CE & Mobile, ADAS Makers Look to MEMS/Sensors Industry for Enhanced User Experiences

NAPA, CA -- MEMS & Sensors Industry Group’s MEMS Executive Congress US 2015 -- held November 4-5 in Napa, CA -- gave some of the world’s leading manufacturers of virtual reality (VR), mobile handsets, wearables and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) a ready audience of industry execs as they shared their wants for new micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS)/sensors for future products.

Xianfeng Ding, chief scientist of sensing at Huawei -- the world’s third largest mobile phone manufacturer and top 10 wearables maker -- called upon the whole MEMS/sensors industry to innovate in power management, sensing and wireless connectivity -- critical functionality in smartphones and wearables.

Jack McCauley, co-founder of Oculus VR and now principal of McCauley Labs, is working on more sophisticated VR head tracking systems, all of which require MEMS to function properly. McCauley sees MEMS micro mirrors as the next potential solution.

Jeff Owens, CTO and executive vice president of Delphi Automotive, shared some metrics from a coast-to-coast automated drive using a vehicle built with Delphi’s advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). “Delphi’s coast-to-coast automated drive was 3,400 miles over nine days through 15 states using 20 active safety sensors plus GPS, navigation, vision systems and driver-state monitoring. More than 99% of the distance was fully automated, and we gathered three terabytes of valuable data.”

With their car generally “the most sophisticated piece of electronics that people own,” according to Owens, growth in ADAS is one more market driving the MEMS/sensors industry forward.

MEMS & Sensors Industry Group Executive Director Karen Lightman described the impetus for such active speaker-attendee engagement, “The MEMS and sensors industry is providing billions of devices that define the personalized, interactive and contextual user experiences in the products we use on a daily basis. MEMS Executive Congress brings the catalysts from both sides of the equation -- the executive decision-makers buying and supplying MEMS technology -- into the room with a common purpose: driving sales of more highly differentiated products that will produce positive revenue streams.”

MEMS & Sensors Industry Group also celebrated innovation through three popular annual events:

• MEMS & Sensors Technology Showcase is a forum through which five finalists competed for attendees’ votes and the title of “winner.” The 2015 Technology Showcase winner, Bosch eBike Systems, boosts a bicyclist’s human power with electric power at speeds up to 20 mph. The core components that give Bosch eBike Systems cyclists that “tailwind” feeling are a Bosch microprocessor and three sensors that measure a bicyclist’s torque, cadence and wheel speed 1,000 times per second.
• Elevator Pitch Session is a “Shark Tank”-like event for five finalists representing a mixture of startups, established companies, researchers and individuals, each presenting products for potential funding to a panel of judges. This year’s Elevator Pitch winner, NXTSENS Microsystems, is designing MEMS-based timing solutions that feature ultra-stable, low jitter and temperature compensated oscillators.
• In addition to bragging rights, Bosch eBike Systems and NXTSENS Microsystems won one free year of MEMS & Sensors Industry Group membership.
• Best in MEMS & Sensors Innovation Awards (MEMsies) -- winners were selected through an open month-long voting process for finalists in a number of categories. 2015 MEMsies winners include:
• MEMS/Sensors Device of the Year: mCube -- MC3571 (1x1mm WLCSP 3-axis accelerometer)
• MEMS/Sensors Engineer of the Year: Stephen Lloyd, InvenSense, for ICM-30630 (FireFly platform)
• MEMS/Sensors Foundry of the Year: TSMC for MEMS foundry process(es)
• MEMS/Sensors Startup of the Year: Dyna Image Corp. for optical and inertial sensors, hybrid sensors, and fusion software
• MEMS/Sensors Supplier of the Year: EV Group for wafer bonders
• MEMS/Sensors Designer of the Year: Eugene Hwang, Analog Devices (ADI) for ADI gyroscopes with innovative proof-mass design and transduction mechanism
• MEMS/Sensors Analyst of the Year: Jérémie Bouchaud, senior director, IHS, for best market overview and understanding
• MEMS/Sensors Integrator of the Year: Dyna Image and mCube -- DI5113 (light sensor and accelerometer in a 2x2mm package)
• MEMS/Sensors Executive of the Year: Ben Lee, president and CEO, mCube
• MEMS/Sensors Lifetime Achievement Award: Stefan Finkbeiner, CEO, Bosch Sensortec

MEMS & Sensors Industry Group also inducted two new members into the MEMS Industry Group Hall of Fame: MaryAnn Maher, president and CEO, SoftMEMS, and Mike Stanley, Sensors and Actuators Group, Freescale.

Upcoming Events

MEMS & Sensors Industry Group will host a full-day conference track at 2016 International CES, “The Internet of MEMS and Sensors,” January 7, 2016 in Las Vegas, NV.

MEMS Technical Congress 2016 will take place March 7-8, 2016 in Munich, Germany.

MEMS Executive Congress US 2016 will take place November 9-11, 2016 at the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, AZ.

For more information:
412-390-1644
[email protected]
http://www.events.memsindustrygroup.org
http://www.memsindustrygroup.org