Key driving forces for new or next generation products include (1) critical need, (2) broad, global usage and (3) sufficient volume requirements to justify R&D expenditures. Glucose sensing/monitoring meets these criteria and more. In the United States alone, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) says over 133 million Americans have diabetes or prediabetes [1]. According to […]
What’s happening in sensorization? Pt 2
While sensorization, the increased use of sensors to improve products and specific market segments as described in part 1, is achieving its desired goal, there are some unforeseen disadvantages. For example, in a recent McKinsey & Company report about software and electronics in the automotive industry, the authors predict that the development of the autonomous […]
What’s happening in sensorization?
The term sensorization may have been used before the introduction of the Apple iPhone but it certainly has been used more frequently since that milestone [1]. The term identifies how a single device, such as a smartphone, or an application area, such as healthcare, improves with embedded sensors and it has the forward-looking potential of […]
What is the outlook for sensors?
According to a recent report from Future Market Insights, the global smart sensor market reached around US$ 37.6 billion in 2022. Based on the growing adoption of smart sensors across vertical markets such as consumer electronics, automotive, security & defense and healthcare, the overall sales of smart sensors are projected to rise at a compound […]
How has smart sensing changed the world?
The first edition of Understanding Smart Sensors, published in 1995, began with “just about everything today in the technology area is a candidate for having a smart prefix added to it.” However, the term “smart sensor” dates to the mid-1980s. The final chapter reiterated that “the much too frequently used smart prefix is used to […]
What are today’s challenges for MEMS? Pt 2
In contrast to the findings in Part 1, Yole Intelligence, part of Yole Group, analysis of the MEMS market was quite different [1]. It found that 2021 was an exceptional year for MEMS companies. Its annual and best-selling MEMS report [2], which was first released in 2004, projects that an almost $22B MEMS market will […]
How were key parameters measured in ancient times?
Today, automobiles, factories, smartphones, healthcare and other aspects of modern life require a myriad of sensors. In ancient times, builders, seafarers, farmers and astronomers required measurements to create the pyramids, navigate the Mediterranean Sea and observe celestial alignments and occurrences for planting and other purposes. Also, trade required measurements to ensure fair exchange within each […]
What are today’s challenges for MEMS? Pt 1
Since the initial market introduction of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) products from pressure sensors to accelerometers to more recent gas sensors and several others, users and potential users have been attracted to the technology for many reasons. This includes its incredibly small size, low weight, low power consumption and low cost – especially as high-volume manufacturing […]
How does air quality history impact data analysis?
Measuring air quality, like any other measurement process starts with the sensors. The sensors provide the concentration of different elements in the air such as CO2 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as well as other parametric data such as humidity, temperature, atmospheric pressure and light level that affect the ambient environment indoors – or outdoors. […]
What’s in the ball?
On August 20, in the third round of the BMW Championship golf tournament, an attendee put a remote-controlled golf ball on the 15th green where professional golfers Rory McIlroy and Scott Stallings were putting and tried to navigate it into the hole. After two failed attempts from McIlroy to knock the ball away with his […]
Who’s back in the office?
In the COVID 20s, this is among the critical questions that organizations must answer as employees can return to work. The answer allows the organization to reconfigure and right-size their office space for better space efficiency, improve employee experience, and reduce costs for energy and cleaning services. One company’s solution uses small, affordable occupancy sensors […]
What metrics can bioelectrical impedance analysis provide? Pt 2.
With biosensing analog front end (AFE) ICs available from several major suppliers, researchers have a variety of options to investigate more sophisticated health measurement and monitoring techniques for healthcare professionals as well as users. Some of the applications currently under active investigation include identifying acute tissue injury and skeletal muscle fatigue, assessing neuromuscular disorders, tracking […]
What metrics can bioelectrical impedance analysis provide?
Healthcare and fitness are increasingly important to many people. The ease of making measurements or showing improvement metrics and the amount of data that can be provided by a minimal, non-invasive process makes the ongoing effort sustainable. Bioelectrical impedance (or bioimpedance) analysis (BIA) provides users with a technique that is easily integrated into smart watches […]
How are wearable systems improving?
At the Wear 2022 Conference in Scottsdale, AZ, presenters from several companies described wearable products that used textile-based sensors. The end products included socks, boots, pants, shirts, leggings, wristbands, headbands and more. Textile-based sensing capabilities range from temperature and pressure to biosensors and more. Primary wearable end markets include healthcare and fitness/training. “We design 100% […]
How can you easily evaluate a MEMS microphone ?
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology is used for many sensing applications including microphones. The MEMS microphone provides a design alternative to Electret Condenser Microphones (ECMs) for many consumer electronic and mobile products. With this goal in mind, Infineon Technologies silicon microphones have been designed to extend the benefits of lowest possible self-noise (high SNR) and lowest […]
How can wearable sensors help diabetics?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 30 million people in the United States (> 9%) have been diagnosed with diabetes. Globally, over 422 million people suffer from diabetes, according to the World Health Organization. In many countries, including the USA, diabetes is considered an emergency of epidemic proportions with diabetic foot […]
Want to develop a wearable product?
If so, the Sensoria Developer Kit (SDK) could be the answer. Recognizing that there are so may scenarios for improving healthcare through wearables and remote monitoring, that they cannot serve them all by themselves, Sensoria Health offers the SDK as a way to partner with those interested in a new approach. Having the vision that […]
What are the sensor challenges in wearables?
In his introductory keynote address at Wear Conference 2022, Pankaj Kedia, Sr. Director & GM of the Smart Wearables Segment of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., noted that hyper segmentation is occurring in the wearables market segment. While the needs of healthy people seeking to improve their health versus patients who need to carefully monitor their health […]
How can you protect wearable sensor IP?
At the Wear 2022 Conference, Jerrah Edwards, the Acting Assistant Regional Director of the Western Regional United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) presented “Intellectual property (IP) Strategies Wearable Technology Startups Should Consider.” While focusing specifically on wearables, the strategies apply to any technology or sensing area. Her discussion Included an overview of intellectual property […]
How can low-cost sensors help address climate change?
According to the recent IDTechEx report “Printed and Flexible Sensors 2022-2032: Technologies, Players, Markets,” low cost printed/flexible sensor technologies could play a significant role in adapting to climate change [1]. Adapting could take various forms, from changing the areas in which specific crops are grown to building flood defense systems and even relocating cities in […]
Can 60 GHz radar sensing change healthcare monitoring?
According to a 2019 article in Nature,blood pressure (BP) abnormalities, such as hypotension and hypertension, are important risk factors for many short- and long-term critical illnesses, with a global disease impact on about 1.25 billion people [1]. In addition to the high number of people with blood pressure issues, sleep apnea is a rapidly increasing […]
What makes a cobot unique from a robot?
Unlike robots whose roots trace back to 1962 or even sooner, collaborative robots or cobots trace their roots to 1996 – over 34 years later. While the robot is an autonomous machine that functions without human control, a cobot employs artificial intelligent (AI) to perform tasks in collaboration with human workers. Major sensor technologies used […]
What software-definable sensors are available now?
Sensor designers are pursuing software-defined (or programmable) sensors for their increased relevance and applications in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Automobiles are one market segment that can benefit from over-the-air (OTA) update capabilities and automakers have the resources to make significant changes to implement them. OTA updates are one way to future proof vehicles, […]
How can mature sensors create new sensing opportunities?
Pulse oximetry (blood oxygen saturation level in %SpO2) and pulse rate (in beats per minute) have been performed with clamp on the finger measurements for many years. With their built-in display, they are intended for either a health care professional or even the user reading of the measurements. In some instances, these devices even provide […]
How can sensors help cleanup waterways?
Twenty years after its first-generation design was introduced (2002), iRobot’s Roomba has spawned many competitors for indoor cleanup and made several advancements to its initial capabilities. Interactive Autonomous Dynamic Systems (IADYS) has applied the autonomous robot concept to address cleaner and safer water in rivers, canals, lakes, ponds, shipyards and more. IADYS’ Jellyfishbot autonomously collects […]