Sensors Expo 2016 is fast approaching as we are a little more than one week away from this year’s event. It will be my third year of hosting the IoT Pre-Conference Program. This year’s theme is “IoT 2.0 – Sensor Innovation Moves from Smart to Intelligent.” What does that mean? If you reflect on a variety of IoT 1.0 “smart” devices, they were good a detecting an event and reporting (transmitting) the data for analysis. For example, Gen 1 - fitness wearables started out simply counting steps, Gen 2, fused other data with the accelerometer to make the counting of steps more accurate. Gen 3, incorporated heart rate sensing, and now the latest “intelligent” devices now provided fitness coaching.
This year’s agenda will kick off with Google sharing how developers can use android sensors and location data to create innovative services. These services are the “intelligent” IoT 2.0 devices. This should set the stage of innovation for the rest of the day. Next up will be Yole Development, a leading data analyst firm that will provide some of the key trends, players, sensors and markets that will help define the IoT 2.0 wave to come.
We will switch gears and Rhiza, a data analytics company aimed at improving the way companies use data to understand customers. We will all learn how sensors will change the future of retail marketing. I’ve always said follow the money you will see the trends. Retail spending helps fuel the economy, and companies would pay a pretty penny to get an edge. Technologies like beaconing, and cameras, improve the ability to reach and influence consumer buying behavior. The real potential is when each product has an array of sensors that can collect real life data of how consumers interact with a product so that designers can figure out how to make the next product better. Focus groups will be replaced with real time customer data collection.
Along the lines of retail system, Intelli-vision, will show us how camera systems are innovating the IoT market in retail and beyond. Thanks again to the mobile market, which has made cameras smaller and cheaper, they are popping up everywhere. There are some immense opportunities here.
Before the lunch break we will have a panel discussion – and we will discuss sensor innovation. Everyone wants to know what is coming next. Knowles, ST Micro, Bosch Sensortec, Rhiza, and Intelli-vision will share their thoughts on the subject.
The next two speakers will bring the discussion back to present day, and what we can see in the near term. Quanergy is one of the leading Lidar companies that is pushing the cost elements and enabling a powerful sensor that will increase the opportunities for all. The push for autonomous vehicles will help drive the cost down for Lidars the same way that mobile help drive cost down for a number of sensors like cameras, microphones, and accelerometers. Gestigon will talk about the potential of using gestures as a new UI. Lots of people talk with their hands I wonder what that will mean in the future as we use our hands to control IoT devices.
The next speaker is a fan favorite. Mike Stanley’s talks are always entertaining and teaches you as if you have personally experienced a hand-on-tutorial. This year he will walk you through data analytics. I guarantee after the talk; you will believe you can execute your own data analytics program. Pixart, a Taiwanese company that makes image sensors, will enlighten us on novel use cases of the image sensors. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but Pixart will show us that image sensors can do more than just take pictures.
Lastly, all this IoT 2.0 stuff needs more processing. For some devices this is not a problem when there is a “plug” but a lot of IoT device are battery powered. Wearables is certainly one class of devices. Ambiq Micro will talk about how one can overcome the need for more processing but staying within the restriction of battery management.
We’ve got a great line up of speakers – if you want to join, use Promo Code 784L and register here.
By: Will Tu, VP of Business Development, DSP Concepts, Inc.