliers, sensor and camera companies, semiconductor providers, automotive compute and software teams, test-equipment providers, research organizations and other standards communities. Participants will help shape the questions, use cases, evaluation framework and recommendations from the start. No compression technology, profile or operating point has been selected. |
Why contribute?
The VSC-IG offers experts an early opportunity to define the technical foundation for an open industry investigation. The group will identify real vehicle requirements before considering solutions, create a common basis for comparing candidate approaches, and determine whether additional OpenGMSL work is justified.
Expertise requested
| Perspective | Examples of useful expertise |
| Vehicle and system | OEM and Tier 1 architectures, ADAS and automated-driving use cases, camera monitoring, in-cabin sensing, safety and lifecycle requirements. |
| Sensor and imaging | Image sensors, camera modules, raw and processed data paths, ISP design, HDR, synchronization and metadata. |
| Transport and compute | Automotive SerDes, in-vehicle links, ECU and domain-controller design, latency, buffering, bandwidth, power and implementation constraints. |
| Compression and perception | Compression algorithms, machine vision, neural-network pipelines, human viewing, quality analysis and task-based evaluation. |
| Validation and interoperability | Test methods, datasets, reference streams, error handling, conformance, interoperability and measurement equipment. |
Why the investigation is needed
Vehicle sensor systems are producing more data as resolution, frame rate, dynamic range, sensor count and perception capability increase. These demands affect link bandwidth, wiring, compute, memory, power, thermal design and cost. Compression may help in some applications, but its suitability must be established against vehicle-level requirements and measurable system outcomes.
A common investigation is needed because the effects cannot be judged by compression ratio or visual appearance alone. The complete sensor-to-compute path may involve human viewing, machine perception or both. Relevant considerations can include latency, synchronization, error behaviour, information preservation, implementation complexity and interoperability between independent implementations.
Open and technology-neutral process
NO TECHNOLOGY DECISION HAS BEEN MADE The VSC-IG will define the problem before evaluating possible solutions. Formation of the group does not select or endorse any codec, algorithm, data format, profile, supplier implementation, compression ratio, licensing approach or commercial model. Any candidate technology considered later will be assessed against requirements and evaluation methods agreed by the group. |
Proposed investigation charter
- Use cases and requirements: Build a prioritized set of automotive use cases and document the operating conditions, data characteristics, system constraints and stakeholder needs for each.
- System boundaries: Define where compression could be applied and evaluated across sensor, camera, transport, compute, recording and replay paths, including raw and processed data.
- Evaluation framework: Determine which objective, subjective and task-based methods are needed to evaluate human-viewing, machine-perception and combined-use applications.
- Transport behaviour: Investigate end-to-end latency, jitter, buffering, synchronization, error propagation, containment, recovery and diagnostic visibility.
- Implementation impacts: Document compute, memory, bandwidth, power, thermal, silicon-area, integration and automotive-lifecycle considerations.
- Interoperability: Identify capability discovery, configuration, signalling, metadata, profiles, reference assets, test vectors and conformance needs for independent implementations.
- Landscape and gaps: Review relevant technologies and industry work after requirements are established, identify gaps and recommend where coordination may be appropriate.
Questions the VSC-IG should answer
| Area | Investigation questions |
| Need | Which vehicle use cases have a sufficiently important bandwidth, power, cost or architecture problem to investigate? |
| Data | Which sensor data, metadata, timing and control information must be preserved for each use case? |
| Quality | What measurable outcomes are necessary for human viewing, machine perception or shared use? |
| Operation | What latency, determinism, synchronization and error behaviour must a suitable approach provide? |
| Interoperability | What common definitions, profiles, signalling and conformance assets would be needed? |
| Decision | What evidence would justify starting a separate specification, test or liaison activity? |
Proposed solution boundaries
- The VSC-IG investigates requirements and evidence. It does not itself approve an OpenGMSL compression specification.
- The work should remain applicable to multiple sensor classes and data paths while allowing use-case-specific requirements where technically necessary.
- The group should not assume that one metric, one operating point or one class of solution is suitable for every human-viewing and machine-perception application.
- Commercial negotiations, bilateral licensing terms and supplier-specific product decisions remain outside the technical investigation.
- Safety, security and regulatory implications may be identified as requirements or risks, but formal certification or regulatory approval is outside the initial investigation.
Planned outputs and decision gate
- A prioritized catalogue of vehicle-sensor use cases and system requirements.
- A common terminology and sensor-to-compute boundary model.
- An agreed evaluation plan covering representative data, metrics, configurations and reporting expectations.
- A technical assessment framework that can be applied fairly to candidate approaches.
- Interoperability, validation and conformance recommendations for the OpenGMSL ecosystem.
- A documented recommendation on whether additional specification, test or liaison work should begin.
SEPARATE APPROVAL REQUIRED Completion of the investigation will not automatically create or approve a specification. Any transition to normative development will require a separate OpenGMSL decision with an approved scope, participation model, deliverables and schedule. |
How to participate
Organizations and individual experts interested in contributing should nominate technical representatives and identify the perspective they can bring. Useful initial contributions include vehicle use cases, system constraints, representative data characteristics, test and measurement experience, interoperability needs, technical studies, and practical deployment lessons.
OpenGMSL welcomes participation from both members and qualified non-member experts, subject to the applicable participation, confidentiality and intellectual-property rules for the group.
JOIN THE INVESTIGATION Help OpenGMSL establish a credible, balanced and measurable foundation for future vehicle-sensor compression decisions. Participation from vehicle manufacturers and Tier 1 system integrators is especially encouraged so the work remains grounded in deployable vehicle architectures. |
About OpenGMSL
OpenGMSL is an automotive connectivity ecosystem focused on open, interoperable long-haul transport for in-vehicle video and sensor applications. The VSC-IG extends that collaborative model to an open investigation of vehicle-sensor compression requirements, evidence and interoperability considerations.