As electronics continue to invade more and more aspects of our daily lives, there is an obvious trend toward greater integration. Other than just simply making space for a rigid 2D circuit board (PCB) within a product, electronic functionality will be either mounted conformally onto surfaces or incorporated within the structural materials.

People could be forgiven for assuming that 5G is already here and a done thing. However, much of the 5G rollout to date has been in lower frequency bands more similar to existing 4G rather than taking full advantage of the higher frequencies. 

5G has two new frequency bands: sub-6 GHz (3.5 – 7 GHz) and mmWave (>24 GHz). 5G sub-6 GHz has a frequency range relatively close to that of 4G, but does not receive as much attention as mmWave. mmWave, which was previously solely used for military, satellite, and automotive radar communication purposes, is now added to the frequency pool for mobile communications, offering a maximum data rate of 20 Gbps with an ultralow latency of 1 ms due to its ultrawide bandwidth.

Recent research from IDTechEx in their new market research report, “Power Electronics for Electric Vehicles 2022-2032”(1), explores the importance of inverters in achieving greater EV range and market differentiation.  

A new report from IDTechEx, “Materials for Electric Vehicle Battery Cells and Packs 2021-2031”, identifies and analyzes trends in the materials used for the assembly and production of battery cells and battery packs in the EV market. The report also provides market forecasts for over 20 key material categories in terms of demand in tonnes in addition to market value.

We’ve finally made it to the year 2021 and the Embedded Insiders have five predictions for what we may expect in the embedded space this year. Rich kicks things off with a bold prediction: 2021 will NOT be the year of 5G. Do you agree?

With so many different XR products now available for a variety of use cases, it is important to understand how the different technologies are used, and companies which create them.