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The Navigator

Connectivity

The Subscriptions Are Coming for Your Wallet

It’s probable that the global market for new vehicles is becoming saturated and is unlikely to grow much past 100 million sales annually. Despite that, automotive remains one of the most...

News

AR/AI

Advanced Electrical Architectures Demand New Developmental Strategies

A few days after speaking with Danny Shapiro, vice president, automotive at NVIDIA, a developer of systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) with performances measured in trillions of...

News

Unmanned Systems

Making Sense of Next-Gen ADAS Sensing

“I don’t expect [SAE] Level 3-capable vehicles to ship in significant numbers until 2030,” asserted Rudy Burger, of Woodside Capital Partners, during May’s AutoSens 2023 conference in Detroit....

Executive Viewpoints

Manned Systems

Volvo Trucks Enters Electrification’s Next Phase

There were plenty of flashy news announcements about new trucks and future mobility technologies at the 2023 ACT Expo in Anaheim, California. Then there was Volvo Trucks.

News

Electronics & Computers

A Connected Approach to Auxiliary Battery Control

As vehicles become electrified and more “intelligent,” the energy consumption of the auxiliary system increases rapidly. The auxiliary battery, typically a 12V unit, acts as the...

Application Briefs

Connectivity

Platform Agnostic In-flight Connectivity

Northrop Grumman showcased its Software Programmable Open Mission Systems Compliant (SPOC) multifunction processor in a flight test for the U.S. Air Force, highlighting the ability to integrate existing and future platforms using advanced data links.

Articles

Electronics & Computers

VITA 90: Small Form Factors for UAVs and Other Space Constrained Platforms

VNX+ has been selected by the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA) consortium as a SFF standard to be used for C5ISR sensor payloads in space constrained applications, typical in manned and unmanned air vehicles and spacecraft.

News

Transportation

Powertrain, Electronics Lead Tech-Paper Topics at SAE’s WCX 2023

With engineers converging in mid-April for the 2023 WCX conference in Detroit, technical-paper presentations continue as the backbone of SAE’s annual congress.

News

Design

Spelling Ford with an ‘E’

One year ago, Ford Motor Co. kicked off a new era in its long history when it bifurcated into two strategically interdependent auto businesses. Ford Blue, the “traditional” business, is responsible for the...

Technology Report

Regulations/Standards

Snapdragon Ride Flex Puts Safety, Infotainment onto Single Chip

One chip, multiple benefits. That’s the claim made by Qualcomm Technologies about its new, scalable system-on-a-chip product family.

Road Ready

Transportation

Toyota Stretches SUV Line-Up with World Debut of Grand Highlander

The new Grand Highlander is a three-row midsize SUV, just like Highlander. So it’s not surprising that the Toyota siblings share two powertrains.

Articles

Unmanned Systems

Mercedes-Benz Architecting Its Own Operating System

Mercedes-Benz revealed in late February that it is developing its own computer operating system, dubbed MB.OS, which it said will be standardized across the company’s entire model...

News

Power

Hyundai Bears down on EV Charging, Sustainability

Inoperative public charging stations are a major irritant to both EV owners and to Hyundai Motor North America, asserts Olabisi Boyle, the company’s VP of product planning and mobility...

The Navigator

Power

Finding Range Through Compute Efficiency

This past January, I was among tens of thousands who returned to Las Vegas for CES—the show’s reawakening after the pandemic. Some definite themes emerged from the dozens of conversations I had...

News

Manned Systems

CrossControl Advances Virtual Fencing and Object Detection

Industrial vehicles such as forklifts, cranes and tractors have come a long way in terms of applying technology, enhancing performance with improved operation and safety. With the...

Editorial

Manufacturing & Prototyping

The Ford We Didn’t Know

Ford CEO Jim Farley exposed significant product-development lapses during his company’s fourth-quarter-2022 earnings call on February 2. Ford’s 4Q profit performance was no-excuses dismal. Its causes, he...

Road Ready

Automotive

Volvo’s Electric High-Wire Act

Under a circus-size tent in downtown Stockholm, Volvo recently introduced its new high-wire act — one with its share of nail-biting risk.

News

Power

The Push for E-Powertrain Progress

Electric powertrain development continues at a fervent pace as OEMs, suppliers and startups try to optimize current technology while forging ahead into new areas. Although battery engineering and...

Technology Report

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Lumotive’s New LCM Underpins Next-Gen Lidar

“The future happened yesterday” is an appropriate description of the rapid pace of development in automated-driving technology. The expression may be most accurate in sensor tech where, for...

Articles

Regulations/Standards

CMOSS/CMFF Trades Interoperability for Free-Thinking Innovation

Answering the challenge of increasingly complex military systems, the U.S. Army has released a set of open system architecture standards.

Articles

RF & Microwave Electronics

Using an Open Architecture Approach to Military Avionics

The system was developed to reduce the high number of controlled flight into terrain accidents in the southeast region of Alaska.

News

Connectivity

Increasing Connectivity in Construction

Wouldn’t it be great if the entire jobsite – the general contractor, subcontractors, designers, owners, equipment vendors and material suppliers – were all working in sync with the data that...

Articles

Connectivity

AV Life After Argo AI

The recent shuttering of Argo AI, one of the autonomous-vehicle industry’s leading tech companies, by Ford and Volkswagen might come as a surprise to commuters in San Francisco and in Phoenix, Arizona. Those who...

News

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Proving out DC Fast Charging — in the Extreme

The ability to charge electric vehicles at a very fast rate is a key to electrifying mobility across the U.S. It’s a focus of the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Extreme Fast Charger project,...

Technology Report

Energy

BMW Plans Move to Structural Battery Packs and ‘46120’ Cells

The technology below the smooth skin of BMW’s i Vision Dee concept car, unveiled at CES 2023, marks a major step forward in the company’s electric-vehicle...

Articles

Electronics & Computers

Simplifying Power Design with Modular Architectures

The design of complex, high-power DC-to-DC converter architectures poses some challenges to engineers developing aerospace and military-grade power systems.

Articles

Power

Overcoming eVTOL’s High-Power Connectivity Challenges

There’s no question that significant amounts of power are needed for electric-powered vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to become airborne and maintain flight. But...

Articles

Electronics & Computers

DC to DC Power Distribution in MilAero Applications

Advancements in cockpit avionics and more electrically actuated systems have designers paying attention to a broader spectrum of upgraded power needs and their connection to SWAP-C goals.

News

Design

Unzipping the Future of Sustainable Electronics

Electronic-systems designers are facing a serious reckoning: How to significantly reduce the environmental impact of more and more electronic content in new vehicles?