The market demands and technology trends that impact all aspects of electric vehicle (EV) development are constantly evolving. As trends change, so do the requirements for EV power systems, which impacts the demands placed on the components we supply. Therefore, we feel it is our duty to stay on top of shifting EV trends and share what we are seeing with our customers. This blog looks at three key trends impacting EV development that we are currently monitoring around shifting semiconductor development, in-vehicle system integration as a way to control costs, and the evolution of the EV charging ecosystem.

The developmental trajectory of many modern power electronics systems is driven by evolving carbon dioxide (CO₂) regulations. By maintaining compliance, green energy production, like photovoltaics (PV) and wind, and high-efficiency distribution systems, like high-voltage direct current (HVDC) and battery energy storage systems (BESS), support our transition to a more sustainable future. 

This is the fourth installment in our RF Components for Radar series. In the first installment, we provided an overview of the key functional units in radar, including duplexing, filtering, power amplification, waveform generation, low-noise amplification (LNA), receiving, and analog-to-digital conversion (ADC). While in the third installment we talked about filtering in terms of switch filter banks, in this post we will dive more into the jobs filters must perform in radar receivers.  

In the first installment of our healthcare technology series, we discussed areas where health outcomes are improving as technology shifts closer to patients. Here, we’ll scratch the surface on three trends that are improving medical imaging technologies, and by extension, diagnostics, patient outcomes and access to care. We’ll usemagnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which leverages radio frequency (RF) signals, to contextualize these trends. 

This is the third installment in our RF Components for Radar series. In the first installment, we provided an overview of the key functional units in radar, including duplexing, filtering, power amplification, waveform generation, low-noise amplification (LNA), receiving and analog-to-digital conversion (ADC). Here, we’ll focus on a particular form of filtering technology: switch filter banks. 

At Knowles, it is our mission to provide specialty components that meet even the toughest performance and reliability requirements, especially for applications where failure is not an option. But, markets and requirements are constantly changing, which means we must closely monitor the trends impacting all the industries and applications where you might find our components. One area where we are seeing rapid innovation spanning the industries we serve is power electronics. At a high level, the trends driving power electronics innovation are largely centered around methods for providing more energy more efficiently while using smaller components. Below are four key power electronics trends we are currently monitoring and a how we can help you stay on top of each trend with your designs.  

This is the second installment in our RF Components for Radar series. In the first installment, we provided an overview of the key functional units in radar, including duplexing, filtering, power amplification, waveform generation, low-noise amplification (LNA), receiving and analog-to-digital conversion (ADC). Here, we’ll focus on duplexing.  

Radar systems are designed to detect and identify an object’s location. They use short bursts of energy to transmit radio frequency (RF) and microwave signals and gather information from the echoed signal returned by the object.  

Here, we’ll introduce radar, including its key functional units and technological evolution. 

With the rising prevalence of cardiovascular, orthopedic, and other chronic conditions, and an increase in the number of patients needing care, the demand for implantable medical devices continues to increase. 

Quality factor, or Q factor, is a common shorthand figure of merit (FOM) for RF filters. It’s typically expressed as the ratio of stored versus lost energy per oscillation cycle. Steepness of skirts, selectivity, and insertion loss are all specifications that can be described in terms of Q factor. While this FOM feels ubiquitous in RF, truly understanding how Q factor is determined and how it relates to other specifications is a complex endeavor because it’s contextual.