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| June 7, 2005 |
| Shouldn't All Wheels Be Round? |
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| Sensor applications should focus on the application and not much else, but a lot of applications, both old and new, have the triple constraints of needing low cost, compactness, and good performance. This means that custom electronics solutions (think ASIC) are here to stay. But why must this wheel always be re-invented? Is it really true that not every sensor element can take a round wheel? Maybe this was the case, until this new wheel showed up in town (SSP1492)--brought to you by Sensor Platforms. |
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| June 3, 2005 |
| Killer Apps: A Dime a Dozen? |
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Question: "What are the two fastest growing sensor applications that you've
barely heard about?"
Answer: "Digital compassing and freefall detection."
Digital compassing is fast on its way to 200 million units a year (think cell phones, cars and watches), while freefall detection to protect hard-disk drives was at almost zero 18 months ago, and by next year will be closing in on 40 million units a year. You can bet there's going to be many more such killer applications in the years to come. Just don't miss the boat!
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| How Long Can This Keep Running? |
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"Wireless" and "battery powered" are going to be the operative words moving forward. Can you power your sensor off of RFID induction? Everybody wants to put sensors everywhere, but this doesn't mean they want to put wires in those same places. And if you thought that running your sensors at 3.0V was tough, just wait until your customers start asking you for 1.8V and even 1.3V operation. If your customers aren't asking you for this, then your sensors might not be where all the action is brewing. So what's the gameplan going to be for the industry?
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| Stupid Calibration Tricks |
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Who needs to calibrate anymore? No mass manufacturer can afford the calibration bottlenecks. Process steps in cell phone manufacturing is measured in 1 second increments. Smart modules and smart algorithms is the only way to go. This means more on-module processing power. The days of only providing a piece of the solution means that you're only creating juicy opportunities for your competition. It's a brave new world out there!
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| How Can I Say This? |
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Form a LIN to do the CAN CAN, but what do I SPI with my little I2C? That the time is here to move beyond 4-20mA and 0-5V. Digital is here to stay, and even the industrial networking guys are seeing this. Is there any reason to stay analog anymore, especially for anything other than legacy stuff?
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| Bigger Isn't Always Better |
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It seems like the world is all about MEMS now. Next it will be Nano when the reality catches up to the hype. Where does this all leave bulk
technologies? Is there still a leg to stand on? We can't count anything out yet, but it sure looks like bulk technologies for sensing are going the way of the Dodo bird. There might only be a handful left within the next 10 years, especially when looking at new applications where small form factors are a real necessity.
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| Taking Off into Oblivion? |
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| The sensor industry is going to really take off. Too much infrastructure technology is in place for it not to. But are prices falling faster than unit sales are rising? Is there going to be a shakeout in the industry, especially when making money is going to be much tougher to do? |
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| Level with us |
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| Why were the Joker, Penguin and Riddler always in such desperate need of tilt-sensors? Batman must have had one built in. Hanging pictures is such a chore, and have you ever tried leveling a pool table? Why is this market so sleepy when it shouldn't be? |
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| How Hot is that Sensor? |
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| If hot were cold and cold were hot, would you still need a temperature sensor? When DON'T you need a temperature sensor? So why aren't as many players piling into this area as they are with tire pressure sensing? I guess low sex appeal is a good thing. |
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| Tire'd of the Future? |
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Question: "How many Pressure Sensors does it take to change a tire?"
Answer: "Who cares, as long as there are a boatload of them!"
There's no question that tires are going to be changed for good and by a tiny little pressure sensor. The only problem is that too many players want to play. So then the problem becomes whether there's any money to be made at all.
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| How Close is Close? |
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| Close enough...wait, who said that? Proximity Man comes to the rescue! But he's tired of the same old gig. So what's new for kicks? Hmmm...what ELSE can a magnetometer do? |
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| What You Didn't Know About Compassing |
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| "Magnetism" is an attractive word, but "compassing" is even more so! Is this the number 1 growth market or what? So what's a compass without a magnetometer-a spinster that Mr. Mobile Phone won't want to date. So which one will he marry? Stay tuned. |
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| Wireless and Wet (Relatively Speaking) |
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| Blood, sweat, tears and ZigBee. Are these the magic words that will really send this market to the moon? Hard work (the wet and humid kind) and low-bandwidth data-RF-I think that's the right marriage. Mommy, so how do I become a sensor that only has to output from 0 to 100 (%)? How nice is THAT?! |
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| A Nose for Sensing |
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| When is a nose not a nose, yet knows no bounds? You get the picture. But just like Cyrano De Bergerac, smaller is better, otherwise you'll always be left standing behind the bushes-inspiring but not in the running. But like any nose knows, don't let it get dirty or plugged up, or else you know what. So how much more can we get these ones smelling? |
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| Going Mobile with Accelerometers |
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| Acceleration accelerates-fast growing for sure. More mobile products (and aren't cars "mobile products" too?) mean the sky's the limit here! Who needs them in pacemakers? Trying running around with the econo-model without one and you'll FEEL the answer. Did someone say "free fall detect" or was that just the pricing hitting the floor? Ouch! |
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