My Favorites From Sensors Converge 2024

Despite visiting over 30 booths in less than two days, I only scratched the surface of the technology that was on display at the Sensors Converge conference this past week. I am certain that I missed a lot of very fascinating technology, but I want to highlight here a few of the most interesting things I saw at the show that we haven’t already covered here on All About Circuits.

 

TDK InvenSense Delivers Wireless Power and Data Through Solid Metal

As Arthur C. Clarke famously wrote, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Well, this demo really looked like a magic trick. The sensor system was inside a tube without any physical connections to the outside world. But, it was powered up, collecting data, and transmitting the information to an external display.

 

TDK Invensense demonstrates using acoustic waves to transfer power and data through solid metals.

 

TDK InvenSense used an acoustic data link (ADL) operating at 10-12 MHz to provide power and bi-directional communication through a metal plate at one end of the pipe. While this demo had a plexiglass section in the front to provide visibility, the entire system could have been encased in a metal Faraday cage.

The demonstrator reported the live voltage and current consumption inside the pipe. The acoustic system provided up to 300 mW (10 mA at 3.0 V) and data at 10 kb/s. While there were quite a few other impressive wireless power transfer demos at the event, I certainly didn’t see any others that were transmitting power through metal.

 

Murata Points the Way to True North

I only had time to sit down to listen to one technology discussion, but I was lucky enough to land on an interesting one. Suvi Rauhamaa, Business Development Manager for Murata Electronics North America, introduced their new MEMS demonstrator that detects true north in less than one minute by measuring the rotation of the earth.

 

Murata’s Suvi Rauhamaa introduces their MEMS gyroscope demonstrator that finds true north in less than one minute.

 

It is amazing to me that the latest MEMs gyroscopes have the sensitivity and stability to measure the earth’s rotation with enough accuracy to determine latitude and longitude. It uses four Murata SCH16T-K01 IMUs, with each including a 6 degrees-of-freedom (DoF) XYZ-axis gyroscope and XYZ-axis accelerometer.

According to Rauhamaa, a typical MEMs solution requires 30 minutes to determine an accurate heading, but the Murata design has reduced this to less than a minute. Their suggested applications included mining, tunneling, and construction.

 

Improving Capacitive Touch Interaction

This wasn’t a new product release, but it was new to me. In the Microchip booth (that was cleverly designed to look like a small house), they were demonstrating a new add-on for capacitive touch screens.

Anyone who has used a capacitive touch screen has experienced the frustration of it failing to register your finger or not responding properly as you try to move a virtual slider. These challenges recently led some auto manufacturers to move away from touchscreens.

 

Michael Gong of Microchip explains the interaction of the Panasonic Magic Knob with the touchscreen enabled by Microchip’s controller.

 

The Panasonic Magic Knob provided simple rotary operation and a tactile push-button response that was intuitive and easy to use. The Microchip controller provided clear feedback and multi-function input capabilities. This allowed the best of both worlds—a bright, dynamic display with a robust human-machine interface.

Oh, and did I mention that the Magic Knob was simply glued to the display? No wires to connect or custom display requirements. A truly elegant solution.

 

Generative AI is Not Just for Large Language Models

One of our most fun conversations was with Christopher Savoie, CEO of Zapata AI. He described how they are applying generative AI and machine learning to time-series data. Combining this with their unique quantum-based algorithms allows them to use significantly fewer computation resources to gain insights in industries that include manufacturing, transportation, logistics, and…automotive racing.

 

Zapati AI is applying generative AI to the racing industry in partnership with Andretti Racing. Image used courtesy of Zapata AI

 

Savoie described how their modeling system evaluates real-time race data from every car and driver on the track. He proudly highlighted how the system accurately predicted four yellow flag events one lap before an incident occurred on the track. More magic!

 

Blue River Continues to Revolutionize Agriculture

We love what Blue River Technology, a John Deere company, is doing with imaging, AI, and advanced control systems to revolutionize agriculture. CEO Willy Pell explained how deep learning, better cameras, and advances in GPUs allow their new autonomous tractor technology to take over tilling operations and free farmers to focus on high-value activities. They are working to expand this capability to also support planting and grain carts.

Pell also highlighted that during the latest growing season, their See & Spray system for intelligent herbicide application has been used on roughly 1 million acres of farmland. If you want to hear more about this technology, check out our Moore’s Lobby podcast interview with Chris Padwick, Director of Computer Vision and Machine Learning.

 

Rhymes with Beacon, but It's Not a Beacon

Blecon was an interesting newcomer at the show where they won the Best of Sensors Award 2024 for Connectivity. After 17 years working at Arm, Simon Ford decided to go his own way and founded Blecon in 2021.

Ford explained how their technology is designed to leverage all of the benefits of Bluetooth (ultra-low-power and low-cost ICs) with the cloud connectivity of Wi-Fi or cellular networks. Blecon provides a network service that allows products to connect to the cloud through their custom hotspots using standard Bluetooth Low Energy chips. It is not either BLE beacon or mesh technology.

 

Blecon founder Simon Ford explains how their technology supports Bluetooth connection to the cloud without pairing.

 

The Blecon solution sets up a connection to transmit and receive data through the hotspot while providing security at the cloud and device levels. Ford described this as using Bluetooth Low Energy to provide back-haul connectivity. When I told Ford that I didn’t realize this type of connectivity was possible using Bluetooth, he acknowledged that this was a common response.

 

What Did I Miss?

If you saw anything else really interesting at the conference, please drop me a note in the comments! We might reach out to those companies to learn more about what we missed and cover it in a future article.

 

Unless otherwise noted, all images used courtesy of the author.