CTR, a Korea-based Company, Are The ‘Unseen Heroes’ Keeping One-third of Americans Safe On The Road
The world's longest indoor test track for self-driving vehicles
Autonomous bus pilot goes live in Gjesdal, Norway
Granite River Labs and KDPOF Collaborate to Deliver ISO-Standardized Automotive Ethernet Over POF
Porsche Korea Announces Plan for Social Contribution Campaigns in 2020
CE China 2019: Autonomous driving and new mobility
HUBER+SUHNER continues to drive in-vehicle connectivity forward with showcase of advanced automotive portfolio at IAA
Jay Ward, automotive consultant and Creative Director of Pixar Animation’s “CARS” franchise, to speak at Shift Automotive
Multi-Gigabit Communications Demand New Automotive Standard
Hamburg is taking the pole position in trailblazing shared mobility
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Volkswagen tests highly-automated driving on new inner-city test route in Hamburg
Volkswagen Group Research is testing automated vehicles in urban traffic in Hamburg. This is the first time Volkswagen has begun to test automated driving to Level 4 at real driving conditions in a major German city. From now, a fleet of five e-Golf, equipped with laser scanners, cameras, ultrasonic sensors and radars, will drive on a three-kilometer section of the digital test bed for automated and connected driving in the Hanseatic city. The results of the test drives, which will be continuously evaluated taking full account of all data protection rules, will be incorporated in the Group’s numerous research projects on automated driving, and will test customer-centric services and optimize individual transport. Actually, a nine kilometer long test track for automated and connected driving (TAVF) is being created in the city of Hamburg and will be upgraded to infrastructure-to-vehicle (I2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication by 2020. It is characterised by realistic and thus demanding traffic situations. The test track is an open platform for vehicle manufacturers, technology companies, and research institutions to trial innovative mobility services in real traffic conditions on public roads. With the test track, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is creating a user-independent and technology-neutral application laboratory on which vehicle manufacturers, technology companies and research institutions can test innovative mobility services free of charge in real traffic on public roads. Interested companies and research institutions can apply at any time. The TAVF coordination center together with the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg takes various criteria like the impact of innovation, benefits for traffic flow and traffic safety or environmental effects on air quality into account. With 1.8 million inhabitants, Hamburg is Germany’s second largest city. The City of Hamburg is promoting state-of-the-art technologies with the aim of becoming a showroom for innovative mobility. Digital technology plays a key role in making urban mobility and logistics in Hamburg safer, more efficient, and more eco-friendly. Therefore, Hamburg’s strategy on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) is targeted at traffic safety, traffic flows, environmental effects, and the promotion of innovations. These topics are pursued in six focal areas: data & information; intelligent traffic control & routing; intelligent infrastructure (maintenance & operation); intelligent parking; mobility as a service; and automated & connected driving. Running under the tagline “Experience Future Mobility Now?, the ITS World Congress will take place in Hamburg from 11 to 15 October 2021.
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Ficosa and Panasonic to provide co-developed Interior rear-view mirror with electronic toll collection for new BMW X5 in Japan
Ficosa and Panasonic announced an agreement with BMW to provide their co-developed Interior rear-view mirror with electronic toll collection (ETC) 2.0 for the new X5 model in Japan. The ETC 2.0 Interior rear-view mirror, which includes an improved built-in unit for motorway tolls automatic payment, has been selected by the German manufacturer as a standard in Japan for its new BMW X5, which was released there on February 27th of this year. This vision solution will be developed and produced between Japan (Panasonic) and Barcelona, Spain (Ficosa). For this new product generation, which follows previous successful launch of co-developed electronic rear-view mirrors and telematics control units, Panasonic develops ETC wireless communication technology while Ficosa is in charge of the mirror technology. In this regard, this solution, which integrates the ETC 2.0 module into the mirror, prevents the unit from obstructing the driver’s view and makes fully inserted card to be difficult to be seen from outside thanks to its card slot located at the side of the mirror. A solution that integrates the know-how of Ficosa and Panasonic Intended for the Japanese market, this rearview mirror allows to manage the payment of highway tolls due to the integration of an electronic toll system with credit card. In that sense, the mirror has a slot to insert the credit card and incorporates a small screen at the top that reports the amount to be paid. Mercedes Pujol, Director of the Rearview Mirror Systems Business Unit at Ficosa, explains "this additional functionality goes beyond the simple payment, as the mirror communicates with the toll station and is able to transmit this information to the navigation system of the vehicle, complementing the communication vehicle-infrastructure (V2I)”. Ficosa and Panasonic will continue to move forward with their collaborations to expand their line-up and sales of jointly developed products for OEMs.
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RoboSense Provides Cold-Resistant LiDAR to GACHA – First Autonomous Driving Shuttle Bus for All Weather Conditions
RoboSense announced today that it has provided cold-resistant all-weather LiDAR for the world’s first autonomous driving shuttle bus for all weather conditions -- GACHA. GACHA is equipped with RoboSense’s advanced cold-resistant 16-beam mechanical LiDAR environment perception system to operate vehicles in harsh winter and other severe weather conditions. The autonomous shuttle bus robo-taxi GACHA was designed in collaboration with Finnish autonomous driving company Sensible 4, who provided superior software for positioning, navigation, and obstacle detection; Japanese company MUJI, who provided excellent expertise in design and user experience; and Chinese company RoboSense, who provided advanced cold resistant LiDAR. - Environment Perception is Huge Task in Extreme Weather Conditions Environment perception is a huge task facing autonomous vehicle providers who require operation in all-weather conditions. Under extreme weather conditions, the performance of critical sensors, such as LiDARs and cameras, are severely impacted. Low temperatures, such as those in Finland, where winter temperatures can reach as low as -30°C (-22°F), can incapacitate the performance of semiconductor components, while snow and ice covered roads essentially cripple the image algorithms’ ability to determine abstract environment information. In addition, on an extremely cold day, the motor of a multi-layered LiDAR might not even start-up, as well as causing detection accuracy and ranging performance to be diminished. Under these circumstances, RoboSense’s new cold-resistant LiDAR is essential. RoboSense’s cold-resistant LiDAR “sees” a 3D world through emitting and receiving lasers pulses, with point cloud algorithms that accurately recognize obstacles, even in snow and ice. Therefore, LiDAR is the most important sensor when it comes to bringing autonomous driving technology to extremely cold environments. “When it comes to the GACHA project, engineers from both sides, through close and efficient cooperation, made it possible to let the whole LiDAR system operate steadily in the bitterly code weather in Finland,” said Mark Qiu, COO, RoboSense. - GACHA Robot Bus Fleet Deployed in Finland and Other Countries RoboSense will be joining Sensible 4 on their first GACHA bus fleet deployment in April for use on public roads, as well as future projects in various cities in Finland and abroad. “I’m pleased that our product has helped Sensible 4 and MUJI’s jointly designed GACHA self-driving shuttle bus solve perception problems in all weather conditions. In the near future, all RoboSense multi-layer LiDAR products will be able to operate in automotive grade low temperatures under -40℃,” said Mark Qiu, COO, RoboSense. “The RoboSense LiDAR hardware and environment perception algorithms we use are reliable and stable, even at freezing temperatures of tens of celcius degrees below zero,” said Harri Santamala, CEO of Sensible 4. “The GACHA development got started when the Sensible 4 team, working back then with the first generation of robot buses, noticed that they just don’t perform at all, even in light rain, not to mention the typical winter conditions in Finland. Completely autonomous self-driving technology is not here yet. Most self-driving cars can operate only in ideal weather conditions and well-marked roads. This is what Sensible 4 has managed to change through repeated tests in the harsh winter conditions of the Finnish Lapland.” Since its inception, RoboSense has been providing complete hardware and software LiDAR environment perception solutions for the autonomous driving industry, solving the LiDAR perception challenges for autopilot applications in all scenarios by combining the RS-LiDAR hardware and the proprietary RS-LiDAR-Algorithms. RoboSense is committed to making better products with continuous improvements on automotive grade reliability to fulfill customers’ needs in various applications and conditions.
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Ficosa connects to MWC 2019 with the latest 5G and V2X technology
Ficosa, a top-tier global provider devoted to the research, development, manufacturing and marketing of vision, safety, connectivity and efficiency systems for the automotive sector, leads the connected car race with the latest advanced communications technology for vehicles. The company, which will be at Mobile World Congress 2019, is developing cutting-edge connectivity solutions with the aim of revolutionising the driving experience, making it safer, more comfortable and with endless entertainment options, paving the way towards the driverless car. Ficosa’s main novelty at the event will be Bitax, a hybrid V2X (vehicle-to-everything) platform that, allows for short-range communication over Wi-Fi technology (DSRC) and cellular technology (Cellular-V2X). This hybrid solution allows for both types of communication using the same hardware platform. As the regulations vary by region, this is an important advance for the industry in terms of implementing one unique V2X platform worldwide. The company also offers the CarCom platform, which allows to integrate various connectivity solutions, in a modular way. This solution meets the goal of facilitating the direct communication between vehicles and new technology that will be the future of mobility (high-precision positioning, digital tuning antenna, as well as the 5G new modules). In the words of Joan Palacin, director of the Ficosa Advanced Communications Business Unit: “In this long-distance race towards the car of the future, it is essential to have a clear view of where we want to go. At Ficosa, we know that both connectivity and safety are key concepts that we must tackle if we want to make autonomous driving a reality. In this regard, V2X technology is unique, as in addition to being a top-notch connectivity tool it is also able to prevent accidents, and this is vital to the future of our industry.” - Use cases of connected car with C-V2X and 5G technology At MWC 2019, under the framework of the 5G Barcelona pilot programme for the 5G Connected Car, Ficosa, together with the other consortium partners Telefónica, SEAT, Mobile World Capital, ETRA and i2Cat, shares three use cases of a 5G connected vehicle with C-V2X technology developed by the company in a real city environment for safer driving. Specifically, the three assisted-driving use cases that are shown on the streets of Barcelona and Hospitalet de Llobregat (around the Mobile World Congress fairgrounds) are: • Detecting a pedestrian in a zebra crossing: the traffic light will use a thermal camera to detect a pedestrian in the crossing and warn the vehicles, which will display an alert message on the control panel, if necessary. • Detecting a cyclist when turning right: the connected cycle equipped with a high-precision geolocation solution communicates with cars around it to report its location. In the event of a possible collision, the cars will display a warning on the control panel. • Detecting a car stopped on the road with low visibility: the car stopped on a section of road with low visibility activates its hazard lights and automatically warns approaching vehicles with a message on the control panel. These use cases show how C-V2X technology offers a safer and more comfortable driving experience by allowing the vehicle to communicate with everything around it (other cars, traffic lights, traffic signals, pedestrians, cyclists, motorbikes, etc.). For cars to ‘talk’ to the city, however, latency must be kept to a minimum. So, it is essential to roll out 5G capabilities. In this regard, the 5G connection for this demo of the pilot programme has been made possible thanks to Telefónica’s end-to-end connectivity. Plus, the 5G technology provided by Ericsson and the Qualcomm next-generation connectivity platform for network communication and direct communication have been key players in this project. - First company to launch C-V2X technology to market Ficosa has become the first company to launch C-V2X technology to market after connecting 500 vehicles with City Now, Panasonic’s smart city in Denver, Colorado (United States), in collaboration with the Colorado Department of Transportation (C-DoT). Ficosa is Panasonic’s exclusive supplier and installer of the On Board Units for vehicles in this smart city. The On Board Units are a key device for connected mobility, that allows the vehicles to speak to each other and any other infrastructure element in City Now. - Leaders in advanced communications In recent years, Ficosa has put a huge effort into technology and innovation for advanced communications in order to lead the race to the car of the future. In this regard, the company has focused mostly on developing antennas systems and telematic modules, which allow both internal and external connectivity and are key for both connected and driverless vehicles. As technology increases the amount of information coming from the vehicle, users and their surroundings, Ficosa’s solutions focus on data protection and security.
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Optical Network Is Ready for Future Wire Harness Architectures
leading supplier for gigabit transceivers over POF (Plastic Optical Fiber) – will present automotive Gigabit Ethernet POF (GEPOF) for future wire harness architectures at stand 18 at the 7th International Conference Automotive Wire Harness on March 26 and 27, 2019 in Ludwigsburg, Germany. "With its inherent galvanic isolation and robustness, the optical Ethernet technology ideally suits current and future in-vehicle network infrastructure," stated Carlos Pardo, CEO and Co-founder of KDPOF. "POF lives up to the challenges of electromagnetic compatibility and safety requirements created by the new 48-volt electrical architecture." A well-supplied and competitive market worldwide ensures seamless integration into the wire harness of the vehicle. The inherent Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) makes POF perfectly suitable for applications such as Battery Management Systems (BMS) and Integrated Smart Antenna (ISA) modules. Autonomous driving relies on POF for a redundant system in addition to copper cabling in order to increase safety and avoid the autonomous car locking up if one of the systems is disturbed in some way. - Reliable and Robust Network Integration POF cables are very reliable: they can withstand harsh environments, vibrations, and misalignments. In addition, POF allows fast dynamic bending, tight bending, and dark liquid immersion in addition to delivering low noise and robustness regarding in-coupling of electromagnetic fields. As a plastic, wide diameter fiber, POF is cheap to manufacture and install: installation is just easy plug and play; winding and clamping is similar to copper cables. With the first automotive Gigabit Ethernet POF transceiver KD1053, KDPOF provides high connectivity with a flexible digital host interface, low latency, low jitter, and low linking time. The transceiver complies with the standard amendment IEEE Std 802.3bv™ and thus fully meets the requirements of carmakers.
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Panasonic Launches Delamination-free Semiconductor Encapsulation Material CV8213
Panasonic Corporation announced the commercialization of a new delamination-free (*1) semiconductor encapsulation material designed for semiconductor packages use in automotive and industrial applications. Full-scale production begins in January 2019. This product improves the reliability and extends the life of semiconductor packages operating in elevated temperature environments. The power semiconductor devices used in automotive and industrial equipment applications are operating at increasing temperatures. This trend is a result of reduced device sizes, higher-current operation, and more modular designs. Semiconductor packages, particularly those used in high-temperature environments, are prone to failures caused by interfacial adhesion loss between the lead frame (*2) and semiconductor encapsulation material. This type of delamination is often the result of differences in linear coefficient of expansion properties between the lead frame and the encapsulation material. To address this problem, Panasonic has commercialized a new delamination-free (*3) semiconductor encapsulation material that employs a combination of unique resin design and reaction control technology. This product achieves the reliability standard AEC-Q100, Q101/Grade 0 (*4) for electronic components used in automotive equipment, improves the long-term heat resistance required for automotive ECUs (Electronic Control Units) and increases the reliability of industrial equipment. Notes: *1 Delamination: Interfacial failure between the lead frame and semiconductor encapsulation material in a semiconductor package. *2 Lead frame: A metal substrate for supporting and securing a semiconductor chip and connecting to the wiring on the circuit board. *3 Based on Panasonic's internal evaluation samples. No separation observed between the lead frame and the semiconductor encapsulation material were detected using on measurements made using SAT (Scanning Acoustic Tomography) Equipment. Panasonic does not guarantee that no delaminated parts will be detected under any evaluation conditions. *4 AEC is an abbreviation for the Automotive Electronics Council, a group consisting of auto manufacturers and US electronic component manufacturers. The group promotes worldwide reliability standardization of the electronic components used in automobiles. Q100 applies to integrated circuits, while Q101 applies to the category of discrete semiconductors, and grade 0 indicates an operating temperature range of -40˚C to +150˚C. ◆ Features of the CV8213 series delamination-free semiconductor encapsulation material The delamination-free capability for suppressing separation between the lead frame and the semiconductor encapsulation material imparts semiconductor packages with increased heat resistance and longer operational life. - Temperature cycle test (TC test): No separation observed after 1000 cycles ( -65˚C to +175˚C) Improved adhesion of the semiconductor encapsulation material to the lead frame. The reduced stress at the lead frame and encapsulation bond line enables the level of reliability required for automobile electronic components. - Achieved reliability standards of automobile electronic components AEC-Q100, Q101/Grade 0 This material also complies with automobile clip-bond packages (*5) requirements, contributing to the improved reliability of these semiconductor packages. ◆ Product features The capability to suppress separation between the lead frame and semiconductor encapsulation material provides semiconductor packages using this product increased temperature resistance and longer operational life. Previous semiconductor encapsulation materials experienced a considerable difference in linear coefficient of expansion between the lead frame and semiconductor encapsulation material. In high-temperature environments, this mismatch caused separation (delamination) between the lead frame and semiconductor encapsulation material in the temperature cycling (1000 cycles between -65˚C and +175˚C) required for automotive applications. This issue often required an additional lead frame roughening process to improve adhesion of the semiconductor encapsulation material. The product CV8213, however, has a much lower coefficient of thermal expansion than previous materials thus reducing the stress between the lead frame and the encapsulant. This product was formulated using Panasonic's unique resin design capabilities and reaction control technology, which suppresses delamination even in high-temperature environments like reflow assembly processes and temperature cycle testing, imparting semiconductor packages with increased temperature durability and a longer operating life. The improved adhesion between the semiconductor encapsulation material and lead frame and the reduced stress experienced by the resin enable the package level reliability required for automotive components. This product improves the adhesion between lead frame and semiconductor encapsulation material and reduces the elasticity of the semiconductor encapsulation material by using Panasonic's unique resin design technology to relieve thermally induced stresses, particularly in high-temperature environments. This feature enables semiconductor packages to meet the challenging AEC-Q100, Q101/Grade 0 reliability standard for electronic components in automotive equipment and insures the reliability of semiconductor packages required for automotive applications. This product also meets the specifications for automotive clip-bond type packages, (*5) thereby contributing to improved semiconductor package reliability. Because automotive semiconductor packages are used in elevated temperature environments and carry high currents, the connection process is changing over from conventional wire-bonding to clip-bond connections. A clip-bond package has a large contact area between the semiconductor encapsulation material and the lead frame metal clip. This package design requires strong adhesion between the encapsulation material and clip area of the lead frame. This semiconductor encapsulation material product exhibits both increased temperature resistance and the excellent adhesion strength required for clip-bond packages to be adopted in future automotive applications, thus contributing to enhanced semiconductor package reliability. Note: *5 Clip-bond package: A semiconductor package design comprising a copper clip connected to the semiconductor chip. Replacing the previous structure of using aluminum wire-bonding to connect the semiconductor chip and lead frame. ◆ Suitable applications Semiconductor packages for automotive applications like ECUs, and industrial equipment such as robots ◆ Area of sales Global ◆ Remarks This product will be exhibited at the "SEMICON CHINA 2019" to be held at Shanghai New International Expo Centre on March 20 - 22. ◆ Basic specifications [Product name] CV8213 series Delamination-free Semiconductor Encapsulation Material Glass transition temperature: 125˚C CTE (ɑ1/ɑ2): 10/46 ppm/˚C Bending elasticity (260˚C): 0.4 GPa Moisture absorption rate: 0.13% pH: 7.0 Temperature cycle test: Passes 1000 cycles ( -65˚C to +175˚C)
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JASPAR Gives Compliance Approval to KDPOF Automotive Optical Gigabit Ethernet
JASPAR (Japan Automotive Software Platform and Architecture) announced that KDPOF's automotive optical Gigabit Ethernet technology has successfully achieved their conformance tests. With the KD1053, KDPOF provides the first IEEE® Std 802.3bv compliant automotive 1000BASE-RHC PHY to deliver 1 Gbit/s data rates over Plastic Optical Fiber (POF). Hideki Goto, Chairman of JASPAR’s Next Generation High-Speed Network Working Group and Group Manager at Toyota stated: “KDPOF's optical network solution greatly improves the speed of automotive networks and moves beyond obsolete, lagging networking protocols. Optical Ethernet technology is ideal for future in-vehicle network infrastructure, since it provides a radiation-free harness, and thus meets prerequisites concerning electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). Higher speeds are achieved by wider use of the electromagnetic spectrum, which forces OEMs to impose more and more stringent emissions limits on electronic components." Established in 2004, JASPAR's mission is to identify the common issues to be faced in the future by the car electronics sector and initiate standardization in order to resolve these issues and encourage the resulting objectives across the entire automotive industry. Among over 220 member companies are leading global carmakers and Tier1 suppliers such as Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, and Denso and so on. - Comprehensive EMC Testing Diverse Tier1 and Tier2 carmakers have carried out evaluation tests on KDPOF's KD1053-based development boards in coordination with JASPAR. The wide-ranging test scopes included EMC emissions and immunity tests, plus extreme temperature testing with standard automotive POF and optical connectors compliant with current ISO 21111-4 CD. EMC included radiated and conducted emissions (voltage and current), bulk current injection (BCI) testing, radiated RF immunity, and portable handy transmitters immunity. In addition, electrostatic discharge (ESD) and transient pulses were performed. The KD1053 solution achieved all test standards by a remarkable margin. - Automotive Innovation Roadmap "Our core objective at JASPAR is to generate an environment that enables those serving the Japanese automotive sector to cooperate and push automotive innovation further," added Hideki Goto. "We are very pleased with the results achieved with this joint test project."
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Ficosa inaugurates its new e-Mobility Hub, a pioneering centre at a national and international level for electric mobility technology
Ficosa, top-tier global provider devoted to the research, development, manufacturing and marketing of high-technology vision, safety, connectivity and efficiency systems for the automotive and mobility sectors, has inaugurated its e-Mobility Hub today. This centre specialises in electromobility systems for hybrid and electric vehicles and is a pioneer at a national and international level. Located in Viladecavalls (Barcelona), the company has invested more than €10 million in this new 1,200-m2 facility, employing more than 120 engineers, 60 of which are new hires. The e-Mobility Hub will become a global benchmark laboratory in the development of electric mobility technology, driving Ficosa's leadership in an area that is key for the mobility of the future. In this regard, it plays a strategic role, as it will become a driving force in electromobility solutions for the whole group on an international level. Yesterday afternoon, the new e-Mobility Hub welcomed Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism Reyes Maroto; General Secretary of Industry and Small and Medium Business of the Spanish Government, Raül Blanco Díaz; General Secretary for Business and Knowledge Marta Felip; CEO of ACCIÓ, Joan Romero; and Mayor of Viladecavalls, Cesca Berenguer, that were accompanied by Ficosa Chairman, José María Pujol, and Javier Pujol, CEO of the company, among other Ficosa’s executives. After the visit, Minister Reyes Maroto, speaking with the Ficosa President and CEO, highlighted: "We're working with the sector, with the whole value chain, on defining a strategic framework that will allow us to develop important leveraging opportunities and you are the ones with the middle- to long-term vision. We have to accompany this transformation in the industry, which is already here and we have just seen at Ficosa. There is no doubt anymore that there will be a disruptive shift in the industry that we must be part of". In the words of Ficosa CEO, Javier Pujol: "The e-Mobility Hub is a huge milestone for Ficosa, as it puts us on the leading edge of the revolution that electric mobility is bringing about in the sector with a cutting-edge centre at a global level. Likewise, this facility joins the hubs in Connectivity and Safety that Ficosa has in Viladecavalls, consolidating its leadership in key technologies for the transformation of the automobile underway and culminating the technological transformation process in Viladecavalls." The e-Mobility Hub has latest generation premises with four new laboratories certified by ASPICE, the ISO-Automotive SPICE regulations to develop mechatronic systems. At this centre, Ficosa develops and manufactures software and hardware solutions for hybrid and electric vehicles, specifically battery-management systems (BMS) and on-board chargers (OBC). The battery-management system is a device that gives users the required safety and allows them to monitor the battery charge level at all times, as well as its health. On the other hand, the on-board charger is assembled inside the vehicle and charges the battery using an electric cable, directly from a standard alternating current (AC) power socket. Javier Pujol highlights that in 2019 the company "expects to reinforce the team at the e-Mobility Hub with 100 more engineers, as well as adding 750 m2 and another laboratory" in order to satisfy the multinational corporation's needs as a result of its growth in the field of electromobility. - Consolidation of the commitment to technology The new e-Mobility Hub joins the other hubs in Connectivity and Safety that Ficosa has in Viladecavalls, which work for the company globally. This way, Ficosa is reinforcing its leadership in strategic products for more aided driving, driverless vehicles, connected cars and e-mobility, which have become pillars of the group's growth. Pujol stresses: "The Viladecavalls centre has positioned itself as one of the most cutting-edge in the world in vision, e-mobility, connectivity and safety technology, and is, without a doubt, the driving force for the whole technological transformation Ficosa has undergone in recent years thanks to the significant efforts we have put into the industrial reconversion of the Viladecavalls Technology Centre, as well as innovation, technology and strengthening the engineering team." In this regard, Ficosa has significantly expanded the engineering team working on these new technology products, with a record-breaking 1,170 engineers worldwide. Of these, more than 700 work at the Viladecavalls Technology Centre, the group's most important engineering centre, which last year alone hired 160 new engineers. The strong commitment to capitalising on innovations and the latest advances in the sector has led the company to boost the resources it puts into R&D, which was roughly 8% of sales in 2017. In terms of the important investment plan the company is rolling out, in 2017 it invested more than €90 million, 50% of which went to new technology. The company expects to put more than €500 million towards new products business between 2019 and 2023.
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Autonomous Driving: Optical Data Network Enhances Safety
KDPOF will demonstrate the seamless and EMC-compliant network integration with POF at the AESIN (Automotive Electronics Innovation) Conference on October 2, 2018 in Solihull, UK, and at the IEEE-SA Ethernet & IP @ Automotive Technology Day on October 9-10, 2018 in London, UK. You are invited to visit KDPOF and learn more about their gigabit connectivity over POF. The team of KDPOF looks forward to meeting you in October. I am happy to provide further information and a technical article or arrange an interview. Please feel free to contact me at ma@ahlendorf-communication.com or +49 8151 9739098. I kindly ask you to publish the news in the upcoming issue of your medium. Thanks for publishing KDPOF's highlight. Autonomous Driving: Optical Data Network Enhances Safety KDPOF Demos Seamless and EMC-compliant Network Integration at AESIN Conference and at IEEE SA Ethernet & IP @ Auto Tech Day Madrid, Spain, August 21, 2018 – KDPOF – leading supplier for gigabit transceivers over POF (Plastic Optical Fiber) – provides their optical network technology in order to enhance safety for autonomous driving. "For safety-related functions such as the data network backbone, autonomous driving requires redundant systems in order to increase safety and avoid the autonomous car locking up if one of the systems is disabled in some way," explained Rubén Pérez de Aranda, CTO and Co-founder of KDPOF. Reliability analysis shows that a technology redundancy like optical and copper cabling provides the highest reliability. Consequently, more and more OEMs are now considering Plastic Optical Fiber. KDPOF will demonstrate the seamless and EMC-compliant network integration with POF at the AESIN (Automotive Electronics Innovation) Conference on October 2, 2018 in Solihull, UK, and at the IEEE-SA Ethernet & IP @ Automotive Technology Day on October 9-10, 2018 in London, UK. EMC Lessons Learned on Gigabit Ethernet Implementation for ADAS & AV In his presentation "EMC Lessons Learned on Gigabit Ethernet Implementation for ADAS & AV" at the AESIN Conference on October 2, 2018 at 16:30, Rubén Pérez de Aranda will describe the lessons learned in the iterative design process with the final goal of bringing into the market a mass-produced automotive Gigabit Ethernet PHY integrated in an ECU and meeting the most stringent EMC specifications. "This grows more important as in-car network speeds increase to accommodate the demands of driverless systems," he added. "Higher speeds are achieved by wider use of the electromagnetic spectrum." This situation makes the underlying communication system implementation less immune to radiated and conducted noise. It also forces OEMs to impose more and more stringent emissions limits on the electronic components, limits that are often already tighter than the demands imposed by international standards. POF is ideal for the new architectures since it provides natural galvanic isolation between communicating modules and a radiation-free harness. With the first automotive Gigabit Ethernet POF (GEPOF) transceiver KD1053, KDPOF provides high connectivity with a flexible digital host interface, low latency, low jitter, and low linking time. The transceiver complies with the standard amendment IEEE Std 802.3bv™ and thus fully meets the requirements of carmakers.
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Free Auto Auto Session Aug 8 at FMS
Self-driving cars are only a small part of the solution for tomorrow’s autonomous transportation ecosystem that will be explored at this year’s Flash Memory Summit (FMS), August 7-8 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. A special Wednesday afternoon no-cost session will discuss the complete self-driving vehicle data capture, storage and utilization environment required to safely, reliably move people and goods on streets and roads around the globe. While every auto and truck manufacturer is testing self-driving vehicles they represent only a minor portion of the system that support the data that will be captured, stored and used in real time in the coming transportation environment. Storage and planning/development officials will detail the development and use of the three types of data that must stored and used in tomorrow’s vehicles – its own (automated driving), shared with other vehicles such as CACC (coordinated adaptive cruise control – I’m braking) and data to/from the infrastructure. Autonomous transportation isn’t just confined to the vehicle but a complete and comprehensive ecosystem of data capture, storage, distribution with different levels of speed, capacity, protection required at each point. This session is a global end-to-end view of the data and storage challenge facing automotive, storage, government and ancillary service providers. Providing end-to-end security, privacy, data and storage support for Autonomous and AI. Moderated by Andy Marken, Marken Communications; the Wednesday 3:20 session will include participants - Kun Zhou, California PATH, UC Berkeley; Clod Barrera, IBM; and Alan Messer, InnovationShift. Zhou and his fellow panelists will discuss the time when most or all vehicles will be able to optimize traffic flow providing signal, phase and timing (SPaT), MAP and RTCM messages for applications that will aid the entire system and the individual vehicles. Messer and Barrera will explore how responsible third-parties in the future will be able to tap into the vital data, process it and provide it to manufacturers, service providers and other parties. The data sharing between the vehicles and infrastructure will be explored as part of a national data warehouse for accessing real-time and historical data to improve the overall transportation system. Messer emphasized that because autonomous road vehicles are implicitly connected vehicles there are a multitude data challenges end-to-end. Large amounts of high-speed, low latency data must be trafficked around the vehicle, processed and stored. Data for remote takeover, mapping, traffic, and more must be shared with low latency with the secure cloud. Finally, the cloud has to provide both real-time and long-term high-speed data processing and storage. Data security at rest must be maintained as well as providing reliable logged data for vehicle safety, accident and statistical reporting. Never before has such a complex, safety critical end-to-end system be put out in the consumer space. The event’s exhibits and automotive sessions are free to anyone who registers at this year’s FMS at no cost by registering at https://www.expotracshows.com/flash-memory/2018/ Key FMS 2018 sessions cover 3D flash, RRAM, MRAM, life beyond flash, system and utility software, controllers, and persistent memory. Many sessions, including ones sponsored by NVMe, the standards-setting group, offer the latest information on NVMe and NVMe-oF. FMS features the most exciting products and offers the broadest coverage of a rapidly expanding market. The 2017 event drew over 6,000 registrants and 120 exhibitors. The conference also includes annual updates, market research sessions, performance testing results, an expert table session, and a VC Forum. FMS is the industry's premier showcase for storage technology.
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NGMN Alliance backs C-V2X technology for the Connected Car Eco-System
The Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance - which drives and guides the development of all future mobile broadband technology with a focus on 5G - today published its V2X (cellular vehicle to everything) White Paper containing the findings of two years of work by a task force of best in class industry specialists from across the world. Key conclusions from the NGMN include: C-V2X technology is superior to IEEE 802.11p standards from a technical, economical and eco-system perspective and can easily satisfy basic yet critical safety applications Its technical advantages include communication range, latency and scalability It has a natural evolution path to future advanced applications by updating current networks to 5G It not only covers safety features for vehicles but also supports use cases for other traffic participants, such as pedestrians and cyclists Tests are already ongoing, and the technology can be deployed by 2020 “This White Paper can provide the framework for a smooth transition into the world of the truly Connected Car – especially as we start to see the introduction of 5G – and I strongly encourage all stakeholders involved in the Eco-System to read the document and shape their future planning around it,” said Huang Yuhong, Deputy General Manager, China Mobile Research Institute. The White Paper follows the creation of a V2X task force in June 2016 to study and evaluate V2X technologies and requirements, while looking to harmonise Mobile Network Operators’ views on LTE-based V2X and DSRC/IEEE-802.11p. Its objectives include a reduced time to market of C-V2X and triggering co-operation with the automotive industry in order to create a common understanding amongst key players. Additionally, its work is covering various deployment aspects of the Connected Car, including multi-operators and roaming, business models of operating an Intelligent Transport System (ITS), examining available spectrum and regulatory aspects and reviewing security and privacy issues. Mme Huang stressed that NGMN supports the go-to-market statements from major industry stakeholders such as car manufacturers and chip-set suppliers. It also collaborates with other industry associations including 3GPP, ETSI and 5GAA. The White Paper comes just a month after NGMN confirmed the launch of four new key projects to support the development and deployment of 5G networks. The projects – “Spectrum and Deployment Efficiencies”, “Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (uRLLC) Requirements for Vertical Industries”, “RAN Convergence” and “Extreme Long-range Communications for Deep Rural Coverage” – have been highlighted as crucial development areas to further optimise and guide the telecoms industry towards the successful deployment of 5G beyond 2018.
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Continental Strengthens AI Research with UC Berkeley DeepDrive Collaboration
Continental today announced that it is expanding its international network for artificial intelligence (AI) in Silicon Valley. "We are joining forces with the world's leading AI researchers," said Demetrio Aiello, Head of Continental’s Corporate Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Lab. "Building on the momentum of our strategic partnerships with the University of Oxford, DFKI (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence) and other AI thought leaders, we have signed a five-year agreement to be members of the UC Berkeley DeepDrive (BDD) center.” The research partnership focuses on optimizing the speed of neural networks, as well as protecting AI systems in safety-critical applications. Both Continental and BDD are driven by the goal of implementing the AI research results into series production as quickly as possible. - Cars that see and learn better BDD works with state-of-the-art technologies for machine seeing and learning in automotive applications. The multidisciplinary center is managed by the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Industry sponsors support the program to help bring new technologies to automotive applications. Professor Trevor Darrell, also Director of the "Partners for Advanced Transportation Technology" (PATH) program, leads the group. "Having Continental as a BDD member is something we are very proud of. We are excited to be working closely together to develop innovative solutions," said Darrell. "Continental is a leader in the automotive industry and BDD is opening up opportunities for artificial intelligence and autonomous driving in automotive applications, which makes for a great team." - Strategic research focused on the future In the first year of the program membership, Continental and BDD are focused on two fields of research. First is the testability of AI algorithms in safety-relevant systems. Drivers need to be sure that the complex technology in their vehicles will work properly, so BDD is developing methods that will allow the reliability of AI systems to be tested more efficiently. The researchers at the center are also looking at how to operate AI applications in a memory-efficient way to accelerate and optimize neural networks. This will allow easier implementation of AI methods in vehicles. "As is the case for BDD, Continental is also at the international peak of the AI revolution in the industry," explained Dr. Stefan Voget, who heads up the relationship with UC Berkeley on behalf of the technology company. "Together, we can drive mobility forward faster than doing it alone." - Faster implementation of AI knowledge "What inspired us most to team up with the experts in Silicon Valley and UC Berkeley was the highly interesting research in the field of Explainable AI as well as the optimization of deep neural networks that were taking place there," Aiello said. Explainable AI focuses on understanding precisely how an AI system makes decisions. To test artificial intelligence in detail, experts must know exactly how it works. In addition to the benefits of the research itself, Aiello shared another important advantage of the membership. "The opportunity to have colleagues from Silicon Valley and other Continental locations working as part of BDD research teams enables more efficient collaboration and transfer of expertise. It also allows us to identify the talent we need for our AI strategy at an early stage." - AI research at Continental In 2015, Continental set up a corporate AI and Robotics Lab to coordinate the company’s various research activities. So far, this has led to strategic collaborations with NVIDIA and Baidu, as well as many leading research institutes in this field, including the University of Oxford, the Technische Universität Darmstadt, the DFKI (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence) and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (India). Earlier this year, the Continental Advanced Driver Assistance Systems business unit opened a center of excellence for deep machine learning in Budapest, Hungary. By the end of 2018, the technology company will employ around 400 engineers worldwide with specific AI expertise, and is looking to add AI experts in product and process development.
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Closing the gap: On the road to terahertz electronics
A team headed by Alexander Holleitner and Reinhard Kienberger, Physics professors at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), has succeeded for the first time in generating ultrashort electric pulses on a chip using metal antennas only a few nanometers in size, then running the signals a few millimeters above the surface and reading them in again a controlled manner. The technology enables the development of new, powerful terahertz components. Classical electronics allows frequencies up to around 100 gigahertz. Optoelectronics uses electromagnetic phenomena starting at 10 terahertz. This range in between is referred to as the terahertz gap, since components for signal generation, conversion and detection have been extremely difficult to implement. The TUM physicists Alexander Holleitner and Reinhard Kienberger succeeded in generating electric pulses in the frequency range up to 10 terahertz using tiny, so-called plasmonic antennas and run them over a chip. Researchers call antennas plasmonic if, because of their shape, they amplify the light intensity at the metal surfaces. Asymmetric antennas The shape of the antennas is important. They are asymmetrical: One side of the nanometer-sized metal structures is more pointed than the other. When a lens-focused laser pulse excites the antennas, they emit more electrons on their pointed side than on the opposite flat ones. An electric current flows between the contacts – but only as long as the antennas are excited with the laser light. "In photoemission, the light pulse causes electrons to be emitted from the metal into the vacuum," explains Christoph Karnetzky, lead author of the Nature work. "All the lighting effects are stronger on the sharp side, including the photoemission that we use to generate a small amount of current." Ultrashort terahertz signals The light pulses lasted only a few femtoseconds. Correspondingly short were the electrical pulses in the antennas. Technically, the structure is particularly interesting because the nano-antennas can be integrated into terahertz circuits a mere several millimeters across. In this way, a femtosecond laser pulse with a frequency of 200 terahertz could generate an ultra-short terahertz signal with a frequency of up to 10 terahertz in the circuits on the chip, according to Karnetzky. The researchers used sapphire as the chip material because it cannot be stimulated optically and, thus, causes no interference. With an eye on future applications, they used 1.5-micron wavelength lasers deployed in traditional internet fiber-optic cables. An amazing discovery Holleitner and his colleagues made yet another amazing discovery: Both the electrical and the terahertz pulses were non-linearly dependent on the excitation power of the laser used. This indicates that the photoemission in the antennas is triggered by the absorption of multiple photons per light pulse. "Such fast, nonlinear on-chip pulses did not exist hitherto," says Alexander Holleitner. Utilizing this effect he hopes to discover even faster tunnel emission effects in the antennas and to use them for chip applications.
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Artificial Intelligence: Continental and DFKI Enter into Close Collaboration
The technology company Continental and the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) have agreed to enter into a partnership. DFKI, which is spread over several locations, is the world’s largest non-profit organization for researching artificial intelligence (AI). The collaboration will focus on the mobility of the future and on improving internal processes. “The collaboration with DFKI is part of our strategy to strengthen Continental as a technology company by using artificial intelligence at all levels. Continental will become an ‘AI-empowered company’,” says Kurt Lehmann, corporate technology officer at Continental, to mark the signing of the contract. “AI should support our employees in their work and provide them with new tools.” Furthermore, AI is the central pillar of mobility in the future. “We are now working on the assumption that autonomous driving will not be possible without artificial-intelligence technologies,” underlines Lehmann. - Joint research in DFKI ecosystem As part of the collaboration, the Forschungslabor Intelligente Technologien, FIT for short (research lab for intelligent technologies), will be established at the DFKI location in Kaiserslautern. Here, in the ecosystem of DFKI labs, Continental employees will research the fundamentals of AI technology and address specific problems. This will include researching AI-supported methods of data analysis and software development. Continental is also working on developing AI-based tools that will help the more than 16,000 software and IT employees worldwide with quality assurance and upgrading functions. - Self-learning systems for better processes and quicker results Continental engineers have already identified a number of applications for AI. For example, in material flow, machine learning can be used to create more precise forecasts of raw-materials requirements. DFKI has well-honed skills in this area of technology. Professor Andreas Dengel is the head of the DFKI research sector “Smart Data & Knowledge Services.” For him, sustainable corporate management currently requires active and extensive knowledge management: “The main task is putting lean, decentralized and continuously learning organizations in a position to respond both flexibly and coherently.” For this purpose, DFKI experts are developing automated personal knowledge assistants, which are systems that identify documents and automatically detect people, projects, events or locations, for example. Knowledge assistants help configure workflows to specific requirements and provide relevant information in each field. - Faster object recognition thanks to artificial neural networks Continental also employs AI in its product development. In 2020, the company plans to produce, for the first time ever, neural networks on a larger scale with its fifth generation cameras for faster object recognition. Artificial neural networks consist of adaptive mathematical units that can process and execute complex functions. - AI research at Continental In 2015, Continental set up a central AI predevelopment department to coordinate the various AI research activities. The technology company is collaborating with NVIDIA, Baidu and many other research institutes in this field, including the University of Oxford, the Technische Universität Darmstadt and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (India). In Budapest, Hungary, the Continental Advanced Driver Assistance Systems business unit opened a center of excellence for deep machine learning in May 2018. By the end of 2018, the technology company will employ around 400 engineers worldwide with specific AI expertise and is looking for further talented people for product and process development in artificial intelligence. Continental develops pioneering technologies and services for sustainable and connected mobility of people and their goods. Founded in 1871, the technology company offers safe, efficient, intelligent and affordable solutions for vehicles, machines, traffic and transportation. In 2017, Continental generated sales of €44 billion and currently employs more than 240,000 people in 61 countries. The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, with sites in Kaiserslautern, Saarbrücken, Bremen (with an associated branch in Osnabrück) and a project office in Berlin, is the leading German research institute in the field of innovative software technology. In the international scientific community, DFKI ranks among the most recognized "Centers of Excellence" and currently is the biggest research center worldwide in the area of Artificial Intelligence and its application in terms of number of employees and the volume of external funds. The financial budget in 2016 was 44.1 million Euro. DFKI projects cover the whole spectrum from application-oriented basic research to market- and client-oriented design of product functions. 519 employees from 60 countries are currently conducting research focusing on Smart Data & Knowledge Services, Cyber-Physical Systems, Multilingual Technologies, Plan-Based Robot Control, Educational Technology Lab, Interactive Textiles, Robotics, Innovative Retail, Information Systems, Embedded Intelligence, Smart Service Engineering, Intelligent Analytics for Massive Data, Intelligent Networks, Agents and Simulated Reality, Augmented Vision, Language Technology, Intelligent User interfaces, and Innovative Factory Systems. Impact: more than 100 professorships of former DFKI employees, and more than 80 spin-off companies with approximately 2,500 highly qualified jobs.
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When the autopilot hands over to the human driver
Autonomous next generation cars will enable the drivers to focus on other things during their ride. There are situations, however, when the driver will have to take control of the wheel again. In a project funded by the FWF, a research team from the University of Salzburg is investigating the problems arising from these next generation vehicles. Accidents involving semi-autonomous cars are currently making the headlines. Tesla and Uber have developed such powerful driver assistance systems – lane-keeping assist in combination with distance-keeping systems – that drivers have the impression their car is driving autonomously, even though their hands are actually supposed to remain on the steering wheel. Recent accidents have provided a foretaste of the problems we will face with the next generation of assistance systems. A group of researchers from the Centre for Human-Computer Interaction in Salzburg is currently investigating these obstacles in the context of a project financed by the Austrian Science Fund FWF. "Every traffic situation is different. We humans can very easily adapt to different situations, but it is very difficult to devise a system that covers all eventualities," explains project team member Alexander Meschtscherjakov. Autonomous cars are divided into classes depending on their state of development. “Manual driving is level zero. Level one is when a car can either keep to the correct lane or its distance from the car in front. If a car can do both, we call it level two – the recent accidents involved cars from this group. What we’re talking about now is level three cars. These vehicles don’t require the driver’s hands to be on the wheel, leaving them free to do other things.” This involves the danger of people losing their driving skills to a certain extent, explains Meschtscherjakov: “In special situations, when sensors fail or the system is overwhelmed by bad weather, the driver will need to take over, but may not have the necessary training to do so.” - Self-assessment of people with little driving experience Meschtscherjakov’s team approached the problem from various angles. They started by conducting surveys to find out how people with little driving experience assess their own skills. “We concentrated on two levels of losing control”, notes Meschtscherjakov. “On the one hand, we asked people how confident they were about complying with traffic regulations. According to our results, people feel relatively secure in this respect. The second question was about how confident they felt about their ability to react in dangerous situations. People who have not driven for a while believe that the requisite sensorimotor abilities tend to decrease. They feel uncomfortable, for example, when they need to overtake a lorry.” A second approach consisted of using actual driving simulations on a computer that focused on the hand-over procedure when the software returns control to the human driver. “Two groups of people practiced this situation. One group then stopped practicing and the other continued”, explains the scientist. After six weeks both groups were given a comparative test in the laboratory. The results of these tests are currently being processed for publication. - Comparisons with aviation The researchers also investigated a professional group that is familiar with a very similar process, namely pilots. When the autopilot hands over the controls, pilots are required to follow a precise protocol. “People who fly planes need to pass tests regularly and fly a certain number of hours manually. Adopting this procedure for autonomous driving would mean making sure people drive manually for a certain amount of time.” This is to be achieved through low-threshold incentives – the keyword here being “gamification”. Meschtscherjakov speaks of a point-scoring model where points can be collected during night rides or driving in heavy rain. “Another aspect is situational awareness”, adds Meschtscherjakov. “When pilots get an error message they have to follow an exact procedure. We are trying, in a similar way, to heighten situational awareness of handover situations, for instance by means of something like a checklist.” This has already been partially implemented, and the team is now working on a simulator version. In any case, it is necessary for users to focus on practicing these handovers. “It’s easier in aviation, because it’s a professional activity”, comments Meschtscherjakov. He has doubts about whether car drivers will accept these requirements as readily as pilots. - Social acceptance uncertain One important issue is social acceptance: “An autonomous car has to be defensively programmed. As a result, such cars behave differently and sometimes wait a great deal longer in uncertain situations.” Nevertheless, Meschtscherjakov can imagine that in some years from now, level-three cars will be operating in designated lanes or limited inner-city areas. The researcher thinks the latter is feasible because of the low driving speeds. In principle, however, it should be noted that autonomous driving, at least at the level three described, does not allow for weaker driving abilities. “Driving skills have to be even higher”, emphasises the researcher. - Personal details Alexander Meschtscherjakov is an Assistant Professor and the Deputy Director of the Centre for Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Salzburg. The computer scientist’s research interests include persuasive technologies for interaction, user interfaces for cars and the user experience in a technological context.
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Microchip Technology Automotive Market Strategy and Solution Announcement Press Conference
Microchip Technology Inc. held a press conference at Park Hyatt Seoul Hotel in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on November 7, 2017, and introduced strategies and solutions for the automotive market. Microchip is presenting a variety of solutions that can improve the key trends in the automotive market - efficiency, connectivity, safety, security and user experience. Microchip is currently supporting customers who design massive embedded control applications from consumer, automotive, industrial, telecommunications, defense and aerospace to computing industries around the world. In addition, the automotive part accounts for 25% of the total sales of Microchip. It occupies the third place in the MCU market in 2016 and the eighth place in the automotive semiconductor market with the market share of 2.9%. And in recent years, Microchip has been involved in a number of other acquisitions to strengthen its capabilities in automotive sector. Recent trends in the automotive market include electrification of in-vehicle networks and pumps, increasing fuel efficiency through increased use of brushless motors, security between ECUs in the vehicle as well as the connected cars, and improvement of user experience to enjoy it not only at consumer electronics but also at the car. Microchip offers a wide range of technologies and products ranging from a variety of network interfaces for automotive to meet these needs, touch and gesture recognition solutions for user experience, sensors and LED lightings to ADAS configuration technology. ▲ Willie Fitzgerald, Director of Product Marketing at Microchip Automotive Products Group Willie Fitzgerald, director of product marketing at Microchip Automotive Products Group, announced that Microchip is aiming to become the best embedded control solution company with advanced intelligence, connectivity and security technologies through ‘vision 2.0’. In addition to microcontrollers, which are traditional business areas, Microchip covers a wide range of applications ranging from mixed signal, analog, interface, security solutions, clock, timing, and non-volatile EEPROM to flash memory. Microchip recorded $35 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2017 for 108 consecutive quarters of growth. Microchip's current MCU market share is estimated to be the third highest in 2016, and it is reported that it continues to grow with its solid position. In terms of sales by market, automotive parts accounted for 25%. Meanwhile, a variety of mergers and acquisitions to expand technology capabilities have been identified as one of the key strategies. In the automotive sector, meaningful significant acquisitions in recent years include SMSC and EqcoLogic for transceiver technology, Micrel for analog or mixed signal, and Atmel for MCU, touch, and security. Currently, Microchip is in the eighth place in the automotive semiconductor market, and its acquisition of Atmel in 2016 is expected to strengthen its position and continue to grow. Moreover, products are being used in the networking and touch display of vehicles, LED lighting for inside and outside of vehicles, and ADAS. The company is looking forward to expanding into more fields in the future and expects business growth accordingly. ▲ Expected to expand in the future, high-level capabilities in Ethernet-based technology is introduced. Recent trends in the automotive market include ECU networking through applying a variety of electronic equipment in vehicle, increasing fuel efficiency through expanding electrification of pumps and motors, connectivity due to rises such as increase of communication among ECUs or connected cars and security such as encryption accordingly, and enhancement of user experience that can be enjoyed not only in consumer electronics such as smartphones but also in automobiles by utilizing capacitive touch and haptic technology. Microchip offers a wide range of interfaces for automotive networking from Ethernet to LIN, MOST, CAN, USB and so on. It is trying to lead the automotive networking and connectivity solutions market and become a company that can add bigger value to its customers' solutions. Among them, Ethernet-based devices have already shipped more than 60 million ports, have a broad product portfolio with AEC-Q100 certification, and provide a robust, secure and secure solution for the automotive industry. With the current driver-assisted systems moving from automation to automated driving, the number of ECUs in the vehicle as well as complexity will increase, and applications to support are expected to become more complex. In addition, the inter-ECU communication will continue to increase and the bandwidth demand will be even greater. Therefore, Ethernet-based connection technology is pointed out as one of the technologies that can effectively address these needs. Microchip added that it is in a position to move ahead with Ethernet technology as a connectivity technology for the automated driving era. ▲ Microchip provides capacitive touch and gesture recognition solutions for a variety of applications. The capacitive touch solution is considered one of the key elements of the advanced HMI to enhance the user experience. And in this section, Microchip has secured powerful capabilities about capacitive touch for a wide range of applications ranging from screens, touch pads, gesture recognition, and buttons to sliders. Currently, Microchip offers mTouch for proximity sensors, buttons, and sliders, maXTouch for touch pads and screens, and GestIC solutions for gesture control. About Microchip's strengths in maXTouch solutions, while providing products in the automotive market for more than 30 years, Microchip has understood its users, responded to new use cases, and demonstrated product quality in more than 50 million vehicles. It also has a wide range of applications ranging from a small pad to a 20-inch screen. It also has capabilities such as glove-wearing, high-humidity handling, force sensing, and gesture response. Moreover, teams have been deployed around the world to support customers and have been certified in product and firmware development. LED lighting is used extensively in exterior lighting as well as in interior ambient lighting and instrument panel backlighting, and it affects not only vehicle styling but also reduction of CO2 emissions. In addition, Microchip is supporting all aspects of LED lighting: standard analog-based approach, hybrid approach with analog-based and digital technology, and full-digital system approach to various topologies. ▲ ADAS implementation also helps to implement various technologies. In ADAS, the fastest growing segment, cameras and sensor-based applications have been shown to accelerate the electrification. And for the various functions that make up the ADAS system, Microchip is helping customers implement the ADAS system by providing a variety of products and solution combinations ranging from MCUs to networks, analogs and memories. In addition, MEMS oscillators that replace traditional crystal oscillators will have significant market opportunities in ADAS, smart actuators and user interfaces, with the benefits of reliability, accuracy and small packaging. Microchip's camera modules can be used in front, rear, surround-view camera systems and high-end dash cameras, and its access control system is developing its capabilities through passive entry, low-power UWB radar and home link for automatic door opening of garage door. In addition, there are application examples in the body control such as kick sensing for opening trunk door, steering wheel control, door handle sensing and TPMS. Motor control provides various competencies such as digital control for motor control in fuel pump, water pump, cooling fan, or turbo wastegate.
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Continual launched as new brand identity for CellMining
CellMining Ltd, a leading provider of behavior-based network analytics and optimization, today announced that it has changed its name to Continual, to reflect an expanded strategic focus towards the Connected Car market, and to better serve customers in the emerging Intelligent Mobility ecosystem. “We have been seeing a rapidly-growing demand for our technology expertise from the Connected Car market,” said Greg (Giora) Snipper, CEO of Continual. “The decision to change our name marks a new commitment to fully embrace the benefits our innovative network experience analytics solution can bring to this exciting new market sector. At the same time, Continual will offer mobile operators its advanced subscriber experience solutions.” Continual’s competences—network experience analytics on travel routes like highways and railways, analysis of communication patterns, and correlation between network quality indicators and customer perception—are being enthusiastically sought by car manufacturers, automotive electronics vendors, and forward-thinking mobile operators. These are essential capabilities to be able to market vehicles with the promise of excellence in communication experience, in addition to the more conventional automotive performance benchmarks. “Excellence in experience is already a feature that car manufacturers highlight to differentiate their brands, and this must now also include connectivity,” said Assaf Aloni, CMO of Continual. “An ‘always-on’, high-quality connection has become a prerequisite for connected cars, in order to provide optimal journey experience along with the ability to respond rapidly in safety-critical situations. Continual’s mission is to make that a reality, and we are committed to helping create the best-in-class Connected Journey Experience.” The Continual re-branding will launch formally at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, at Stand 5E61 in Hall 5.
