FierceElectronics

Sensors Specialized Domains Industrial/Manufacturing Defense/Aerospace Sony The following announcements include actual sensors or products supporting sensors. Grinn, based in Poland, announced a GenioBoard single board computer in an 87mm x 56mm size that comes with multiple interfaces for use by developers in creating new IoT and embedded applications using sensors and other interconnects. It includes communications, graphics and power interfaces needed to bolster edge AI applications.

Peachtree Corners near Atlanta has already earned a reputation as a smart city, largely due to its Curiosity Lab innovation center that houses multiple startups focused on the latest technology, often relying on 5G wireless. Now, the city and Curiosity Lab are working with Upciti to deploy its lightweight, “privacy-by-design” sensor technology that will provide the city information on pedestrian behavior to improve safety and inform long-term planning for public spaces.

Liquid metal that transforms itself into a humanoid is so far a thing of fiction. However, the liquid metal idea is being applied to futuristic sensors for use in robots and other flexible objects. New materials for sensors are being tested all the time. Now, Swiss-based EPFL engineers have come up with a combination of indium and gallium that stays in a liquid state at room temperature and holds potential for use in electronic fibers for sports and health wearables, as well as robots.

You’ve heard about quantum computing and may already know tons about sensing, but how much do you know about quantum sensing? In simple terms, quantum sensing uses quantum mechanics to create ultra-precise sensors that measure physical properties like magnetic fields, gravity and temperature with superior accuracy. Quantum sensing relies on superposition and entanglement principles to detect signals that are imperceptible to traditional sensors, many of them analog sensors.

The diversity of electronics components, including sensors, is constantly expanding. In the health field, the sensors industry has produced in recent years multiple sensing devices used by doctors and even athletes to measure seemingly every data point in a human body, from temperature to blood pressure and more. There are even flexible fabrics to apply sensors directly to skin.

With chip fabs in the news, Intel recently opened its massive fab 52 to reporters at the Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Ariz., where the 2nm process node is being produced. It is a vast structure, and features the first of several monstrous EUV machines from Dutch-based ASML—the sole source of advanced EUV technology. The length of the building is three football fields long. Many of the hundreds of steps required to apply or etch components to silicon wafers are automated and lightning fast.

NVIDIA has done more than just about any other company to make us believe in a hybrid quantum-classical future for high-performance computing, and it is again upping its bet in a major way, announcing at its GTC event in Washington, D.C. this week the launch of NVQLink, an architecture for interconnecting QPUs and GPUs to accelerate supercomputing and help quantum processors scale their error correction capabilities.

Nvidia is partnering with Uber to support up to 100,000 robotaxis starting in 2027 with its Nvidia Drive AV software platform and Drive AGX Hyperion 10 autonomous vehicle development platform, according to one in a series of announcements directly affecting the sensors community made Tuesday by CEO Jensen Huang at GTC Washington DC. Stellantis, Lucid and Mercedes-Benz are also collaborating on Hyperion 10 for passenger mobility.

Virginia Williams recalls growing up in Sacramento, Calif., the capital of a monumental state, and feeling a bit embarrassed when telling strangers where she is from. “I never said I’m from Sacramento. I said I’m from San Francisco.” Greater Sacramento admittedly remains a second-tier economic mecca behind San Francisco--just 88 miles to the southwest--but that’s emphatically changing, she believes.

Recent reductions in federal research grants and changes to H-1B visas are already taking a toll on top universities and threaten the long-term ability by scientists in technology and other fields to conduct the needed foundation for future innovations, according to Simon Atkinson, vice chancellor for research at UC Davis.