| Project Detail |
Steering photonics to new heights in the automotive industry
Photonics – which deals with generating, guiding, manipulating, amplifying and detecting light – is now a key enabling technology for many innovations. Lasers, optical fibres, cameras in our phones, LED lighting in our cars, homes, computer screens and TVs are just a few examples. For the EU-funded DRIVE-In project, the focus is on driving innovation in the automotive industry and the next generation of autonomous vehicles. The project will work synergistically to generate a cohort of four early-stage scientists with advanced inter-disciplinary skills in hybrid optoelectronic circuit designs as well as software simulation and modelling of indium phosphide-(InP)-based photonic integrated circuits. They will receive training at two leading European academic institutions and three industrial companies.
Photonic integration is emerging as a new standard for providing high-performance, miniaturised optical systems for a wide range of applications, among others in the thriving sector of vehicle autonomy. However, the potential of the sector is currently hampered by the availability of accurate simulation and validation tools for optoelectronic Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC) design, which is why an exceptional improvement of PIC software tools and better modelling procedures and simulation tools for Process Design Kits (PDKs) are of the utmost importance. To foster the adoption of photonic based solutions in the automotive industry, the academic and industrial partners of DRIVE-In will work synergistically to generate a cohort of four young scientists with advanced inter-disciplinary skills in hybrid optoelectronic circuit designs and software simulation and modelling of Indium Phosphide-(InP)-based PICs. DRIVE-In will train four ESRs at two leading European academic institutions and three industrial companies, thus forming a strong interdisciplinary network between industry and technical sciences to overcome specific barriers in the intersection of the integrated photonics sector and the automotive industry. With combined skills in e.g. hybrid optoelectronic circuit designs and software simulation and modelling of InP-PICs, the DRIVE-In ESRs will contribute to overcoming the challenges related to hybridisation of integrated photonics and microelectronics, increasing PIC complexity, needs for high-performance FSO links and for software simulation and fast-generation layout models. The availability of professionals combining the DRIVE-In skills will directly fuel emerging optoelectronic PIC-based innovation and ensure its exploitation by the photonic industry in the automotive sector. Additionally, unique career opportunities will arise for the professionals involved in this technological step change in advanced InP-PIC design and simulation. |
