KDPOF shipping samples of first automotive-grade Gigabit Ethernet POF transceiver

Fabless semiconductor supplier KDPOF of Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain – a supplier for automotive gigabit connectivity over POF (plastic optical fiber) – is shipping samples of its KD1053 automotive-grade Gigabit Ethernet POF (GEPOF) transceivers to car makers and their tier-1 suppliers. The first public demonstration is at the VDI Congress ELIV (ELectronics In Vehicles) 2017 on 18-19 October at the World Conference Center in Bonn, Germany.

“The production start of our automotive POF transceiver marks a significant milestone on our path to make automotive gigabit Ethernet a reality,” says CEO & co-founder Carlos Pardo. “It is the first fully integrated automotive transceiver to implement the physical layer of Gigabit Ethernet over POF,” he claims.

KDPOF provides comprehensive support equipment such as application notes, reference design, evaluation boards and kits to enable users a fast and easy design start. Automotive applications of the KD1053 include 100Mbps and 1Gbps Ethernet links such as battery management systems (BMS), inter-domain communications backbones, antenna hubs, autonomous driving, and ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) with surround view.

KDPOF says that the KD1053 fully meets the requirements of car makers by providing high connectivity with a flexible digital host interface, low latency, low jitter and low linking time. It also complies with the new standard amendment IEEE Std 802.3bv for gigabit Ethernet over POF, defining physical layer specifications and management parameters for automotive, industrial and home networking applications utilizing POF. The standard amendment responded to the demand for high-speed Ethernet solutions. KDPOF says that plastic optical fiber provides unique capabilities for applications where long link lengths are not required, not only outplaying copper solutions in electromagnetic compatibility and immunity but also providing galvanic isolation, lower weight and low cost.