Author:
Jason Lomberg, North American Editor, PSD
Date
11/29/2021
PDF
We stand on the precipice of one of the greatest gauntlets all year (and into the next) with two intertwined topics for December and January – “Transportation” and “EV + Charging Infrastructure + Hybrid Vehicles,” respectively. But before we dive into this month’s focus, I wanted to personally thank our readers.
We all know about 2020’s challenges, and so it would’ve been easy to sit back and let 2021 return to normal on its own, but you allowed us to have one of the greatest years in the history of Power Systems Design.
From informative webinars to fun PSDcasts, fascinating product developments, breaking news, and expansive issues overflowing with Technical Features straight from the subject matter experts, we had an unforgettable 2021.
Hopefully, 2022 will allow for a complete return to normal and we can all meet in-person (including, and especially, at APEC).
Meanwhile, December’s issue deals with “Transportation,” an expansive topic that includes everything from heavy-duty vehicles to automation, infotainment, EVs, and a lot more.
The first article I’d like to highlight deals with A2B (Automotive Audio Bus) and ethernet in automotive applications.
And why are these two factors so important in modern vehicles?
As Matteo Crosio from Analog Devices explains, placing HD multicamera systems for parking assistance, 360° vision systems, radar, and lidar to enhance ADAS systems in the same communication bus is a huge challenge for OEMs and automakers.
In particular, ethernet runs into several roadblocks in the automobile.
“Although Ethernet has the potential to become the definitive answer to the huge demand for bandwidth arising with the newest technologies (radar and lidar, for example), there are several aspects still limiting its adoption in cars,” Matteo says.
In a different vein, Texas Instruments’ Mark Ng delves into the charging aspect of EVs.
We just covered prototype cabling from Purdue University that could enable EV charge times of < 5 minutes, but a wireless battery management system (BMS) could be just as crucial for the future of EVs and our electric charging infrastructure (which just received a $7.5 billion outlay in our $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill).
As Mark notes, “The BMS helps maximize the performance, reliability and longevity of electric vehicles. Carefully managing the charge and other operating characteristics of the battery helps engineers get more power out of each cell when needed…”
And finally, I’d like to call-out a piece that discusses “Charging Electric Commercial Vehicles,” be they “heavy-duty” or otherwise.
Littelfuse’s Martin Schulz hashes out the challenges of keeping electric heavy-duty or commercial vehicles topped off (vs. smaller electric passenger cars) and the three potential charging scenarios including depot-charging, opportunity charging, and high-power charging.
In regards to commercial and/or heavy-duty vehicles, Martin explained that “As time is money especially in logistics, either assigning idle times for charging or increasing charging power are preferred options.”
Best Regards,
Jason Lomberg
North American Editor, PSD
