Corning Incorporated designed and developed a hybrid cable and connector system utilising Corning’s automotive grade cables and connectors. By upgrading the existing wide angle camera system from a traditional GMSL2 copper interface to an optical fibre-based 10GBASE-AU link that is compliant with IEEE 802.3cz, the new system delivers scalable data communications up to 10 Gb/s. This provides a future-enabling solution to meet the challenging network requirements of automotive applications such as autonomous driving, assisted driving (ADAS), digital video recording, and machine vision.
David Sánchez, Hardware Designer at KD, and Project Manager of the technology collaboration, further highlighted the unique features of the joint solution: “We’ve successfully integrated our KD7251 optical transceiver into the LI-VENUS-ISX031-BASE-AU camera from Leopard Imaging. This breakthrough highlights the ability of our KD7251 transceiver to operate within compact automotive camera modules (sub-20×20 mm PCB), while enabling extended link distances up to 40 metres. By leveraging glass optical fibre, we eliminate Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) challenges, reduce cable weight, and support asymmetric link speeds to optimise power consumption. This innovation is key for next-generation in-vehicle networks, where high bandwidth, low latency, and interference-free data links are critical.”
Unlimited view with optical camera
With the new optical link, the LI-VENUS-ISX031-BASE-AU camera from Leopard Imaging supports higher data transmission, higher resolution, and greater image depth. By replacing the copper interface with the optical KD7251 transceiver, in-vehicle connectivity has significantly increased from 3Gb/s to now up to 10Gb/s.
The small camera weighs only 162g. It’s equipped with the Sony Diagonal 7.45mm (Type 1/2.42) CMOS image sensor ISX031 and can be used in a surround view system. Incorporating Corning’s cable and connector system allows for improved access to complex positions like the inside of a side mirror. In addition, the new solution enables cable distances up to 40 metres without loss of data transmission quality.