Performance and reliability are big in the automotive industry, especially now that electronically powered and automated vehicles are starting to become more popular.
In this episode, we will learn so much about automotive electronics and the reliability of electronics systems that goes in the vehicle. Our guest Lenora Clark, the director of autonomous driving and safety technology at ESI automotive will share with us the importance of material choices for your PCB can affect the reliability and performance of your vehicle’s system design.
Show Highlights:
Lenora is Chemist by education. She joined MacDermid, now MacDermid Alpha Electronic Solutions, as a bench top chemist, developing chemicals for PCB manufacturersHer focus was on surface finishing helping PCB fabricator improve their process from a chemical standpoint to enhance the performance and reliability of PCBs
From working with surface finishing, she worked her way up and became the project manager, product line director for surface finishing, and later the Director of OEMs
She is now a director at ESI automotive


Chips don’t float, they are anchored to a PCB to work
Lenora briefly described her role and emphasis on enhanced reliability to meet the end users' needs
There is so much happening in the automotive space towards reinventing themselves and keeping up with the amount of innovation that's happening right nowOne of the challenges in the industry is extreme miniaturization
Miniaturization is not just the board itself and the packaging but also feature density
Other than the heat, electromagnetic shielding is also a concern with enclosure designs


Lenora emphasizes that her current role is to make recommendations based on a material perspective, both for liability and for enhanced function
ECUs (Electronic control unit) manages data transmission between different parts of the vehicle



I think the future of the vehicle architecture is not completely defined yet. I do think it will be less complex than what we see today - Lenora Clark
Collaborators like Mobileeye by Intel are working with makers to bring an entire system where there are different, sensors and a central computing unit to help make the decision – autonomous driving

Links and Resources:
Connect with Lenora Clark on LinkedIn
Visit ESI Auto website
Related Podcast Episode:
How to Select the Best Surface Finish for your PCB
Electronics Manufacturability and Reliability
 
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