Issue link: https://resources.mouser.com/i/1442862
| 13 | The body's nervous system is made up of parts that coordinate to trigger a reaction. Touching a hot stove sends a signal through your peripheral nervous system to your brain, which results in the sensation of pain and causes you to move your hand. The peripheral nervous system, neuron, dendrites, and axons all work together to deliver information to the central nervous system so the brain can process it and determine an appropriate reaction. And today, vehicles work in much the same way. New functions being implemented in transportation designs, such as safety and infotainment capabilities, need to efficiently and reliably receive and transmit data to activate the appropriate responses. For example, when safety sensors detect an obstacle in the road, data is transmitted via cabling or antennas to processors that trigger a reaction. And when a finger activates a capacitive switch in the dashboard, the resulting signal ultimately causes a response from the GPS or infotainment device. In other words, each of these functions relies on circuitry, an essential part of a vehicle's nervous system. As transportation engineers develop more and more functionality, the resulting increase in connectivity drives the industry's most significant modularity trend. What Do We Mean by Modularity? As smart capabilities become ubiquitous in our world, consumers are looking for similar functions in their vehicles. This requires systems that process Connected Transportation Transportation Trend Creates Modularity Challenges By Brad Eissler, Business Development Manager at Molex Everything is connected. Doctors know this. Automakers realize it, too.