A full display of every possible sensor was on display during this week’s Sensor Converge 2023. The more interesting aspects of the show were found on the event floor, demonstrating how far these devices have come and continue to impact daily life across multiple value chains.
Here are trends we observed at the show.
1) Sensors everywhere
The proliferation of sensors continues in numerous sectors whether it be appliances, industrial automation, home automation, safety and security.
However, it is not limited to these areas as TDK showcased how sensors have evolved from being used to monitor air quality, water quality, gas and other substances to a pivotal technology used in smart sports equipment. Specifically, smart soccer and golf.
These and other smart sports equipment were on display on the show floor of Sensors Converge where real time monitoring helps athletes with their swing in golf or helps determine the best way an athlete could kick a ball in soccer.
Guneet Bedi, SVP and GM of the Americas at Arduino, presented the keynote at Sensors Converge, talking about how its open technology single board computers for industrial grade and commercial applications is enabling new sensor-based innovations being deployed by not just engineers but makers worldwide as well.
Arduino has been a staple in the engineering community for creating embedded internet of things sensor devices. Now the single board computers are being used for vision detection, acoustic detection and artificial intelligence (AI) embedded devices as well as the technology continues to evolve.
Additionally, Arduino showcased on the show floor its Portenta, Nicla and Opta products for:
- Motor anomaly detection
- Industrial edge computer gateways
- Smart air quality jacket
- Smart object detection
2) Sensors and AI
AI is a huge business and becoming a daily aspect of everyday lives. ChatGPT is how commonplace in not just our social lives but is being used by many to enhance professional careers and work.
At Sensors Converge, Renesas Electronic Corp. touted its progress on using embedded AI and TinyML solutions through its Reality Analytics acquisition. Using Reality AI Tools, analytics help to find the best sensor or combination sensors for an application. It also helps locate the best spot for sensor placement and automatic generation of component specs including fully explainable model functions.
Another way to integrate sensors with AI is in acoustic detection using keywords or voice commands such as the series of microphones sensors introduced by TDK at Sensors Converge. These microphone sensors integrate acoustic audio detection capabilities and low power consumption into future AI processors.
AI processor vendor Syntiant specifically chose the TDK microphone sensors to help its customer’s deploy high performance edge AI in speech recognition devices. It allows for always-on speech recognition capabilities in internet of things (IoT) applications.
Avnet is also using the TDK microphone sensors in its RASynBoard, an AI/machine learning single board computer for motion events and acoustic monitoring. Inside the RASynBoard kit the TDK microphone sensors help to accelerate time to market, according to the company.
3) New sensor form factors
Sensors are finding their way into new form factors as evidence from the Sensors Converge trade show.
One of the more interesting aspects to the show came from startup Interlink Electronics with its piezoelectric film sensors and advanced matrix printed sensors.
These film sensors allow for customized configured matrix sensor arrays for intelligent surfaces, strain, collision and bend detection. Other use cases could benefit from these printed sensors such as wearables and large area and printed flexible electronic solutions.
Meanwhile, another form factor on display was MultiDimension Technology Co. Ltd’s (MDT's) board-mounted current sensors designed to meet demand for surging silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) power electronics devices.
At many years of development, SiC semiconductors are finally soaring in demand due to the automotive market’s largest transition in its history to electrified models. Applications using sensors with SiC/GaN devices include photovoltaic inverters, switching power supplies, DC motor drives and variable frequency drives.
The board-mounted form factor is compatible with traditional models but offers a way to adopt and upgrade to a more streamlined approach. MDT’s solution was nominated for the Best of Sensors award at Sensors Converge.