Our Connected World | TE Connectivity

The trend for seeing electric vehicles (EV) on the road has been on the rise. Sameer Pagnis, President, Global Automotive at TE Connectivity joined Host Tyler Kern to discuss facilitators and roadblocks in the EV field.

A convergence of factors are responsible for increasing EV prevalence. The technology is integrating rapidly, battery pack density is improving, and economics make these cars more affordable. The performance factor that makes it difficult for consumers to go back to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles once they have driven EVs.

Alternatively, the main barrier preventing EVs from a complete overhaul of ICE vehicles is range or charge anxiety, which includes charge time, how many miles a charge gets, and charge station availability. “Once that charge anxiety is addressed, that eliminates the primary hurdle of widespread adoption from a technology perspective,” said Pagnis.

The electrical power of these vehicles also poses an added safety challenge. Pyrotechnic or fire events needs to be known to the driver at least 20 minutes ahead of time. The high voltage switching in EVs also causes terminal and electromagnetic noise. Pagnis summarized: “The density of power that can charge rapidly and be made available economically and functions reliably; that is the biggest challenge.”

The future of EV will rely on consumer experience. TE must take their experience and find people, supplies, and customers who can partner and provide the right level of input. “It is all about bringing all of those experiences together and learning from it rapidly so that the end consumers get the best product.”

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It’s astounding to think that the first flight was just over a hundred years ago. Since then, humans have been around the world and into space. So, what’s the future of flight? Connected World host Tyler Kern chatted with TE Connectivity’s Matt McAlonis, engineer and aerospace expert, to find out.

First, Matt spoke about passenger aviation. “Disruption was the biggest trend during the pandemic, where only one-third of aircraft were flying. That has delayed timelines for new development and technology.”

Matt also noted the changing passenger expectations, especially around being connected. “Now there’s bring your own device, which allows passengers to stay connected.”

Supersonic travel may reappear in the future. However, the industry will need to overcome some big challenges. “The next iteration of supersonic flight will be responsible and sustainable. Engine development will need to be carbon neutral and quiet,” Matt explained.

Is electric flight a possibility? It currently exists, and the struggle is making it commercially viable. Battery life is the major problem to solve. “It’s how fast can you charge and what’s the duration. There is a helicopter market right now, but that’s loud. Right now, it’s somewhere around 10 hours of charging for one hour of flight. , Fast charging requires more amperage and voltage,” Matt said.

Finally, is commercial space flight going to be a reality? McAlonis commented that he thinks it’s possible. “There are challenges—launching, what orbits the planet, then once into space transporting from there. There’s exciting work happening here.” To learn more about Matt’s insights on the future of flight: https://bit.ly/2X0atTA

Taylor Fitzpatrick, Product Manager of Power Connectors at TE Connectivity, spoke on the challenges designers face when creating eVTOL platforms and the solutions they can use to help solve them.

Without the proper battery management strategy, eVTOL aircraft cannot glide or auto-rotate. Fitzpatrick said that, along with needing sufficient battery storage for an eVTOL flight, these aircraft require a significant amount of battery power to take off.

“We also need fast charging capability,” Fitzpatrick said. “eVTOLs that would be making numerous flights a day will require recharging between flights. This is why power management is the biggest challenge. Designers are responsible for helping with the reliability and performance of the onboard battery and power system, as well as the ground charging system.”

With all of these challenges requiring solutions to make eVTOL a reality, TE Connectivity is ready to do its part to assist designers in overcoming barriers.

“TE has decades of experience in automotive and aerospace connector applications,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s a great opportunity for a company like us that’s familiar with the standards involved with this market. At TE, we’re using our expertise to build a range of power distribution systems that can meet the needs of these new vehicle platforms.”

Part of TE’s solutions find ways to minimize the size and weight of their power management systems by using new materials and processes without compromising the reliability and performance of the connectors.

750,000 to 17 million – that’s quite the differential. These two numbers reflect where the commercial drone market is today, and where it's projected to be by 2029. Why are commercial drones rising so quickly in popularity? That’s what ConnecTEd World’s Tyler Kern wanted to know. Luckily for Kern, Catharina Atalaia Santos, a Field Application Engineer with TE Connectivity, was available to fill him in on all things commercial drones.

Flying cars, something once thought of as pure science fiction, are nearly ready for takeoff.

However, eVTOL vehicles, or electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, still have some barriers to overcome before they take to the skies at scale.

Bruce Conway, Principal Scientist for AD&M Wire Development at TE Connectivity, spoke on power distribution needs required to make urban air mobility an everyday occurrence.

eVTOLs need power, and those power needs are unique from traditional aerospace designs.

Known for utilizing proprietary mesh networks, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) discovers the benefits of moving over to cellular networks. TE Connectivity’s Gordon Barber, Global Director IoT, RF Solutions, and Sequans Communications’ Nick Taluja, EVP Sales & Customer Support, dove into this trend with ConnecTED World’s Tyler Kern.

As 5G cellular networks continue to grow and take hold of our cities, it’s easy to forget how far we’ve come from even a decade ago. However, cloud operators and those that work with cloud data centers are seeing these record-breaking transformations take place on a daily basis.

According to Nathan Tracy, Manager of Industry Standards for the Data and Devices Unit at TE Connectivity, “the number of connections that are made in the cloud are increasing much faster than the population.”

He noted that these connections are increasing at a 10% compound annual growth rate compared to the 6% compound growth rate for the number of users.

With 5G networks slowly making their way across the world, engineers and city leaders are looking for ways to use this new technology for the benefit of all. One especially important conversation taking place right now is 5G’s place in smart surveillance and smart cities.

Powering Urban Air Mobility (UAM) has challenges and solutions. Continuing the series on this vertical on Future of Air Transportation, host Tyler Kern sat down with Marcus Priest, Senior Principal Engineer at TE Connectivity. 

The future of transportation will include more acronyms and more flying vehicles. UAM, AAM and eVTOL are the buzz letters of tomorrow, as Martin Cullen, Senior Manager, Business Development at TE Connectivity, explained.

“Transportation and urban mobility as we know it today are undergoing a revolution of how we get around cities and go between cities,” Cullen said. “We’re going to see a completely different way of going about that. And eVTOL (electric-powered, vertical-takeoff and landing) is urban mobility. It is one of the step changes in aerospace that’s going to change our very way of life.”

Could flying cars indeed be just around the corner? According to Cullen, the answer is yes. And TE Connectivity is doing its part to make this one-time dream a reality.

“For TE, all of these aircraft are going to use an advanced electric propulsion,” Cullen said. “Motors, power distribution, positioning systems, telenetworking, the cockpit, the mission systems – this is where TE can come in. TE has the design and development of complete component solutions for high-power, high voltage, high bandwidth, and all the interconnect technologies for eVTOLs.”

But to get to the future, the path along the way does have its challenges.

“These aircraft have a lot of challenges we don’t see in normal commercial aircraft,” Cullen said.

“These aircraft are smaller, they’re more sensitive to weight limits, and they have to pack in a lot more electrical equipment. So, we need to have components that are small, highly flexible, lightweight, reliable, and capable of handling harsh environments that aerospace demands.”

To learn more about urban air mobility and its applications, visit our website at www.te.com/urban-air-mobility for more information.