Issue link: https://te.mouser.com/i/1349158
The Road to Autonomous Driving Transforming Vision into Reality Page 9 TE AUTOMOTIVE /// Trend Paper | The Road to Autonomous Driving Safety Safety links incorporate additional requirements that are crucial for the realization of ADAS today and future piloted or autonomous driving applications. This link type must ensure high functional safety lev- els and real-time computing capabilities. Furthermore, high data volumes must be transported, because sensor data, primarily large image sequences acquired by high resolution cameras, is delivered uncom- pressed with high refresh rates. Today, safety links are designed as large point-to-point data pipes using proprietary data transmission technologies. When self-driving vehicles become a market reality, functional safety architectures will be required. Fail-safe and redundant topologies based on ring bus systems is one possible solution. In addition, real-time network technologies with low latency and high availability will also be required. Deploying the open protocol time-sensitive networking (TSN) is one possible solution. 5 | THE ROLE OF CONNECTORS In the same way that functional and safety needs define link types to be applied, requirements for key ele- ments, such as semiconductors, cables and connectors, can be derived from link characteristics. Attributes like bandwidth, attenuation, and shielding effectiveness determine the design of each link component. In this context, the connector ties the chip and the physical layer together. The connector design depends on both the data transmission technology defined by the integrated circuits (ICs) and the specification of the cable or fiber. Various parameters must be considered, and specific link limits restrict the number of permutations. Therefore, it is crucial to develop connector systems in close cooperation and collaboration with all parts of the automotive data connectivity ecosystem. The cable assembly process should be considered at an early stage of development to ensure safe and reliable production of cable leads at a later stage. TE offers many classes of connector types based on its collaboration and cooperation with the entire automotive manufacturing ecosystem. TE is developing its automotive data connectivity product portfolio with solutions that meet manufac- turers' requirements for function, safety, link type, chips, and cable type, as well as industry standards and OEM or Tier1 specifications. Our automotive data connectivity solutions for different data rates can be seen in Figure 5. These solutions have the potential to support future technologies, as described in the following sections. NanoMQS The NanoMQS connector supports data rates of up to 100Mbps and provides a solution for differen- tial pair data transmission. NanoMQS contacts enable 100BASE-T1 Ethernet network links with robust automotive terminals. It enables the re-use of standard connectors and can be flexibly configured. This product family takes a tried and tested connector type, MQS, and positions it for use in much tighter space configurations. MOST Connectors The optical connector platform was developed specifically for the needs of infotainment links and adheres to the requirements of the MOST specification. It uses plastic optical fibers (POF) as a physical layer and carries data with speeds of up to 150Mbps. In addition, with the 1000BASE-RH Ethernet standard, 1Gbps network support will be possible. Solutions based on the proven TE optical connector platform are available today.