The post 21st Century Personal Transportation Will Be Very Different In The Next Few Decades appeared first on Techso Mogro.
]]>What else should we expect to see in personal transportation innovation as we finish the decade of the 20s and head into the 30s and beyond?
IDTechEx has some ideas on what to expect in the cars and the infrastructure to support personal transportation over the next two decades. Its market research reports on Electric Vehicles, Robotics & Autonomy and Fuel Cell Vehicles when combined, provide a showcase of what our driving future will become. So, what’s on the horizon?
Invisible Charging – Building wireless charging infrastructure is likely to become a standard feature for roads and parking, making it possible to keep vehicles moving without having to stop. The current wait to recharge is already getting shorter as new battery technologies from companies like BYD make it into the mainstream. A 5-minute charge will be no different than the 5-minute stop drivers have to make today to refuel with gasoline or diesel.
In parking lots, instead of seeking a plug to recharge your electric vehicle (EV), seamless and invisible charging will become possible from powerful coils fitted underground, ready to provide energy through powerful magnetic resonance or induction. An EV will automatically charge without the driver, eliminating wait times.
On roadways with built-in charging zones, EVs will top up their batteries while on the move. An IDTechEx report, entitled Wireless Charging Market for Electric Vehicles 2023-2033: Technology, Players and Forecasts, describes what it believes will be the future of road-charging infrastructure.
Hydrogen-Powered Transportation – Hydrogen fuel cells have been around for several decades. For personal transportation, they have never gone mainstream. Toyota is one of the few who have tried to launch fuel cell cars with little success.
The challenge has always been how to make hydrogen to power fuel cells sustainably. It may be the most abundant element in The Universe, but on Earth, free hydrogen is a rarity. Only recently, a natural hydrogen deposit was discovered in France, estimated to contain 46 million tons. That’s enough hydrogen to power 100 million fuel-cell-powered vehicles for a year.
Today, we manufacture 70 million tons of hydrogen annually, largely derived from fossil fuels. The alternative source of hydrogen comes from water, H2O (two atoms of hydrogen to one of oxygen), using electrolyzers. Electrolyzers powered by renewable sources yield green hydrogen. Electrolyzers powered by thermal power from natural gas and coal yield gray hydrogen.
Fuel-cell powered cars may become the norm with home electrolyzers in place, making it possible to achieve zero-emission transportation, but only if the electricity to power the electrolyzers comes from renewable, nuclear, hydroelectric or geothermal sources.
The estimated need to make hydrogen the fuel of choice is 500 million tons per year. That will mean a buildout of home electrolyzers combined with a network of hydrogen pipelines and fuelling stations. With the potential range of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles up to 1,000 kilometres (620 miles), a hydrogen future is not beyond the imagination.
To learn more about hydrogen’s transportation future, access the IDTechEx report, Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles 2025-2045: Markets, Technologies, Forecasts.
Always Connected Cars – The future of software-defined vehicles with onboard AI is rapidly approaching. Whether these vehicles will be driverless or not, those onboard will engage with the technology on a personal level with AI digital assistants.
Vehicles will know their passengers, memorize their favourite seating positions, climate preferences, radio stations, and even dashboard displays. AI assistants will communicate with those onboard, provide maintenance guidance and more. Wireless connectivity will provide continuous updates to the onboard software as well as guidance for routing. Vehicles will communicate with each other to smooth out traffic issues and avoid traffic jams.
To read more, I encourage you to look at the IDTechEx report, entitled, Software-Defined Vehicles, Connected Cars, and AI in Cars 2024-2034: Markets, Trends, and Forecasts.
Service Station Evolution – Internal combustion engine vehicles created the automechanic industry. EVs and hydrogen-fuel cell vehicles appear to be less complex, requiring lower levels of maintenance. Combined with increasing automation, we should soon see robots currently being used on assembly lines leaping to servicing automobiles as well. Whether humanoid or designed specifically for the various types of services needed (think automated car washes today), expect to see robots become a common sight at service depots on highways and urban streets by the 2030s.
Real Autonomy for Cars – Autonomous driving systems (ADS) represent the evolution of current advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). ADS vehicles will be our call when summoned. They will navigate streets, interconnect with other ADS-equipped vehicles and be situationally aware at all times.
Will there be a need for drivers? Today, yes. Tomorrow, no (see image below). The most advanced ADAS systems being tested today can provide windshield holographic heads-up displays that highlight what’s on the road ahead. These heads-up displays can be used by a passenger opting to sit in the driver’s seat, taking control of the wheel for enjoyment. ADS systems, however, will not need a driver.
Radar, once used almost exclusively by the military and aviation industry, has become a feature of new vehicles being built today. ADS vehicles rely on the technology, with cars being equipped with forward, side, and back view radar systems. Side radars provide blind spot detection and lane change assist. Back-view radar makes autonomous maneuvering in parking lots a breeze. Automatic braking systems found on today’s vehicles make use of radar as well.
Today’s advanced vehicles include monitoring systems (DMS) designed to correct vehicle movements caused by changes in driver behaviour. DMS can detect driver drowsiness and even vital signs. These systems will be required in vehicles for drivers by 2026. In the future, occupant monitoring systems (OMS) will provide passenger monitoring, alerting to situations like a child or pet being left unattended in a vehicle on hot days.
Infrared and thermal sensors may be coming to vehicles in the next decade. Near-infrared systems can work in dark conditions to gauge driver alertness even if he or she is wearing sunglasses. Thermal sensors detect occupant heat signatures to determine the number of occupants in a vehicle, the state of their health and safety, and can initiate and manage climate control, plus feed into other OMS features that can send out alerts in the event of emergencies.
That’s a lot of technological innovation coming to personal transportation over the next two decades. If you want to learn more about what is in development and over the horizon, IDTechEx continues to be a good visionary source covering a wide spectrum of technologies and industries and a place to start what we likely will see as the 21st century unfolds.
The post 21st Century Personal Transportation Will Be Very Different In The Next Few Decades appeared first on Techso Mogro.
]]>The post Perovskite Photovoltaics Leaving Silicon In The Dust appeared first on Techso Mogro.
]]>Today, perovskite solar cells are proving themselves, providing high power conversion efficiency while costing less. In a decade, perovskite photovoltaics have risen in conversion efficiency from 4 to 25%, with the promise of going much higher.
The concern about perovskite’s stability was its susceptibility to environmental factors such as wind, rain, and ultraviolet light. New perovskite photovoltaics, however, are demonstrating that this barrier to entry is falling, with cells exhibiting resilience in outdoor settings lasting for 10 years. Silicon panels still can outlast perovskite with typical lifetimes between 20 and 25 years, but the latter is rapidly closing the gap.
Maia Benstead, Technology Analyst at IDTechEx, writes about several pilot and small commercial-scale perovskite solar projects currently underway, which illustrate progress with perovskite. IDTechEx recently released a report entitled, Perovskite Photovoltaic Market 2025-2035: Technologies, Players & Trends. It provides a critical analysis of the emerging technology, along with an assessment of the material trends that are helping to drive its commercial uptake.
The report provides benchmarking of key perovskite photovoltaic technologies, including single-junction perovskite, perovskite/silicon tandem, and all-perovskite tandem solar, alongside an assessment of over 20 market players.
It predicts significant growth of the perovskite photovoltaic market, with annual revenue to reach nearly US$ 12 billion by 2035.
Why is perovskite not already wiping silicon’s floor? The above describes the factors that cause current perovskite panels to degrade. New manufacturing methods are overcoming these extrinsic and intrinsic challenges. (Image credit: IDTechEx)
Solar panels get maximum exposure to the elements. They bake in the heat of the Sun. Strong light, humidity, rain, hail, snow and wind are other conditions they have to endure and last. No one wants to be going up on roofs and replacing photovoltaic panels every few years. The industry sticks with silicon to date largely because it meets the durability threshold.
So, what are the perovskite solar cell challenges? Intrinsic degradation comes from material defects and ion migration. Extrinsic degradation happens because of environmental factors. Both types of degradation severely impact the electronic and optical properties of the cells, altering their chemistry and causing structural changes to the perovskite film.
So what are researchers doing? They are enhancing the engineering of perovskite solar cells, altering the chemical composition to increase ion migration resistance, enhancing crystal stability, and reducing defect density. The modifications are improving the material stability while not degrading the conversion efficiency of the cells.
Glass-glass encapsulation silicon solar panel production is being adapted for use with rigid hybrid perovskite/silicon cells. Tandem PV, a solar cell manufacturer, has demonstrated the equivalent of decades of projected durability in its labs. Oxford PV has reported that its tandem solar panels are surpassing key conversion efficiency and reliability milestones.
Thin-film perovskite is flexible for use in LED devices. Polymer encapsulation materials like ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) are used with silicon cell-powered small LED devices and sensors. It is cheap and provides good optical transmittance. EVA, however, is not suitable for thin-film perovskite because it releases acetic acid over time, which degrades the material. Additionally, EVA thin films have water vapour transmission rates too high for perovskite solar cells.
To overcome these challenges, alternative polymers such as polyisobutylene and butyl rubber are being studied, as well as thin-film encapsulants that use aluminum oxide, tin oxide, titanium oxide, silicon oxide, and silicon nitride. These materials have been well tested in manufacturing LEDs and can support scalable manufacturing of perovskite photovoltaics.
For homeowners wanting to put in rooftop solar, the typical return on investment comes between 8 and 12 years. That’s why solar panels that can last up to 25 years become attractive. Perovskite’s ten-year performance limit, therefore, needs to be overcome. That’s where companies like Power Roll Solar come in. They are pushing the ten-year limit with novel architecture that produces perovskite cells with projected lifetimes of up to 15 years and that are far cheaper, resulting in a 2 to 3-year return on investment.
That’s why the headline. Perovskite versus silicon – the up-and-comer will soon knock out the reigning champion of photovoltaics.
The post Perovskite Photovoltaics Leaving Silicon In The Dust appeared first on Techso Mogro.
]]>The post Are Heat Shields The Key to Unlocking a Future Space Economy? appeared first on Techso Mogro.
]]>When John Glenn, in 1962, during the first orbit of his Friendship 7 Mercury capsule, was alerted to the heat shield potentially becoming detached, a seven-orbit mission was reduced to three, and the retrorocket pack instead of being jettisoned before reentry was left attached to try and keep the thermal protection system (TPS) in place. Before the Friendship 7 flight, very few people were aware of TPS.
TPS came up again during the Apollo 13 crisis in 1970. Concern was raised about the heat shield of the command module being damaged when the explosion occurred inside the attached service module. This led to some tense moments during reentry.
TPS failure occurred in 2003 to cause the loss of the Columbia Space Shuttle and its crew when it was damaged by debris falling from its external fuel tank during launch.
Every returning spacecraft has had to endure atmospheric reentry. It is a demanding challenge, and the solutions aren’t one-size-fits-all. Low-Earth orbit reentry temperatures peak at 1,600 Celsius (2,912 Fahrenheit). In comparison, reentry temperatures for the Apollo command modules returning from the Moon reached 2,760 Celsius (5,000 Fahrenheit). When the Galileo probe entered Jupiter’s atmosphere at the end of its mission, the temperatures recorded reached 16,000 Celsius (28,832 Fahrenheit).
When we think of TPS, we tend to describe the type of heat shields used in space capsules flown by human crews. But there is more to it than that, as SpaceX has found in developing its innovative Starship. Nevertheless, heat shields remain the prime component of any TPS as space capsules turn them to face the heat upon deorbiting to protect the integrity, equipment and travellers on board. While doing this, the shields need to be lightweight so that they don’t take away from the needs of the mission. That’s why the Space Shuttle designers chose TPS tiles that were each lighter than the lightest styrofoam block.
An IDTechEx report entitled “Heat Shields & Thermal Protection Systems for Spacecraft 2025-2035: Technologies and Market Outlook” describes the current state of TPS development and innovations, which include advanced ablators and novel inflatables. It describes how human activity in space is changing rapidly.
The 20th century witnessed the first satellites and humans sent into space. First, we were in low-Earth orbit and later, we sent probes across the Solar System to visit the Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. A lander named Huygens survived the heat of reentry to reach the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. Another spacecraft visited the dual dwarf planet systems of Pluto-Charon. We visited the two largest members of the Asteroid Belt. All of these missions were on the behest of government space agencies that included NASA, Roscosmos, JAXA, ESA and others.
In the 21st century, however, the government agencies are being supplanted by new players who have emerged seeking to profit from outer space. These for-profit space businesses are putting even greater demands on TPS technology because for them to be profitable they need reusability. We are talking about SpaceX, ULA (Boeing-Lockheed partnership), Blue Origin, RocketLab and many others.
ULA has provided space launch services to NASA for several decades. SpaceX is a later entry, but today is the prime commercial space launch company on the planet. Its constellation of Starlink telecommunications satellites is showing that space can be profitable. SpaceX has also perfected a space taxi business contracted by NASA to take supplies and crews to the International Space Station.
For the most part, payloads in the past launched by commercial space companies were there to stay in orbit. These were one-way missions. If the satellite was decommissioned, its orbit eventually degraded, and it burned up in the atmosphere. TPS for these missions was not a prime concern. The growing demand for launch and return services requires a TPS technology with reusability as the key driver.
Insulating thermal tiles were first developed for NASA’s Space Shuttle. They were developed as a lightweight distributed TPS that was supposedly durable to allow for rapid mission turnover and reuse. Thousands of these tiles were applied to parts of the Shuttle vulnerable to heating upon reentry. The tile design wasn’t perfect, with hundreds to thousands damaged and having to be replaced after each shuttle flight. This turned rapid reusability for the Space Shuttle into a pipedream.
SpaceX, with its Dragon capsule, and Boeing, with Starliner, are the first commercial space companies to build crew-ready spacecraft for the post-Shuttle age. Both have borrowed heavily from NASA’s legacy in these first-generation commercial crew capsules.
Starship, SpaceX’s next-generation crew-ready spacecraft, however, is taking a different path. Instead of aluminum, Starships are being built using high heat-resistant, high-chromium stainless steel. Their TPS systems combine tiles and ablative backup materials. The tiles are attached to the forward edges. Instead of square, they are hexagonal to be more effective in blocking direct paths for hot gasses produced during reentry to reach Starship’s hull. The tiles on Starship can withstand temperatures up to 1,377 Celsius (2,510 Fahrenheit), less than the peak heat low-Earth orbit reentries produce. That’s why Starships have an ablative material undercoat to provide further heat protection while the stainless steel hull’s more heat-resistant hull proves its metal.
Starship’s tiles were not built to deal with reentry heat alone. SpaceX added ablative resin materials made of AVCOAT. AVCOAT is also being used by NASA for the Orion space capsule. It converts the resins into pyrolysis gasses to divert heat from the spacecraft.
What is AVCOAT? It is made from silica fibres embedded in an epoxy novolac resin within a honeycomb structure. First used in the Apollo Program for the Command Module, it was reformulated for Orion. AVCOAT surfaces char and erode during the heat of reentry to protect the underlying structure and can withstand temperatures up to 2,760 Celsius (5,000 Fahrenheit).
Another novel ablative material is called PICA. It is composed of a ceramic-carbon substrate with embedded phenolic resin. SpaceX’s Dragon capsule uses PICA for its TPS. PICA burns off layer by layer during reentry and endures similar temperatures to AVCOAT. Its biggest advantage is that it weighs less.
Other TPS materials include polymers and silicone ablators such as:
Inflatable Heat Shields Show Promise
Inflatable Thermal Protection Systems (ITPS), also called Inflatable Heat Shields, or Inflatable Atmospheric Decelerators, are lightweight. They can measure 10 metres (33 feet) or more in diameter. Their larger surface distributes the heat of reentry more evenly than the rigid heat shields used on spacecraft today. They can be used with large spacecraft and on planetary entry missions. ITPS are composed of ablative ceramic fibre composites and offer the ability to incorporate additional insulators such as aerogels.
ITPS is seen as highly reusable. That’s why commercial space companies looking to get into the suborbital and orbital cargo delivery business see the technology as a game-changer. One of these, a German commercial space company, ATMOS Space Cargo, plans to conduct a first test flight in 2025 of the PHOENIX 1 capsule that incorporates ITPS. Suborbital and orbital delivery services are seen as a high-growth business in this decade and beyond. Recently, the U.S. Space Force asked for bids on supply and operational tests. This space wing of the American military is seeking offshore spaceports for supporting its strategic movement of supplies and eventually even troops. We’ve come a long way since Sputnik first circled our planet in 1957.
The post Are Heat Shields The Key to Unlocking a Future Space Economy? appeared first on Techso Mogro.
]]>The post Solar Energy Technology Is Going “Perovskite” appeared first on Techso Mogro.
]]>In 2013 when photovoltaic cells made with perovskite were first being assessed they were less energy efficient than those using silicon. Over the past decade, however, perovskite has gained on its silicon cousin in terms of improved power conversion efficiency (PCE), the industry standard rating for solar cells. How perovskite has made gains is in the architecture of the cells themselves. Instead of a single layer of silicon photovoltaic cells, perovskite cells could be stacked one atop the other. This meant per square centimetre, a much higher PCE. Instead of a 15% PCE back in 2013, perovskite cells in 2024 produce a 34.6% PCE and a theoretical upper limit of 43%, higher conversion rates than the best silicon-based photovoltaics on the market today with a PCE of 24.1%. The upside to silicon is believed to be no greater than 30%. So, already perovskite photovoltaics are exceeding that upper limit.
I recently received an IDTechEx marketing release written by Maia Benstead, an IDTechEx Technology Analyst. She describes the current and future path of solar power and the fast pace of growth in deployment. Silicon photovoltaics remain the dominant player in the market but the limits on the PCE of these cells challenge the industry.
That’s where perovskite provides a solution and the IDTechEx latest report sees growth in the market for photovoltaics between 2025 and 2035 being led by the adoption of perovskite thin-film and perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells. IDTechEx forecasts that by 2030 perovskite cells will begin to replace the first generation of solar technology as silicon cells reach their end-of-life.
The IDTechEx report forecasts that tandem perovskite/silicon cells will replace existing silicon panels for use in solar farms and rooftop solar. Perovskite thin film will introduce new market opportunities for solar because cells made this way will be 90% lighter than silicon and provide greater flexibility for use on vertical surfaces of buildings and even as building wraps to turn an entire structure’s exoskeleton into a renewable energy generator. Thin film will also create a market for solar cell integration into Internet-of-Things (IoT) smart sensors to power light-emitting diodes (LEDs), photodetectors, x-ray detectors, nanoscale quantum dot semiconductors and all kinds of consumer electronics.
So what’s not to like about perovskite? The material is abundant. It can be turned into solar photovoltaic power generators from panels to different shapes and sizes that can conform to all kinds of surfaces. IDTechEx forecasts that perovskite panels will become comparatively priced to silicon by 2035.
Not all is bright and beautiful in the perovskite world. There are perceived downsides to seeing this material replace silicon in the next decade. These include:
IDTechEx predicts despite these concerns that perovskite photovoltaic installations will reach 85 Gigawatts annually by 2035 representing a substantial percentage of new and replacement solar installs.
The entire renewable energy industry numbers for wind and solar according to BloombergNEF by 2035 will reach 1 Terrawatt annually by then.
The post Solar Energy Technology Is Going “Perovskite” appeared first on Techso Mogro.
]]>The post News About Advances in Sodium-Ion and Solid-State Batteries appeared first on Techso Mogro.
]]>In April I wrote about BYD, a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, that is using sodium-ion (Na-ion) battery packs instead of lithium-ion (Li-ion) in some of its models. In its latest report, IDTechEx, out of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, states that although Na-ion batteries are not the answer to all battery-power applications, they do provide a complimentary addition to battery packs used not just in EVs but also for backup power within utilities and factories.
IDTechEx points to several small factory pilot projects already being planned or built with a capacity of over 100 Gigawatt hours (GWh) within the next three years. These can be found in the UK, the US, France and China (see chart below). India is the site of what will be a 2 to 3 GWh factory that is planned to open in 2024.
The advantages of developing Na-ion battery storage cannot be underestimated. The capacity to grow because of material availability makes these batteries attractive when compared to Li-lon.
IDTechEx forecasts that the average cost per Na-ion battery cell will drop from the current US $87/kilowatt-hour (kWh) to $40/kWh by 2030. Na-ion energy density is not equal to Li-ion with the weight-to-energy density ratio higher than the latter impeding widespread adoption. But for use in commercial energy and grid storage, where size and weight are far less of an issue, Na-ion batteries should take off. Other advantages include they are faster to charge, more resilient in cold temperatures and more tolerant to heat. This makes them a good option for backup storage in utilities and as a power source for factories and buildings.
The first time I wrote about solid-state battery technology was back in 2014. Solid-state batteries when first released were seen as a good low-power, long life cycle solution for medical and remote sensing applications.
In 2017, Toyota, the world’s largest automobile manufacturer, announced it was planning to put a solid-state battery-powered EV on the road by 2022. That deadline passed without explanation. Toyota has been late to the EV game having put much of its low-carbon emission investments into hybrid systems that combined battery and small internal combustion engine (ICE) models. (Full disclosure: I drive a Toyota Venza hybrid which combines a Li-ion battery pack with an ICE. My previous car was a hybrid RAV4 which used a Nickel-cadmium battery pack combined with an ICE.)
What makes solid-state batteries so attractive to the automobile industry? They are lightweight, have no liquid electrolyte, have higher energy density, and don’t overheat which is a common concern for Li-ion storage technology. They also charge faster (10 to 20 minutes) than Li-ion, provide a greater operational range, and last longer.
In Toyota’s latest announcement in partnership with Panasonic, the companies have announced a technological breakthrough which reduces the size, weight and cost while providing an extended range of up to 1,200 kilometres (745 miles).
The only disappointment in the latest Toyota “breakthrough” announcement is that its solid-state powered models will be introduced in 2027 and 2028. In the interim, the company is continuing to make improvements to its Li-ion battery packs and plans to launch a line of EVs with an operational range of approximately 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) using this technology in 2026. An interim strategy is the launch of hybrid models containing small solid-state battery packs by 2025.
Toyota is not alone in pursuing solid-state battery-powered EVs. BMW plans to have a working prototype model by 2025. Nissan plans to introduce solid-state-powered EVs in 2028. And Ford, Volkswagen, Mercedes, BYD and others are all in hot pursuit as well. Meanwhile, Tesla, the company that made EVs a thing, is slow-walking solid-state technology, pursuing instead an enhanced Li-ion battery of their design.
The post News About Advances in Sodium-Ion and Solid-State Batteries appeared first on Techso Mogro.
]]>The post LIDAR is Rapidly Evolving to Make Autonomous Vehicles a Near Future Reality appeared first on Techso Mogro.
]]>LIDAR wouldn’t exist without lasers. Initially developed for military applications, today LIDAR is used widely to measure and scan in numerous fields from agriculture to transportation.
Increasingly the focus on the use of LIDAR has been in the automotive field to provide vehicle assistance to drivers, and in the future to make vehicles driverless.
Autonomous vehicles are being pursued by all of the major automobile makers. No one has done more to promote the idea of autonomy than Tesla. But the company has been reluctant to adopt LIDAR on all its models. Only the Model Y features a limited LIDAR set. Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, has called LIDAR a crutch.
Yet LIDAR is the most likely tool to get Tesla and every other automobile manufacturer to the ultimate goal of a fully autonomous road experience. Tesla, instead, is relying on cameras, ultrasonic systems, radar and a raft of software and analytics to assist with navigation. This pursuit of autonomy without LIDAR is showing its weaknesses and delaying the company’s driverless vehicle goal. Too many crashes of Tesla models have been cited in the media.
The limitations of these other imaging technologies are well known. Cameras can take great moving pictures but provide poor depth perception. Cameras don’t like it when the Sun blinds them.
Ultrasonics are only good to do short-range detection.
Radar is better than ultrasonics for detecting what lies ahead but not as good as cameras in providing images. Radar sees what cameras do not see when the Sun gets in the way, or if there is fog or other inclement weather conditions that make visual navigation difficult. But radar images don’t provide detail.
LIDAR, however, delivers where these other imaging technologies fail.
LIDAR-assisted steering maps what lies ahead in three dimensions. It creates precision real-time visualizations of the surrounding environment. LIDAR can see objects in the immediate path and map what is happening on the road well ahead.
LIDAR technology implementation can be light or heavy. The three vehicles seen below show where and how LIDAR-equipped sensors can be implemented in light (L1), intermediate (L2) and heavy (L3) modes. The vehicle on the left can tell a human driver information to help he or she navigate the roads and obstacles ahead. The vehicle on the right, however, can make the human driver redundant.
Will we see fully autonomous vehicles become predominant on streets and highways by the end of the decade? With the cost of the technology continuing to drop, and the explosion of sensors that integrate LIDAR, it certainly appears that is where we are heading.
ADAS is an acronym for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems. LIDAR sends out hundreds of thousands of laser pulses per second. lt uses navigational systems like GPS, and photodetectors to provide a real-time ongoing picture of what is in front, at the sides, and behind a vehicle. The information it continuously ADAS continuously receives allows it to make precise calculations and decisions as the vehicle is moving. Unlike radar and cameras, LIDAR has the ability to see what lies not just nearby but well ahead. That’s why automobile manufacturers see it as critical to ADAS evolving into fully autonomous vehicles.
It should be no surprise that in a recent Bloomberg survey, seventeen automobile manufacturers indicated they were heavily invested in LIDAR companies and systems for use in many current and future models. Even Tesla is coming around to the realization that LIDAR is an essential component to creating vehicles safe enough to drive themselves.
The post LIDAR is Rapidly Evolving to Make Autonomous Vehicles a Near Future Reality appeared first on Techso Mogro.
]]>The post What Are the Critical and Emerging Technologies to Watch as Perceived by the White House? appeared first on Techso Mogro.
]]>I have taken the liberty to edit the content but have stayed faithful to the submission. If you would like to learn more about IDTechEx and the research reports they produce, please contact Natalie Moreton at [email protected]. As always your comments are welcomed.
Additive manufacturing (AM) or 3D printing allows for the manufacture of complex objects within short lead times. This is appealing for defence applications leading to significant interest and applied research from the US military over the past decade. One public example is the military’s 3D concrete printing projects.
When the military needs to assemble structures like barracks or hospitals in combat zones or disaster areas, on-site concrete 3D printing can create buildings quickly. In 2018, the US Marine Corps printed a concrete barracks in 40 hours, the first completely on-site continuous concrete print job in the world. In 2021, the US Army Corp of Engineers announced its Automated Construction of Expeditionary Structures (ACES) program, to supply concrete 3D printers for deployment in difficult terrain.
Outside of construction, 3D printing offers high value for military equipment and transportation. Complex parts can sometimes only be made with additive manufacturing. For example, Boeing flight-tested a flight-critical component for Chinook helicopters made using metal 3D printing. The component’s design and manufacturing method enabled weight reduction and assisted in fuel optimization for the aircraft. These applications of AM by the military and defence contractors demonstrate its continued value for future military use.
IDTechEx’s portfolio of 3D Printing reports provides additional information on the value of additive manufacturing for many industries, including aerospace and defence.
In the 21st century, robotics and autonomous systems are becoming more popular for defence. Today robots are finding a wide variety of military uses including space exploration, deep-ocean exploration, submarines, and countermining. They are becoming a new standard for making the military smarter and more efficient, and for extending soldiers’ capabilities in performing hazardous tasks. They are becoming a competitive differentiator for the United States and other countries like China, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, and South Korea. The U.S. National Science and Technology Council’s latest report identifies autonomous systems and robotics as a high priority. Similarly China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025) for the National Economic and Social Development puts a great emphasis on robotic systems.
IDTechEx has produced a series of reports outlining challenges, roadmaps, and development in the field of robotics to help businesses better understand future impacts.
Augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) originally were developed by the defence industry. But today the applications most commonly described are about AR/VR in enterprise and consumer markets. The use of VR in training, at Lockheed Martin, is a good example where the company is using Varjo VR headsets for pilot instruction. Street Smarts VR is using the HTC Vive for training police and ground troops.
Field-deployable AR has proved tougher. In 2021, Microsoft won a $22 billion contract to supply 120,000 HoloLens-based AR headsets for the US Army. There are teething problems in integrating consumer-oriented products like the HoloLens, with defence needs. But these should be overcome as new software is developed and represents a broader shift in AR development methodologies.
IDTechEx reports covering AR/VR and the underlying technologies such as optics and displays can be accessed by the links provided here.
The White House report includes Advanced and Networked Sensing and Signature Management, Quantum Information and Space Technologies and Systems in its look at sensors. They are seen as essential components for security and the environment. Across all industrial sectors and in military usage there is a common need for larger sensor arrays that take advantage of a ubiquitous high-speed Internet.
In a most critical arena, environmental monitoring, the use of sensors to help mitigate and adapt to climate change is critical. Society is increasingly threatened by pollution. air quality and other environmental challenges. Recently we have seen a rapid increase in sensor deployment in cities to measure atmospheric volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter (PM), and greenhouse gasses. Networks of these sensors provide continuous local measurements and help policymakers in their decision-making to meet World Health Organization’s guidance. Sensors are being deployed in closed-loop manufacturing and warehousing, building ventilation, and transportation systems.
Looking further into the future, advancements in sensor technology will see a mass proliferation of smaller Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices that will utilize artificial intelligence [finally mentioned here] to analyze real-time data. This will allow even the general public to become a participant in environmental monitoring, will encourage citizen scientists, and will lead to mass deployment within homes (smart home technology), on handheld devices, and embedded in wearables. Visit IDTechEx to read the latest reports on sensors, and find dedicated publications focused on gas sensors, and wearables.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made sensors applied to health a sector all on its own. The lack of preparedness by governments in the handling of infectious diseases has become obvious. As more of us live in urban centres, and with a warming planet, vector-borne diseases migrating from the tropics will pose a health and security threat. COVID-19 is likely only the first of many pandemics we will see in the 21st century.
Sensors deployed for the prevention and treatment of future pandemics are creating a pre and point-of-care (POC) diagnostic biomedical industry. The high demand for testing has caused several significant changes. For example, companies like Cue Health have developed molecular COVID-19 at-home tests that have received funding from the US Department of Defense. POC tests have led to mass deployment of readers such as BD’s Veritor and Quidel’s Sofia which have seen their US installed bases double and triple in the last two years. COVID-19 has accelerated start-ups in the market, helping them to establish beachheads in infectious disease diagnostics. One of these is CRISPR-based Mammoth Biosciences, a company founded by 2020 Nobel Laureate Jennifer Doudna [who I interviewed for a posting on this site several years ago.]
For more on the growth in biosensors read the IDTechEx report entitled “Biomedical Diagnostics at Point-of-Care 2019-2029: Technologies, Applications, Forecasts.”
Health sensors for chronic disease management represent another area of rapid growth. The silent pandemic known as Type 2 diabetes has led to the development of continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) which have largely replaced traditional finger-prick testing for Type 1 diabetics. CGMs have seen strong growth with total revenues in 2021 hitting $7 billion. For more information visit IDTechEx’s “Technologies for Diabetes Management 2019-2029: Technology, Players and Forecasts.”
The post What Are the Critical and Emerging Technologies to Watch as Perceived by the White House? appeared first on Techso Mogro.
]]>The post The Journey to a 1,000 Mile Between Charges Electric Vehicle appeared first on Techso Mogro.
]]>Another approach to extended-range vehicles is to add solar cells to the EV surfaces. Aptera, a California-based solar car start-up, is building golf carts that promise a range of 1000 miles. This is twice the range of current Tesla automobiles. In fact, some Tesla models can get up to 620 miles (992 kilometers). Lightyear, another EV manufacturer, has a family of solar cars that can approach a 500 miles (810 kilometers) range using extensive solar bodywork and efficient in-wheel motors. Tesla has plans to implement solar in future EVs capable of adding a kilowatt of power to its models. When feasible, Elon Musk even wants to add foldable and unfoldable solar panels that can be used to recharge batteries when the vehicle is parked. And finally, Hyundai has plans for an EV with a translucent solar roof.
If you think these innovations are a bit out there, check out these other range-extending technology ideas:
Not all of these ideas will convert into real products. But with some of them, the promise to extend EV range to the 1,000-mile goal should be workable within the decade.
For the bigger picture go to the IDTechEx report, “Electric Vehicles: Land, Sea and Air 2021-2041”. And for additional information please visit www.IDTechEx.com/
The post The Journey to a 1,000 Mile Between Charges Electric Vehicle appeared first on Techso Mogro.
]]>