Carlos Pardo will give an online presentation about Automotive Optical Multi-gigabit Ethernet at the Automotive Technologies Virtual Conference on May 13, 2021

Presentation at Automotive Technologies Virtual Conference

, ,

Carlos Pardo will give an online presentation about Automotive Optical Multi-gigabit Ethernet at the Automotive Technologies Virtual Conference on May 13, 2021 at 5:30 p.m. EST and on demand. In-Vehicle Network (IVN) requirements are quickly evolving with new challenges like automated driving or electric power trains. The IVN has to support use cases such the vehicle data backbone, smart antennas, ADAS cameras/sensors, and displays or data loggers which demand higher data bandwidth while maintaining the reliability level required by the automotive industry. A new IVN standard is needed for multi-gigabit optical communications.

This optical automotive IVN communication standard, 802.3cz, is currently under development within the IEEE and is supported by several industry-leading companies. The new standard will cover rates up to 50 Gbits/s and support several in-line connectors. The target BER is better than 10-12 with ambient operation temp from -40°C up to +105°C (AEC-Q100 grade 2) in harsh automotive environments. High reliability (15 years operation, less than 10 FIT), and outstanding EMC compliance will also be fulfilled. In his presentation, Carlos Pardo will cover the needed standard, and detail the components needed to make this a reality.

For more information and registration, please visit automotivevirtualconference.com

/by
Efficient optical technology from KDPOF for safe backbone and ADAS sensor links in vehiclesKDPOF

New KD9351 FOT Reduces Cost for Gigabit Connectivity

, ,

The new integrated KD9351 Fiber Optic Transceiver (FOT) from KDPOF further reduces costs for optical in-vehicle networks at 1 Gb/s. Incorporating the transmit and receive optoelectronics into one single component, the KD9351 is an optical transceiver for 100 Mb/s up to 1 Gb/s with a small footprint. “Compared to STP (shielded twisted pair of copper wires), the combination of the new KD9351 FOT with the continuing KD1053 IC cuts the cost for 1 Gb/s by 30 percent,” explained Carlos Pardo, CEO and Co-founder of KDPOF. “The new integrated device provides enhanced efficiency and flexibility. It thus paves the way to optical multi-gigabit Ethernet in the vehicle.” Applications for the new KD9351, with competitive pricing for EMC critical or galvanic isolated critical links, include safe Ethernet backbones and sensor links for advanced driver assist systems (ADAS).

KDPOF Provides Efficient Optical Technology for Safe Backbone and ADAS Sensor Links in Vehicles

KDPOF presents new integrated KD9351 FOT for automotive gigabit connectivity

New integrated KD9351 FOT for automotive gigabit connectivity

KDPOF significantly lowers costs for the new KD9351 by constructing the transimpedance amplifier, photodiode, LED driver, and LED as one single device. Additional benefits are a shorter supply chain and no test duplication with the final test at the Tier1. Furthermore, the assembly of the FOT and the existing KD1053 IC is simplified and the connector offers snap-fit without soldering. The KD9351 reuses low-cost MEMs encapsulation and allows SMD reflow assembly with 8 by 7 mm LGA components. It is fully shielded against electromagnetic radiation. Fiber connection is done with a very simple plastic connector placed on top. The temperature range, from -40 °C to +105 °C, conforms with harsh automotive environmental requirements. The FOT withstands motor conditions with a vibration class of V2. Additionally, the device endures water without sealing. EMC performance is excellent even with the ECU shield case removed, as shielding is integrated into the PCB component. Optics implement Tx and Rx lenses. Samples are already available.

/by
Interview: Multi-gigabit Calls for Optical Connectivity in Vehicles

Interview: Multi-gigabit Calls for Optical Connectivity in Vehicles

, ,

Carlos Pardo speaks to Sanjay Gangal of edacafe.com. Key questions have been: What are the key challenges for connectivity in electric vehicles? How can the cost issue be met? With autonomous driving ahead, the bandwidth required will speed up beyond one gigabit. How will the upcoming automotive network be able to meet speed and cost requirements?

YouTube

By loading the video, you agree to YouTube's privacy policy.
Learn more

Load video

/by
Connection and Traffic Testing with the KDPOF Automotive Evaluation Kit

Video: Connection and Traffic Testing with the KDPOF Automotive Evaluation Kit

, ,
YouTube

By loading the video, you agree to YouTube's privacy policy.
Learn more

Load video

The video demonstrates the connection and traffic test for the KD1053 evaluation boards included in the automotive evaluation kit.  Connecting gigabit Ethernet over fiber optics, the automotive kit supports OEMs and Tier1 suppliers in technology evaluations. The kit is self-contained and includes all the necessary components to establish 100 and 1000 Mbps links over Plastic Optical Fibers (POF). The boards are versatile, auto-grade for SFP-POF. They are optimized for lab measurements in extreme operating temperatures, radiation, and voltage supply corners.

The automotive evaluation kit contains:

  • 2 SFP-POF media converter boards
  • 15 meters/4 in-line connectors POF harness or 40 meters/0 in-line connectors POF harness
  • 1000BASE-T SFP modules/UTP & SFP twinax cables
  • USB2ALL POF link
/by
New KD7051 PHY for Automotive Networking reduces cost and size by Integrating Transceiver IC, Optoelectronics, and Optics into One Fiber Optic TransceiverGettyImages

New KD7051 PHY for Automotive Networking

, ,

KDPOF presents the brand new integrated Fiber Optic Transceiver (FOT) KD7051. It is the first device for optical in-vehicle connectivity that incorporates the transceiver IC, optoelectronics, and optics. The integrated FOT is a 100 Mb/s optical port in one single component. “By constructing the ASIC IC, photodiode and LED as one single device, we significantly reduce cost and footprint for automotive Ethernet connectivity at 100 Mb/s,” stated Carlos Pardo, CEO and Co-Founder of KDPOF. “The decreased number of parts also reduces the effort in testing and qualification.”

Cost and Size Reduction by Integrating Transceiver IC, Optoelectronics, and Optics into One Fiber Optic Transceiver

KDPOF’s new KD7051 thus substantially reduces the overall expense compared to STP (shielded twisted pair of copper wires). Further advantages are no margin stacking between links in the supply chain and supply chain simplification. Consequently, it offers competitive pricing for EMC critical or galvanic isolated critical links. Applications include battery management systems, camera and sensor links, fast Ethernet links and smart antenna links.

All New Physical Layer

KDPOF’s new transceiver IC KD7051 offers a complete new FOT design. It reuses low cost MEMs encapsulation and allows SMD reflow assembly with 8 by 7 mm LGA components. The FOT is fully shielded against electromagnetic radiation. Fiber connection is done with a very simple plastic connector placed on top. The temperature range, from -40 °C to +105 °C, conforms with harsh automotive environmental requirements. With a vibration class of V2, it withstands motor conditions. Additionally, the device endures water without sealing. EMC performance is excellent even with the ECU shield case removed, as shielding is integrated into the PCB component. The assembly of the FOT and the IC in the PCB is simplified. Optics implement Tx and Rx lenses. The first prototypes are available.

Simple Implementation

As a plastic optical fiber with a large diameter, POF is more cost-effective to manufacture and install: installation is just easy plug and play; winding and clamping is similar to copper cables. Moreover, during the car assembly, the optical harness can be installed in the same process as the copper harness. POF has been present in vehicles for more than 10 years and is installed in millions of cars.

/by
Best Online Game and Video Connectivity with POFshutterstock.com

Optical Connectivity Secures Gaming and Multimedia Streaming

, ,

KDPOF has conducted a study examining the influence of home networking on online gaming and video streaming. For online gaming, the delay between an action the player intends to perform in the game and its actual effect on the screen can totally ruin the experience. Among gamers, this latency is known as ping or lag. The action issued by the player has to go through different network segments until it reaches the game server; it is then processed and the response travels back to the gamer. Numbers over 150 ms are a total no-go experience while being under 20 ms is considered a very good behavior.

KDPOF Study Reports Significant Effect of Home Networking on Online Gaming Experience

“There are three main segments that can influence the latency level: online game servers, access network, and home networking,” explained Carlos Pardo, CEO and Co-founder of KDPOF. “Our study showed that the home network plays a key role in the whole experience. Average values as low as 1 ms and up to 30 ms could be found.” A good solution is wired connectivity over plastic optical fiber (POF). It provides very low latency and jitter, just like Ethernet wiring but without visible cabling installed.

The Importance of Low Latency for Home Networks

The number one home network technology used nowadays in any home is Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, it provides little control over when each node has access to the air. Any packet loss is not noticeable for services such as web browsing, but when delivering video related services, these crashes generate peaks of latency. Those packets need to be retransmitted, extending the time required to reach the other end. If a device in the same environment is connected over Ethernet directly to the access router, the picture changes significantly. “It is not surprising that gamers prefer to connect over wires rather than Wi-Fi due to these effects,” added Carlos Pardo. “Delays are getting even worse with the rapid increase of multiple Wi-Fi access points of Wi-Fi mesh in the home.”

Plastic Optical Fiber Combined with Wi-Fi

Since wired connectivity adds only negligible latency to the path, it is recommended over wireless for the in-home portion. With its ease of installation, lack of aesthetic impact, robustness, and stability, plastic optical fiber is the ideal solution to contribute to a perfect online gaming experience. The ultimate home network solution is one that combines the advantages of a POF backbone with Wi-Fi access points throughout the home. It secures 1 Gb/s speed to each access point, avoiding any loss inherently present with wireless due to distance, walls or interference. While Wi-Fi links provide latencies on the level of milliseconds, POF is on the level of microseconds, i.e. 1000 times better.

POF can easily be installed in any duct throughout the home: power, coaxial, or telephone conduits, or easily hidden on walls, under carpets or through false ceilings. Devices that connect to the network via Wi-Fi will continue to use that connection, but will enjoy the dedicated 1 Gb/s speed of the POF network. This way, Wi-Fi speed experienced anywhere in the home is the same as next to the router.

/by
Demo: World’s First 50 Gb/s Automotive-grade Optical Network

KDPOF Presented Automotive Multi-Gigabit Ethernet at ISCAS 2020

, ,

KDPOF has successfully participated at the virtual ISCAS 2020 in October with several contributions: a presentation on multi-gigabit Ethernet for the automotive industry, an overview lecture on high-speed data communications over POF, and an important role in the final industry panel session. The IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) is the flagship conference of the IEEE Circuits and Systems (CAS) Society and the world’s premiere networking forum for researchers in the highly active fields of theory, design, and implementation of circuits and systems.

Towards the Multi-Gigabit Ethernet for the Automotive Industry

Session Chairmen Enrique Prefasi Sen, Analog and Mixed Signal Senior Designer of KDPOF, and Alberto Rodríguez-Pérez, Analog and Mixed Signal Manager of KDPOF, have presented the paper “Towards the Multi-Gigabit Ethernet for the Automotive Industry”. The paper, within the special session “Multi-gigabit Wireline & Optical Communication Circuits & Systems Session”, showed the status of Ethernet-based communication solutions, focused on optical links for the automotive industry. They displayed the implementation of a product compatible with the 1000BASE-RHC according to the IEEE Std 802.3bv, which is the first one able to transmit 1 Gbps over POF for automotive. In addition, the KDPOF experts described a new architecture to achieve up to 25 Gbps for automotive. The proposed multi-gigabit system leverages existing technologies such as VCSELs, multi-mode fibers, and photodiodes already developed for the data center industry.

High-Speed Data Communications over Fiber Optics

In his lecture, Alberto Rodríguez-Pérez gave an overview of the use of Plastic Optical Fiber as a medium for optical data communications and the techniques needed to get high speed data bitrates over POF. It is an interesting alternative optical communication channel to the Glass Optical Fibers (GOF) for applications that are not required to cover long distances, such as home or automotive networking. However, the reduced low bandwidth of the POF channel imposes big limitations in the maximum data bitrate that can be transmitted through this medium. Consequently, advanced data communication techniques such as channel equalization, data error correction, or data signal modulation need to be applied to achieve data bitrates above 1 Gbps.

Please see here for the video explaining the Multi-Gigabit demo.

/by
Wire Harness Congress: EMC, Weight Reduction, and Multi-Gigabit Call for Optical Harness

EMC, Weight Reduction, and Multi-Gigabit Call for Optical Harness

, , ,
YouTube

By loading the video, you agree to YouTube's privacy policy.
Learn more

Load video

At the virtual WEKA Bordnetz-Kongress 2020 (Wire Harness Congress) on September 22, 2020, KDPOF displayed insights and update on Optical Multi-Gigabit Connectivity. Juergen Schachtschneider, Automotive Manager Central Europe & Greater China, and César Esteban, Applications & Support Manager, presented how automotive networks profit from optical technology. Electric and autonomous driving architectures are substantially pushing the challenges for wiring systems. Issues include electromagnetic interference (EMI), electromagnetic susceptibility (EMS), and weight reduction. On top, automotive applications, utilization, and safety requirements are boosting the necessary network speed tremendously. The new 48-volt electrical architecture in cars additionally pushes the envelope in terms of cross-domain isolation requirements. Copper links for communication rates above 100 Mb/s need heavy and expensive solutions to comply with the stringent OEM’s EMC specs, resulting in high cost and very difficult engineering. Moreover, the weight of the ever-growing diameter of the required cables plays against the race for range increase of electrical powertrains.

Optical network technology overcomes these trends thanks to its inherent galvanic isolation, robustness, low cost, and low weight. Carmakers will benefit from optical links for communications between the 48-volt and the 12-volt domains. For weight, the optical network will save more than 30 percent of the equivalent copper-based harness weight. Optical Ethernet provides 100 Mb/s and 1 Gb/s network solutions today, and multi-gigabit Ethernet is the significant upcoming breakthrough for in-vehicle networks. The standardization effort for optical multi-gigabit is already in progress within the IEEE as an amendment to the Ethernet standard 802.3.

/by

Link Monitoring and Diagnostics App for Home Networks

, ,
YouTube

By loading the video, you agree to YouTube's privacy policy.
Learn more

Load video


Installing POF in the home is very fast and simple but, like other communication installations, it should be verified. The typical way to confirm that the installation is working is to check the link LED indicators. But this provides no indication of how well or how badly the POF link is working. It makes a difference because optical communication suffers attenuations from the fiber length, bending, a bad cut or bad insertion. An installation working close to the sensitivity limit may fail in the future due to small extra attenuations (aging, thermal changes, equipment is hit, etc.)

In order to ensure that the installation has been done properly and is operating with a sufficient margin, checking the link quality is recommended. This video demonstrates the KDPOF debugging tool. It allows monitoring of the POF links in an installation where a KDPOF daisy-chain outlet is used. The monitor application will give information about the outlet ID, operating time, connected ports speed and, of course, the link margin of the optical ports.

List of materials used in the video:

  • 2x POF media converters + PSUs
  • 1x POF daisy chain outlet + PSU
  • POF cable
  • 2x laptop
  • 1x STB
  • 3x UTP cable
  • KDPOF monitoring tool
/by
Photonics Days Berlin Brandenburg: Optical Automotive Ethernet Presentation

Photonics Days Berlin Brandenburg: Optical Automotive Ethernet Presentation

, ,

KDPOF is delighted to present at the virtual Photonics Days Berlin Brandenburg 2020 from October 5 to 8, 2020. On Monday, October 5 at 10:40, César Esteban, Application and Support Manager of KDPOF, will give the presentation “Optical Automotive Ethernet” within the session “Innovative Optical Fibers”. Plastic optical fibers (POF) are the most reliable solution in vehicles since they can withstand harsh environments, vibrations, misalignments, dirtiness, humidity, wide temperature range, etc. Additionally, optical Ethernet generates very low noise and can operate in noisy environments, such as in RF electronic boards.

Full Standardization of Optical Gigabit

Recently, ISO (International Organization for Standardization) has added two new sections to the in-vehicle Ethernet series 21111. These newly approved parts are key components to assure reliable implementations of systems that realize in-vehicle Ethernet Optical 1 Gb/s as a physical layer. With the new ISO 21111 sections complementing the existing IEEE Std 802.3bvTM, optical Gigabit connectivity is now entirely standardized. Based on these standards, KDPOF’s optical technology allows a complete, compatible, and interoperating implementation for carmakers and Tier1s.

The KD1053 transceiver perfectly meets the requirements of carmakers by providing high connectivity with a flexible digital host interface, low latency, low jitter, and low linking time. The transceiver is optimized for low power and small footprint and transmits data at 1000/100 Mb/s on standard SI-POF, MC-POF, or PCS, according to 1000BASE-RH (IEEE 802.3bv).

Outlook on Optical Multi-Gigabit

With technological leaps such as electrical vehicles, automated driving, and V2X interconnection rushing through, automotive applications, utilization, and safety requirements are boosting the necessary network speed tremendously. Consequently, in-vehicle networks are on the brink of speeds from one to multiple gigabits per second. Optical Multi-Gigabit Ethernet in the car is on the verge of standardization and implementation. With the approval of the IEEE 802.3 working group, a team of individuals affiliated with more than 15 key carmakers and components suppliers, including KDPOF, has started the standardization of an IEEE 802.3 Automotive Optical Multi-Gigabit Standard with strong support from the industry. KDPOF has already displayed the world’s first demonstration of an automotive-grade optical transmission system with 50 gigabits per second single lane, leveraging datacom components.

/by