Magazine Articles - SAE Mobilus
Smarter control architectures including CAN- and LIN-based multiplexing can elevate operational efficiency, customization and end-user experience. From long-haul Class 8 trucks navigating cross-country routes to articulated dump trucks operating deep in a mining pit, the need for smarter, more reliable and more efficient control systems has never been more critical. Across both on- and off-highway commercial vehicle segments, OEMs are re-evaluating how operators interact with machines - and how those systems can be made more robust, flexible and digitally connected. Suppliers have responded to this industry-wide shift with new solutions that reduce complexity, improve durability and help customers future-proof their vehicle architectures. For example, Eaton's latest advancement is the E33 Sealed Multiplexed (MUX) Rocker Switch Module (eSM) - a sealed, modular switch solution that replaces traditional electromechanical designs with a multiplexed digital interface. Combined with Eaton's
In the commercial and off-highway sectors, equipment reliability isn't just a maintenance target but a business imperative. Whether it's a long-haul truck on the interstate or a dozer working through dust and rock, these machines operate in some of the most demanding environments on Earth. And while engine design and fuel choice often dominate conversations about performance, the role of grease is just as critical, particularly as equipment is pushed harder and longer under more variable conditions. Over the last decade, heavy-duty grease development has undergone a quiet evolution. Performance expectations have risen sharply. So have the environmental and regulatory considerations that influence formulation decisions.
The United States Marine Corps enlists the JCB 4CX backhoe loader as its latest recruit. JCB recently announced that it has secured a contract to provide 4CX backhoe loaders to the United States Marine Corps. According to JCB, the agreement includes not only machines but also attachments testing and hands-on operator training. “The 4CX is the direct result of more than 70 years of continuous improvement,” said Chris Giorgianni, vice president of government and defense for JCB North America. “It's built to perform in the most demanding environments, whether that's military engineering missions or high-pressure construction jobsites.”
Before Monarch existed in 2015, its cofounders CTO Zachary Omohundro and CEO Praveen Penmetsa traveled to India to assemble two electric and connected tractors they had shipped over in crates. They went to a local village and had a plan to deploy the vehicles. “We had a text messaging-based reservation system that the villagers ended up saying, ‘Nope, we're not going to use that at all,’” Omohundro told Truck & Off-Highway Engineering. Instead, the local farmers wanted to work through a local man who knew how to operate tractors. So, they pivoted.
The powertrain landscape of the future is sure to be a mix that includes clean diesel engines and other ICE options running alternative fuels. Zero-emissions technology such as battery-electric also will play a greater role in certain applications - despite the policy headwinds it currently faces in the U.S. “Eventually we have to decarbonize the heavy-duty industry,” Thomas Howell, segment lead for conventional powertrain, AVL in the U.S., told Truck & Off-Highway Engineering. A promising “best of both worlds” technology could be hybrid-electric. But as with BEVs, its impact will depend greatly on finding the right applications for it, Howell said. Read on for more of his thoughts on the hybridization of commercial vehicles.
This year's SAE COMVEC conference held in mid-September in Schaumburg, Illinois, was focused around the theme “Shaping the Future Together” by embracing advancement, empowerment and exploration in the commercial and off-highway vehicle industries. Workforce and technology topics ranged from skills gaps to powertrain development and software-defined vehicles (SDVs) to AI deployment - a thread that ran through many of the conference's sessions. Following are a few of the salient points made by industry experts at the annual engineering event:
Thanks to the continued growth of electrified machines in the off-highway segment, DC/DC converters are rapidly becoming a crucial component in the supply chain for numerous OEMs for a wide array of applications. Deutronic recently unveiled a new line of DC/DC converters intended for the mass electrification needs of today's off-highway commercial vehicles. The converter's design is said to be durable and compact with high power density that also offers protection from environmental factors such as vibration, shock, and high temperatures. Deutronic's DVCHx3 converter also provides an interlock function, as well as short-circuit, overtemperature and no-load/self-protection features.
Like those in many other industries, truck and off-highway vehicle manufacturers face the challenge of producing quality components and maintaining productive processes while also generating a better bottom line. Improving employee training, simplifying complex operations and implementing better workflows can all help generate efficiencies. While not a new concept, lightweighting - in this case, reducing the weight of parts through the substitution of traditional steel with high-strength, thinner steels - can also be a viable answer to a better vehicle. As a rule of thumb, when manufacturers double the strength of the material through lightweighting, it is possible to reduce the weight of the part by one-third. That weight reduction can then lower the cost per part for greater profitability per piece of equipment and greater annual savings.
The Gatik Arena platform integrates NVIDIA Cosmos models to create closed-loop, ultra-realistic digital environments that address real-world limitations. Gatik Arena is a next-generation simulation platform designed to accelerate the development and validation of autonomous vehicle (AV) systems. Gatik, which targets autonomous middle-mile logistics, built and fine-tuned Arena in-house to meet specific operational and technical needs. Unveiled in July 2025, the platform is said to produce photorealistic, structured and controllable synthetic data that addresses the limitations of traditional real-world data collection. Founded in 2017, Gatik plans to scale its freight-only, driverless operations in 2025, and the Arena platform is central to this endeavor. Gatik collaborated with NVIDIA to integrate its Cosmos world foundation models (WFMs), which enable the creation of ultra-high-fidelity, physics-informed digital environments for robust AV training and validation, said Norm Marks, VP
To say 2025 has been a bumpy ride for North American electric vehicle OEMs would be an understatement not heard since Jack Swigert informed Houston that Apollo 13 was experiencing a problem. However, despite a tariff tug of war, EPA upheaval and continually changing tax incentives, OEMs are pushing ahead with plans to electrify the commercial truck segment. In late August, ZM Trucks celebrated the grand opening of its U.S. headquarters and assembly facility in Fontana, California. Truck & Off-Highway Engineering was in attendance for the opening ceremony, which included the U.S. debut of the ZM8 Class 4/5 truck.
Keshika Warnakula is a Senior Flight Mechanics Engineer at Syos Aerospace Limited and the winner of the 2025 Rising Stars Award Aerospace and Defense category. Syos Aerospace is based in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, specializing in robotics engineering and the development of autonomous air, land, and sea vehicles. The company also has an office located in Fareham, UK, and was recently named New Zealand's “Hi-Tech Company Of the Year.”
Plastic materials are used for a wide variety of spacecraft applications including seals, bearings, fasteners, electrical insulators, thermal isolators, and radomes. Selecting plastics for use in space is complex due to wide operating temperature ranges, vacuum conditions, and exposure to radiation and atomic oxygen. Additionally, some spacecraft applications require sealing flammable propellants such as hydrogen and oxygen. This article will present some design considerations when selecting plastics for use in spacecraft. It will provide rich data on the performance characteristics of plastics as well as examples of successful spacecraft applications.
Celebrating its 35th year, the National Aerospace Defense Contractors Accreditation Program (Nadcap) continues to advance quality assurance and regulatory compliance for aviation, defense, and space OEMs and suppliers. This article summarizes how Nadcap accreditation works, its benefits for manufacturers, and its role in expanding additive manufacturing through industry-wide consensus. The Nadcap program was first established in 1990 by a small group of aerospace and defense OEMs. Their goal was to create an accreditation initiative that provides a common approach to auditing the manufacturing and production processes used by companies supplying parts, components, structures, and services to major aerospace and defense OEMs. This foundation set the stage for Nadcap's continued focus on quality assurance and regulatory compliance in the industry.
Reliable antenna performance is crucial for aircraft communication, navigation, and radar detection systems. However, an aircraft's structure can detune the antenna input impedance and obstruct radiation, creating a range of potential problems from a low-quality experience for passengers who increasingly expect connectivity while in the air, to violating legal requirements around strict compliance standards. Determining appropriate antenna placement during the design phase can reduce risk of costly problems arising during physical testing stages. Engineers traditionally use a variety of CAD and electromagnetic simulation tools to design and analyze antennas. The use of multiple software tools, combined with globally distributed aircraft development teams, can result in challenges related to sharing models, transferring data, and maintaining the associativity of design and simulation results. To address these challenges, aircraft OEMs and suppliers are implementing unified modeling and
As mission-critical systems demand more processing power, real-time data movement, and multi-domain interoperability, rugged embedded systems are being transformed. Today's military and aerospace applications increasingly demand the merging of AI computing, enhanced sensor interfaces, and cybersecurity - all under harsh environmental conditions. At the heart of this evolution is the 3U OpenVPX form factor, a modular, compact, and ruggedized hardware standard and increasingly the SOSA aligned subset of the architecture. However, next-generation systems need to go further: supporting higher bandwidth, better thermal efficiency, improved security, while maintaining multi-vendor interoperability and long-term sustainability. We'll discuss some of today's enclosure solutions as well as emerging technologies.
After 3D printing a habitat designed for Mars and working with NASA on print material made from synthetic Moon dust, AI SpaceFactory Inc. has commercialized two separate 3D printers. The Secaucus, NJ-based company’s latest offering, Starforge, is a large-capacity 3D printer that uses innovative print material inspired by SpaceFactory’s work with NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida under an Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity agreement.
Boosting the performance of solar cells, transistors, LEDs, and batteries will require better electronic materials, made from novel compositions that have yet to be discovered.
Modern military aircraft represent some of the most complex electronic environments ever engineered. These platforms integrate advanced avionics, radar systems, data links, and communication networks that must function seamlessly in hostile, high-frequency environments. In these mission-critical contexts, electromagnetic interference (EMI) poses a silent but serious threat that can degrade signal integrity, cause crosstalk between systems, or even lead to mission failure. The combination of increasing data rates, higher frequencies, and more complex electromagnetic environments demands shielding solutions that can deliver superior performance while contributing to overall system weight reduction. This challenge has driven innovation toward advanced materials that maintain electrical effectiveness while dramatically reducing mass.
FibreCoat, the German materials startup, has developed a groundbreaking fiber reinforced composite that is capable of making aircraft, tanks and spacecraft invisible to radar surveillance. The company was officially founded in Aachen, Germany, in 2020, however its core founding team first began developing new approaches to the use of materials that make commercial and military vehicles invisible to radar as back as 2014. FibreCoat is known for inventing a novel technology to coat metals and plastics onto fibers, thus combining the properties of the fibers and the coating material, during the fiber-spinning process.
Author's third book delves deeper into SDVs. An experienced engineer with a history in software development and systems engineering, Plato Pathrose is turning from ADAS to SDVs with his latest work. Pathrose's third book, Software Defined Vehicles, will be published in September 2025 with SAE International. “This is both a technology and a business book,” Pathrose told SAE Media. “It aims to offer a comprehensive perspective on one of the most transformative trends in the automotive industry. Software Defined Vehicles explores how software is reshaping the design, function, and value of modern vehicles.” From concept, architecture, and connectivity to over-the-air updates and vehicle personalization, Pathrose's latest book dives deep into the technologies driving this shift. It also addresses the business implications, including new revenue models, ecosystem strategies, and the changing role of OEMs and suppliers.
Mobileye announced in June that its ongoing work with Volkswagen will deliver the automaker's first production SAE Level 4 autonomous vehicles sometime in 2026. The first of these vehicles will be the Volkswagen ID. Buzz AV, which will use the Mobileye Drive autonomous platform and will most likely deploy first in the U.S next year. The ID. Buzz AV is one of four programs Mobileye is working on with VW, Dan Galves, chief communications officer at Mobileye, told SAE Media, and the variety and size of the programs will be key to making AVs scale. The vehicles in each of these programs use the same Mobileye core, with similar cameras and sensors and the same system on chip (SOC), even as the details differ.
Artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT are notorious for being power-hungry. To tackle this challenge, a team from the Centre for Optics, Photonics and Lasers (COPL) has come up with an optical chip that can transfer massive amounts of data at ultra-high speed. As thin as a strand of hair, this technology offers unrivaled energy efficiency.
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have achieved a long-sought milestone in photonics: creating tiny optical devices that are both highly sensitive and durable — two qualities that have long been considered fundamentally incompatible.
Twisted moiré photonic crystals — an advanced type of optical metamaterial — have shown enormous potential in the race to engineer smaller, more capable and more powerful optical systems. How do they work?
The increased functionality of today’s medical devices is astounding. Optical devices, for example, analyze chemicals, toxins, and biologic specimens. Semiconductor devices sense, analyze, and communicate. Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices utilize inertial methods to detect motion, direct light, and move components over short distances. Radiofrequency (RF) devices communicate wirelessly to other devices directly and remotely over the Internet. Handheld acoustic devices scan the body and build a virtual 3D model that shows conditions in the body. The innovation currently happening in the medical device industry is staggering, limited only by imagination and finding technical methods to implement the vision.
Engineers have harnessed quantum physics to detect the presence of biomolecules without the need for an external light source, overcoming a significant obstacle to the use of optical biosensors in healthcare.
The German Aerospace Center's (DLR) solar-powered high altitude platform (HAP) has completed ground vibration testing, in preparation for low altitude flight testing planned for 2026. German Aerospace Center (DLR), Cologne, Germany High-altitude uncrewed aircraft can remain in the lower stratosphere for extended periods, performing a wide range of Earth observation and communications tasks - from monitoring shipping lanes and supporting disaster response to providing internet access. The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) has now taken an important step in the development of its own high-flying solar aircraft by successfully completing a Ground Vibration Test (GVT) on its innovative HAP-alpha high-altitude platform. Extensive ground trials took place at DLR's National Experimental Test Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Cochstedt, Germany. Further tests will follow and the first low-altitude flight trial is planned for 2026, subject to ideal
The multinational EPIIC programme, involving Airbus Defence and Space, is exploring multiple exciting innovations to strengthen Europe's defense capabilities and technological sovereignty. Airbus, Toulouse, France Imagine Tony Stark soaring through the skies in his iconic Iron Man suit, each command answered with a seamless blend of futuristic technology. Now imagine the cockpit of tomorrow's fighter jet.
To meet the need for better 3D imaging that works during live surgery, researchers recently developed a new kind of surgical microscope called the Fourier light-field multiview stereoscope, known as FiLM-Scope.
Researchers in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) have invented a new type of tunable semiconductor laser that combines the best attributes of today’s most advanced laser products, demonstrating smooth, reliable, wide-range wavelength tuning in a simple, chip-sized design.
University of Liège Liège, Belgium
For years researchers at the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have been developing tools to accelerate the materials discovery and development of new energy storage technologies, including those that can predict the performance of the batteries systems for long-term grid services.
A wearable wristband could significantly improve diabetes management by continuously tracking not only glucose but also other chemical and cardiovascular signals that influence disease progression and overall health.
Researchers have developed a 3D microprinted sensor for highly sensitive on-chip biosensing. The sensor, which is based on a polymer whispering-gallerymode microlaser, opens new opportunities for developing high-performance, cost-effective lab-on-a-chip devices for early disease diagnosis.
Medical tubing is an essential component of countless healthcare applications, from intravenous (IV) and oxygen lines to catheters and diagnostic equipment. These tubes, often made of clear flexible polymers, must be produced to exacting standards: free of contaminants, strong under pressure, and biocompatible. However, the joining process to connect these tubes can introduce significant manufacturing challenges.
The engineering of combination products has evolved into a systems-level challenge, where the success of drug delivery depends equally on molecular compatibility, device integrity, and material behavior under physiological stress. Materials science in particular has become a critical determinant in whether such products can simultaneously satisfy therapeutic, safety, and regulatory performance thresholds.
A fiber sensor inspired by the shape of DNA, developed by researchers at Shinshu University, introduces a new design for more durable, flexible fiber sensors in wearables. Traditional fiber sensors have electrodes at both ends, which often fail under repeated movement when placed on body joints. The proposed double-helical design, however, places both electrodes on one end, allowing the sensor to endure repeated stretching and movement, effectively addressing a key limitation of conventional wearable sensors.
A toothbrush-shaped ultrasound transducer can provide a less invasive screening for gum disease. In proof-of-concept demonstrations on animal tissues, the device produced measurements similar to those of a manual probe.
Metabolic imaging is a noninvasive method that enables clinicians and scientists to study living cells using laser light, which can help them assess disease progression and treatment responses. But light scatters when it shines into biological tissue, limiting how deeply it can penetrate and hampering the resolution of captured images.
Researchers have developed a soft, thin-film auditory brainstem implant (ABI). The device uses micrometer-scale platinum electrodes embedded in silicone, forming a pliable array just a fraction of a millimeter thick. This novel approach enables better tissue contact, potentially preventing off-target nerve activation and reducing side effects.
Solar cells account for approximately six percent of the electricity used on Earth; however, in space, they play a significantly larger role, with nearly all satellites relying on advanced solar cells for their power. That’s why Georgia Tech researchers will soon be sending 18 photovoltaic cells to the International Space Station (ISS) for a study of how space conditions affect the devices’ operation over time.
Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed a thin film sensor that measures temperatures up to 1200 °F, and whose prototype successor may achieve measurements up to ~3000 °F — which was the surface temperature of the Space Shuttle during its atmospheric reentry.
Researchers have developed a handheld device that could potentially replace stethoscopes as a tool for detecting certain types of heart disease.
Electrogenic has developed EV conversion kits for seven models that are of interest to classic vehicle collectors. But it's a smaller, lower-cost version for Africa that might offer the real solution. Electrogenic founder and CEO Steve Drummond believes EVs are here to help. “Saving the World One Car at a Time” is even painted on the company's headquarters near Oxford, England. The original business plan was to develop electric powertrains for smaller automakers that couldn't shoulder the expense of in-house development. That's still a big part of Electrogenic, which also does EV conversions for Britain's military.
I was recently visiting a friend as she was cleaning out some of her father's things. As we were going through stories and old photos, we came across an undated picture of a young child, perhaps a year old, sitting in a contraption of a stroller that wouldn't meet any safety considerations parents have today. We were spending time with physical objects that were decades or, in some cases, over a century old. Tin toys. Miscellaneous trinkets. And, most interestingly, stacks of old pictures and faded postcards, glimpses into another time, one long past. It wasn't just the look on the kid's face in this contraption that caught my eye. It was the need to create things like the contraption itself, representing the endless drive humans have to do stuff with the stuff around us, especially if the end result has wheels.
Researchers have created a groundbreaking prototype for a new kind of leadless pacemaker designed for both children and adults. The innovative micropacemaker would be the first fully leadless system to be placed in the pericardial space surrounding the heart. That would allow the device to be implanted in a minimally invasive way in children and those with congenital heart disease, while also providing a lower-risk leadless pacemaker option for adults.
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