Integrated Phototonics for Automotive and Mobility

As we move into a world of increased automation in automobiles, robots, and transport infrastructure, safety and reliability are paramount. By integrating multiple photonic functionalities into a single chip, integrated photonics engineering can create accurate, cost-effective, and miniaturised solutions for monitoring systems, fibre optic sensing systems, and LiDAR.

How PICs help

  • Electrification
  • ADAS and the drive towards Autonomous vehicles
  • Mobility pattern changes

The future of automotive and mobility

The transition

The automotive market is rapidly shifting toward electric and increasingly autonomous driving, fuelling demand for advanced electronics and sensors—an excellent growth area for integrated photonics. This transition also drives a surge in connectivity, presenting yet another key opportunity. Beyond traditional vehicles, the expanding range of e-transport systems, from two-wheelers to robotaxis, autonomous transporters, and drones, is opening up additional market opportunities for photonic technology.

Challenges

The future of mobility faces significant technical challenges, particularly in electrification and autonomous driving. Electrification demands advancements in battery technology, efficient charging infrastructure, and seamless integration with renewable energy sources to meet growing energy needs. In the realm of autonomous vehicles, the development of ADAS faces complex issues like ensuring system reliability in diverse environments, enhancing sensor technologies, and overcoming cybersecurity risks. The rise of diverse e-vehicles, robotaxis, and transporters adds complexity, as each requires specialised infrastructure and software systems. These innovations must also adapt to sustainable city designs, which will further complicate traffic management and vehicle coordination.

PICs to the rescue

Integrated Photonics significantly reduces the cost of lidar technology. A “lidar-on-chip” solution is compact, lightweight, free of moving parts, and can be mass-produced at a much lower cost. As a light-based technology, solid-state automotive lidar presents a strong opportunity for integrated photonics innovation. However, Integrated Photonics has much more to offer automotive than lidar. Photondelta has identified two additional applications with great potential: fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensing—e.g., for battery management—and secure quantum communication to prevent hacks of cars and infrastructure.

PIC Applications
in Mobility

LiDAR

LiDAR (an acronym for “light detection and ranging” or “laser imaging, detection, and ranging”) is based on the same principle as radar: sending out an electromagnetic wave and detecting the echo to determine the distance to an object.

Fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensing

FBG sensors are based on optical fibres inscribed with microstructures, which partially reflect light traveling through the fibre. As the fibre is subjected to strain, a temperature change or another external influence, the wavelength of the reflected light changes proportionally. As such, FBG sensors can be useful in a wide range of automotive applications, ranging from battery management to load monitoring.

Secure quantum communication

Self-driving cars need to communicate with other cars and with road infrastructure, and they need to do so securely. After all, you wouldn’t want a hacker taking control of a car, or disrupting highway traffic. Photon-based quantum communication may be able to prevent such nasty attacks. Researchers and companies are working to make this communication available, but overcoming limitations in transmission distances and rates as well as high costs, miniturisation and cost reductions are necessary. This means developing photonic integrated circuits for quantum communication.

How can we help?

Are you working on an application in which you can use photonics, but need support or specific know-how? Or do you need design or process support? We here at PhotonDelta can help deal with challenges along the entire supply chain

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