Covid-19 doesn’t stop technology advances

By Gina Roos, editor-in-chief

Although the Covid-19 pandemic has certainly slowed down the progress of new product development in the electronics industry, design and development work continues across industries. Some of the biggest technological developments ahead for the military and aerospace industry include electric propulsion aircraft, urban air mobility (UAM), and automated flight decks, according to Deloitte’s 2020 Global Aerospace and Defense Industry Outlook . There also will be steady investment in new and existing space technologies and services, the report found.

These advances will require a variety of new components and technologies, including sensing, 3D capabilities, artificial intelligence (AI), new power topologies, as well as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed-reality (MR) technologies.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the military and aerospace sectors continue to make inroads in the development and adoption of new technologies. DARPA has several programs underway that address AI for simulated war games, advanced technology for satellite constellation autonomy and space mesh networks, quantum information processing, optical interconnects, and passive 3D sensors for navigation.

DARPA is also working on security challenges in 5G and future wireless networks by leveraging open-source software and systems, the development of formal safety assurances for autonomous systems, and protecting wideband RF systems from interference and jamming in electromagnetic environments.

AR, VR, and MR, together with AI and 3D scanning capabilities and features, are finding their way into military and avionics systems. They are using these technologies to move to greater autonomy and meet challenges around cost and safety.

The coronavirus pandemic hit the airline industry at a time when it was in the middle of an ambitious pursuit of adopting new technologies, including AI, machine learning (ML), AR, and VR, reported Majeed Ahmad, contributing writer. One of the industry’s latest efforts is leveraging AI technology to move toward greater autonomy — reducing the pilot’s workload, accurately locating potential issues, and providing pilots with better situational awareness, he said.

He also found that alternative reality — which encompasses AR, VR, and MR technologies — is becoming the next big computing platform in military and aeronautical designs.

The military and aerospace sector is also looking at wide-bandgap semiconductor materials — silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) — as replacements for silicon-based counterparts as these sectors see an increasing need for higher power density and improved cooling.

Contributing writer Maurizio Di Paolo Emilio said that WBG technology offers a new generation of broadband power devices that deliver big advantages over silicon-based counterparts in these applications. “This technology could provide power systems with power densities up to 10× higher than current silicon-based devices in addition to lower cooling requirements,” he reported.

While SiC promises lighter-weight components for lower fuel consumption and lower emissions for the aerospace industry with higher switching and higher power density for a given voltage and current rating in a smaller device, added Di Paolo Emilio, a power supply designer could choose a GaN transistor, instead of silicon, for its small form factor and high efficiency. GaN transistors also dissipate less power and offer higher thermal conductivity, compared to silicon devices that have higher thermal management requirements, he said. One segment where GaN components are making some inroads is in radar systems.

Cybersecurity is also becoming ever more important as the DoD faces increasing cyber-threats and attacks across the supply chain. Contributing writer Judith Myerson takes our first look at the DoD’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification that starts to go into effect this year. This new certification unifies a set of cybersecurity standards, from Levels 1 to 5, that requires defense contractors to mitigate risk from cyber-threats. CMMC requirements will appear in the requests for information by June 2020 and requests for proposal by September 2020.

This month’s issue also showcases circuit protection devices that safeguard electronic circuits from overvoltage, overcurrent, overtemperature, and electrostatic discharge as component manufacturers are faced with the challenge of developing ever-smaller devices.

We also look at some of the most recent LED driver developments . One of the biggest trends in the market is the move to constant current LED drivers, which are being used in high-brightness and outdoor lighting applications. Other trends include primary-side regulation that eliminates secondary feedback circuitry and power-factor correction circuitry for higher power quality.

Industry players like ON Semiconductor say that designers are facing new challenges as the automotive industry transitions to all-LED lighting. These include improving efficiency, simplifying design, and reducing costs while meeting electromagnetic interference requirements. Some of the newest devices are from Diodes, Infineon Technologies, Maxim Integrated, ON Semiconductor, Power Integrations, ROHM, and STMicroelectronics.

Cover image courtesy of Shutterstock