Electric vehicles equipped with optical connectivity

"Electromagnetic noise is a major issue in any electrical power train, both in full electrical or hybrid architectures. It affects the operation of the electronic circuits within the car and countermeasures have to be taken at early stages of the design."

Consequently, due to the presence of hazardous high voltage (above 25VAC or 60VDC), galvanic isolation is necessary between the domains of a battery management system and also between the primary and secondary systems of both AC/DC and DC/DC. Optical connections with POF provide the optimal means to achieve galvanic isolation while realising data communications between the domains at the same time. KDPOF will present their GEPOF technology at Automotive Ethernet Congress on 30th and 31st January 2018 in Munich, Germany.

Optical connectivity for electric and hybrid vehicles
The control of all the subsystems involved in the electrical powertrain requires a communication bus that transports the control, actuation and sensor signals among the different components in all domains. The communication bus has to be immune to the electromagnetic noise and, at the same time, comply with the mechanical, temperature, and weight constraints of the overall vehicle.

1000BASE-RH, the Ethernet specification for a Gigabit capable, POF-based communication protocol, is suitable for the new architectures, as it provides a natural galvanic isolation between communicating modules and a radiation free harness. Moreover, it can operate at 100Mbps for most current needs while also supporting future needs at 1Gbps.

KDPOF recently announced the sampling of the KD1053, which is supposedly the first automotive grade Gigabit Ethernet POF transceiver. The KD1053 complies with the new IEEE standard amendment Std 802.3bv for Gigabit Ethernet over POF. It fully meets the requirements of carmakers by providing high connectivity with a flexible digital host interface, low latency, low jitter, and low linking time.