For vehicles to operate as autonomously as possible in the future, they must meet completely new requirements in data processing and sensor technology. State-of-the-art technology by AT&S enables high-resolution scanning of the surroundings as well as processing and transferring the data volume incurred. In January, the high-tech group from Austria will present its latest developments in this area at the CES Consumer Electronics Show.

Cars that operate autonomously and without errors are a cornerstone of concepts aiming to make transport greener and safer. From today's perspective, this is still a distant dream as the technical challenges are enormous and legal framework conditions are yet to be established. Autonomous vehicles permanently need accurate information about their surroundings, sufficient computing power to process this flood of data and high-speed data connections to communicate with traffic lights or other cars. As the share of electronics in cars increases, little space is available and miniaturisation is continuously gaining importance.

Sensors for cars

AT&S has developed solutions that all leading automotive manufacturers use to cope with these challenges: For example, new processes allow the integration of antennas for high-frequency signals directly into printed circuit boards with virtually no losses. This allows building radar sensors featuring significantly higher resolution than current products. As a result, self-driving cars of the future will be able to reliably identify small objects such as small animals or things on the road.

Likewise, high-resolution cameras are used to collect reliable information about the surrounding environment. AT&S benefits from its long-standing experience in the smartphone market, which enables us to integrate high-resolution optical sensors directly into the printed circuit boards. As a result, extremely robust systems are created which can identify pedestrians or road conditions very quickly since the data can be processed directly in the camera module.

V2X communication

In order for self-driving cars to capitalise on their advantages, coordination between them will be necessary. The data collected by a vehicle must be shared with other road users. Moreover, traffic lights or toll booths also have to pass on information to vehicles. This requires wireless communication channels that transmit data with high bandwidth and without delay. The new 5G standard meets these requirements. With its HDI and substrate-like printed circuit boards (SLP), AT&S provides the basis for such complex communication channels which meet even the highest demands very efficiently.

The less human intervention is intended, the more complex the decisions that need to be made by driver assistance systems for self-driving cars. Different processors and processing units that operate reliably and fast are required for general and specialised tasks. AT&S interconnect solutions combine the necessary data processing capacity and computing power in a very small space while at the same time meeting the demanding automotive requirements.

Register now for PCB East, the electronics industry technical conference and exhibition for the East Coast!