Sensors

Can electronics be additively manufactured and flexible without compromising on the capabilities of conventionally produced integrated circuits (ICs)? Often described as 'print what you can, place what you can't', flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) offers an enticing blend of capabilities, enabling rapid prototyping, flexibility/stretchability, and roll-to-roll manufacturing of circuits with conventional ICs.

Sony recently announced 'Project Q', comprising the development of a hand-held PlayStation and corresponding high-end earbuds. The inclusion of earbuds initially seems surprising since headphones and earphones are amongst the most mature in the near hundred billion-dollar wearables market.

Wednesday 28 June - Where Metamaterials Meet Tele-Communications. What is a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), and why are they likely to be needed for high frequency telecommunications.; The different types of RIS (passive, semi-passive, active) and where they are likely to be deployed; Manufacturing processes and materials required for RIS production.

Anyone who has used a 'smart lens' app on their smartphone is familiar with machine vision. Rather than simply reproducing and storing a picture for later viewing, machine vision applies an image processing algorithm to obtain additional insight, such as locating edges or object identification.

On June 5th, Apple ended years of speculation and finally announced a mixed reality (MR) headset. The US$3499 Vision Pro headset confirmed some expectations and confounded others. IDTechEx has been tracking the mixed, augmented and virtual reality markets since 2015, with reports on headsets and accessories and optics available now and a report on displays for AR/VR soon to be released. This insight into the AR/VR industry and associated technologies provides context to IDTechEx's initial analysis of Apple's headset design philosophy.

As autonomous vehicles (AV) become increasingly attractive, one technology that is playing a crucial role in their development is lidar. Lidar, short for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses lasers to measure distances and create detailed 3D maps of the environment.

With the high inflation, increasing labor costs, labor shortage, energy crisis, and hybrid working, the manufacturing industry experienced significant turmoil in 2022. Although some of these have started to get eased, 2023 is still expected to be a challenging year for the manufacturing industry.

The RFID industry is expected to maintain its growth trajectory, with IDTechEx forecasting a market value of US$14 billion in 2023, up from US$12.8 billion in 2022. This market value encompasses various RFID form factors, including labels, cards, fobs, and tags, as well as scanners, software, and services for both active and passive RFID technologies. Among these, the "Passive RFID Tags" segment stands out as the largest, comprising more than half of the total RFID market.

Smooth, functional surfaces that provide touch sensing, often with backlighting, are becoming increasingly common. Applications range from vehicle interiors and domestic appliances to medical devices and aircraft seating. Rather than relying on a mechanical or membrane switch, these surfaces utilize capacitive touch sensing - the same principle used in smartphone displays.

Consumer technology available today is impressive but still not as cool as promised by many classic sci-fi movies. Our dreams of hoverboards and holograms have been replaced by stagnating smartphone designs and doom-scrolling. Yet things look set to change.