Issue link: https://te.mouser.com/i/1349158
The Road to Autonomous Driving Transforming Vision into Reality Page 11 TE AUTOMOTIVE /// Trend Paper | The Road to Autonomous Driving The robust and compact MATE-AX connector is available in different configurations to meet different environmental conditions. In addition, MATE-AX connectors are developed to fit seamlessly into the existing cable assembly processes, such as the well-established FAKRA compliant-crimping processes. Future connectivity solutions will be applied in vehicle architectures to meet even higher functional safety levels. By 2020, it is expected that links will have data rates far beyond 12Gbps. TE is working on next-generation systems based on conventional physical layers and new technologies. TE's Next Generation Automotive Data Connectors For advanced high-data volume infotainment systems and next-generation data architectures requiring automotive grade robustness and reliability, TE will offer extended performance versions of its current MATEnet and MATE-AX products. These products will support data speeds in excess of 12Gbps. In addition, TE is already is in the advanced stages of development for the next generation of extremely robust data connectors for safety-critical, ultra-high data volume applications such as LIDAR and RADAR that will generate very large amounts of uncompressed data. TE will offer electrical, optical, and DWG- based (dielectric wave guide) data connectivity solutions that transmit in excess of 24Gbps and support Level 4 and 5 autonomous driving use cases. 6 | THE ROLE OF ANTENNAS In the same way that connectors and wires exchange information inside the car, antennas are a key com- ponent connecting the vehicle to the outside world. Previously their role was to receive analog broadcast services such as radio and TV. Today their role is increasingly about receiving and transmit data that the car and the surrounding world can compute and act upon. With its newly acquired antenna technology, TE has more solutions to offer the automotive industry for the V2X communications that will be neces- sary for autonomous vehicles. Global Navigation Satellite System A pre-requisite for any self-driving car is awareness of its current position. This is one of the most import- ant input factors for self-driving algorithms. Requirements for position accuracy have been increasing as more and more ADAS features are introduced into vehicles. Today, vehicles only need to know which lane they are in. In the future, fully automated cars will need to provide positioning awareness down to the centimeter. GPS antennas have evolved into GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) antennas, meaning they are required to receive several positioning systems such as GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, and Galileo. TE is following this trend closely and offers GNSS antennas which support the high level of accu- racy needed in self-driving cars. V2X and Cell Self-driving cars need large amounts of information to make the right decisions in traffic. In additional to sensors that capture the environment, information will soon be exchanged between cars. The objective is to exchange information, beyond the line of sight, that sensors cannot capture. For example, self-driving cars will need to communicate with other cars around a corner. This will involve V2X technologies that communicate with other vehicles and the road infrastructure. However, there are currently two competing standards for the underlying technology: IEEE 802.11p, which is based on the WLAN standard, and C-V2X, which is based on the cellular standard. It remains to be seen which will be adopted by the automotive industry. TE offers antennas for both standards and is therefore able to support autonomous cars, inde- pendent of the standard decision. The cellular network standard LTE is used today to connect cars to the