Automotive Engineering - December 2024 - 13

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EXPERT Insight
Expert Insight Interview with Justin Weigold of TE Connectivity
TE Connectivity builds advanced connectors and sensors for multiple industries, including automotive, aerospace, IoT and energy.
In this edition of Expert Insights, TE Connectivity's global product manager for automotive data connectivity, Justin Weigold, talks
about the changes coming to electrical/electronic vehicle architectures and cameras on software-defined vehicles (SDVs).
Expert Insight: How does the trend toward
SDVs impact the electrical/electronic vehicle
architecture?
Justin Weigold: The journey towards SDVs is
driven by fulfilling our consumer's expectation
of future vehicles, following the PACE
trends for vehicles to become more personalized,
autonomous, connected, and electrified.
This results in an increase in applications and
in the number of sensors per vehicle.
SDVs integrate more software-driven functionalities,
requiring a new type of E/E architecture
to handle software updates, data
management, and integration of various systems.
Traditional vehicle architectures are evolving towards
zonal architectures that centralize computing, reduce wiring
complexity, and provide a platform for vehicle upgrades.
Expert Insight: How does that transformation impact the
development of vehicle cameras?
Weigold: SDVs and zonal architectures influence it in several
ways. Everything you want to do with software needs to be already
available in the physical layout, which results in a strong
increase in camera content per vehicle, for example. The resolution
of automotive cameras is increasing quickly, with more
computing power being centralized in supercomputers.
To enable this real-time, high-definition imaging, cameras
need to be able to handle high data bandwidth and increased
data rates. This transition introduces challenges like managing
signal integrity, electromagnetic interferences, variations in
temperature, and the need for miniaturization.
As cameras become more compact, connectors become a
larger component on the PCB. To address this, there's a push
towards high integration, such as embedding camera connectivity
directly into a sensor module. This also leads to a need
for cameras that support quick and easy assembly and integration.
Furthermore, camera systems must be compatible
with highly automated production processes.
Expert Insight: What do all these changes mean for camera
connector designs in the future?
Weigold: It's quite similar on the connector side. As cameras
transmit higher-resolution data, connectors must support
higher data transfer speeds and ensure robust signal integrity.
Miniaturization is another main topic because, while the cameras
become smaller, their connectors become, relatively, a
larger component. This requires new, innovative designs that
maintain or even increase performance. As connectors handle
more data and are used in varying environments, they must
be designed for greater durability and reliability, ensuring
consistent performance under different conditions.
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
Justin
Weigold
Expert Insight: What is TE Connectivity's
solution for connecting all these cameras?
Weigold: TE's data connectivity products can
be characterized as a portfolio of robust,
high-performance automotive connectors
that are compatible with existing market interfaces.
As architecture requirements become
more sophisticated, TE's expertise and
focus on creating value through highly engineered
solutions supports introducing more
and more of our own innovations.
Many decades ago, the coaxial system
FAKRA was launched in the automotive market.
It still exists today, as it offers a universal
range of applications and good bandwidth, up to 6 GHz.
Another development is the miniaturized coaxial MATE-AX,
where we set the milestone as the first supplier to come up
with market standard for mini-coax that enables bandwidth
up to 9 GHz.
Now, what makes our camera solution special? We already
see different coaxial connector interfaces being applied by
different OEMs, creating further challenges for Tier Ones in
the future to minimize variance and optimize costs. TE has
developed a modular camera connector platform that enables
our customers to be OEM-interface-independent. In close collaboration
with our customers and suppliers, we've been
working on a standardized design, minimizing complexity of
connector integration and camera assembly. Our platform
provides customers with several PCB sockets and different
OEM interfaces. The next step will be to make the whole system
even smaller, right?
Expert Insight: What is the value and importance of industry
collaboration when addressing the challenges posed by
SDVs and vehicle architecture transformation?
Weigold: Industry collaboration is crucial when addressing
these challenges, especially when it comes to standardization
and changing architectures.
It is important to understand that this need for collaboration
is not limited to two-party, customer-supplier relationships,
but can and actually should be expanded along the
supply chain. TE works with OEMs, harness makers, chip suppliers
and other partners in the supply chain to tackle these
challenges of vehicle architecture transformation effectively,
and to provide consumers with an SDV of the future that will
have a similar, maybe even bigger, impact than the smartphone
had on our lives.
Watch the full interview with Justin.
December 2024 13

Automotive Engineering - December 2024

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