Sensors will be on display in abundance at CES 2025 this week, with major suppliers touting new capabilities for accessibility and automotive in-cabin sensing.
For example, Texas Instruments on Monday announced a new edge AI-enabled 60GHz mmWave radar sensor alongside new audio processors to be deployed by automakers to embed in coming vehicles. The AWRL6844 radar sensor will support occupancy monitoring for child presence detection and intrusion detection with an industry-first single chip running an edge AI algorithm, TI officials told reporters.
And more to the end-user, TDK also announced on Monday that its technologies will empower the WeWALK Smart Cane 2 for visually impaired people, available in February at $1,150. The intelligent assistive device uses TDK motion sensors, MEMS microphones and ultrasonic time-of-flight sensors for accurate navigation, voice prompts and obstacle avoidance.
Multiple sensors from InvenSense, a TDK group company, and TDK SMT inductors and RF antennae are integrated into the WeWALK Smart Cane 2. An InvenSense SmartMotion 6-axis IMU sensor allows user to navigate indoors and outdoors with an integrated gyroscope and accelerometer, while the InvenSense SmartSound microphone sensor helps with an intelligent voice assistant to give users information as they walk.
An InvenSense SmartSonic ultrasonic time-of-flight sensor offers presence detection and obstacle avoidance. TDK provides a multilayer chip antennae for sending and receiving signals, wound metal inductors for power circuits and multilayer ferrite inductors for decoupling circuits.
Massimo Mascotto, director of product marketing at InvenSense, told reporters that the use of multiple TDK sensors in a single device shows off the “vast potential for sensor innovation.” The same innovations can be applied to robotics and drones, among other products.
A user with the smart cane will be able to listen to a command and step forward or turn left based on map-driven technology, he added. The second-generation cane is lighter and smaller and uses lower current. WeWALK is a UK-based startup founded in 2019.
TDK is at CES at booth 15815 and WeWALK is at CES booth 62035.
The edge AI-enabled 60GHz mmWave radar sensors will enable three in-cabin sensing features to replace multiple sensors in use today such as in-seat weight mats and ultrasonic sensors to lower implementation costs by $20 per vehicle. That is about half of the current cost, according to Yariv Raveh, general manager of radar sensors at TI.
TI claimed its radar sensor will support occupant detection and localization with 98% accuracy for use with seat belt reminders. When a vehicle is parked, it also monitors for unattended children inside the vehicle and relies on neural networks to detect small movements in real time with 90% accuracy to meet 2025 European design requirements. The radar sensor also helps with a parked vehicle to use intelligent scans to detect car shaking and external movement, which helps reduce false intrusion detection alerts.
In another innovation for automakers, TI announced MCUs and processors to lower the cost of premium audio features. With the newest TI analog products, including an audio amplifier, TI said engineers will have access to a complete audio amplifier product offering.
TI is showcasing at CES Jan. 7-10 at the Las Vegas Convention Center North Hall, meeting room N116.