Yole Développement Sees Double Digit Growth for MEMS & Sensors

Yole Développement, a market research and business development consulting company, expects the market for MEMS & sensors in cell phones to experience double digit growth, expanding from $3.5B in 2009 to $7.9B in 2015. For those in terested in this growth, Yole Développement is presenting a free of charge webinar on MEMS & Sensors for cell phones. The webinar will focus on:

• Global overview of the 2009-2015 market for MEMS devices & sensors in mobile phones
• Special focus on MEMS gyroscopes, accelerometers and compass

 Those who are interested can register for webcast with two date & time options:

For Thursday August, 5th at 5:30 pm, Europe Summer Time (Paris, GMT+02:00) > Register here

For Friday August, 6th at 10.00 am, Europe Summer Time (Paris, GMT+02:00) > Register here

Summer Discount for Pressurex® Sensor Film

MADISON, N.J. – To spur research and development efforts, Sensor Products Inc. is offering a 10% discount on its versatile Pressurex® pressure-indicating sensor film during this summer. Over the past decade, hundreds of White Papers have been written using the sensor film. Pressurex ® measures surface contact pressures between 2 — 43,200 PSI (0.14 – 3,000 g/cm2). The 10% discount is available to researchers until November 30, 2010. To receive the discount, researchers must order the film during the registration period and work for an accredited academic institution. A complimentary sample may be obtained by contacting Sensor Products Inc. at 1.973.884.1755 (USA), emailing info@sensorprod.com, or visiting www.sensorprod.com/sample.

Pressurex® reveals pressure distribution and magnitude between mating or impacting surfaces. When placed in the interface, the film changes color in direct proportion to the actual pressure applied. The result is an instantaneous and permanent “topographical” image of pressure magnitude and distribution across the contact area. Precise pressure magnitude is easily determined by comparing color variation results to a color correlation chart (conceptually similar to interpreting Litmus paper).

The film is routinely used to trouble shoot assembly problems, aid in research and design, and reveal defects during quality control. It is flexible, conforming to curved as well as straight surfaces and can be hand or laser cut to virtually any size or dimension. New applications for Pressurex® are being discovered daily. Common applications include contact pressure measurement of nip rollers, gasket and bolted joint interfaces, connectors, heat sealers, heat sinks, biomechanics, lamination, wafer polishing and bonding, composite lay up, and plastic molding, to name just a few.

About Sensor Products Inc.
www.sensorprod.com

Customized Wireless Sensing & Training Courses offered by Libelium

Libelium, maker of the Waspmote wireless sensing is offering a couple of sensing design opportunities to potential customers. First off all, they will integrate a custom sensor with their Waspmote wireless sensing capability for a specific Wireless Sensing network (WSN) application. Waspmote is a low power wireless mesh network that uses ZigBee or wireless technologies.

 Libelium is also offering its First International Training Course on the Waspmote platform. The course will be held on the 23th, 24th and 25th of November in the Libelium headquarters in Zaragoza, Spain.

For more information on Libelium customized wireless sensing hardware design, click here.  For WaspMote training course info, click here.

RF-Enabled Sensing Benefits from ProximaRF Kit

ProximaRF, a company that specializes in high frequency (13.56 MHz) RFID has developed an RFID–enabled sensor kit that provides users access to Melexis MLX90129 RFID sensor transponder IC.

Using the ProximaRF DVK90129 reader and evaluation kit, developers can immediately read and write code to the RFID IC using a plug and play USB high frequency reader without any additional design requirements. In addition to the USB desktop HF RF reader, the kit includes an XML-based API to simplify sensor interface, ready-to-use dashboard demo tools and the RFID-enabled sensor evaluation board with thermometer, light sensor and potentiometer.

For more information about ProximaRF DVK90129 RFID Sensor Kit, click here.

Making Sensor Classifications Easy

In this Frank Talk About Sensors, Randy Frank discusses different ways of classifying sensors including the Sensor TiPS approach.

Freescale Merges Accelerometer and 32-Bit Micro into One Package

A tiny 3 x 3 x 1 mm package provides the home for a 3-axis accelerometer and a 32-bit microcontroller (MCU).  Part of an approach that Freescale Semiconductor calls its Xtrinsic sensing solutions, the MMA9550L addresses both the sensing and computing needs of the rapidly proliferating touch sensing applications.  As if this wasn’t enough, the package also holds a power management capability as well as I2C and SPI connectivity.

Since the MCU is the company’s well-established ColdFire MCU, software can be easily developed for Xtrinsic products using CodeWarrior tools. Internal algorithms simplify implementing freefall detection, tilt and 3D orientation detection, tap and double tap detection, dead reckoning, shock, vibration and sudden motion detection. Specific capabilities for targeted consumer applications include 14-bit resolution, low-noise and low-power consumption.

For more information about Freescale Semiconductor’s MMA9550L Xtrinsic sensing solution, click here.

Customizable Energy Harvesting Development Kit

Microchip and Cymbet have combined forces to offer what is being called the world’s first customizable energy harvesting development kit. The XLP Kit uses Microchip’s PIC24F16KA102 microcontroller with eXtreme Low Power (XLP) technology and Cymbet’s EnerChip EH Eval-08 Energy Harvesting Board.  The EH board converts solar to electrical energy and stores it in an EnerChip solid-state, rechargeable energy-storage device. The kit allows users to evaluate a wide variety of system functions, including ZigBee and proprietary wireless connectivity without designing any hardware.

For more information on the XLP 16-bit Energy Harvesting Development Kit, click here.

Humidity and Temperature Sensor Qualified to Automotive AEC-Q100 Requirements

Many environments require special qualification testing to prove that the product can withstand more than usual application requirements. This can include Underwriters Laboratories (UL), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) or in the case of automotive, the Automotive Electronics Council (AEC).

Sensirion’s SHT21 humidity and temperature sensor has passed rigorous AEC Q100 qualification testing. The capacitive type humidity sensor and an improved band gap temperature sensor are Implemented in a standard semiconductor fabrication process.  Sensirion’s CMOSens technology enables the sensor component to be combined with the analog and digital signal processing circuitry. As a result, the output of the SHT21 can be either digital I2C, analog pulse width modulated (PWM) or analog Sigma Delta Modulated (SDM) format.

An evaluation Kit EK-H4 is available for the SHT21.

 For more information on Sensirion’s SHT21 humidity and temperature sensor, click here.

Kistler Single-Axis IEPE Accelerometer Weighs in at Just 3.5 Grams

Kistler’s recently announced Type 8640A accelerometer is an Integral Electronics Piezoelectric (IEPE) unit that has an IEEE TEDS (Transducer Electronic Data Sheet) option. Besides weighing only 3.5 grams, the 0.394 x 0.394-inch sensor has an integral 10-32 connector and a 5-40 UNC-2B stud mount as part of its hermetically-sealed, welded titanium housing. The internal ceramic cantilever beam sensing element is thermally compensated with a temperature coefficient of sensitivity of 0.1302 %/°F.

Designed for the multi-channel modal and structural analysis of small or thin-walled structures and components, the accelerometers are offered in ranges of ±5 g, ±10 g and ±50 g, with sensitivities from 100 to 1000 mV/g.

 For more information about Kistler 8640A accelerometers click here.

KEYENCE Laser Displacement Sensor Provides Fast Sensing

KEYENCE LK-G5000 Laser Displacement Sensor uses a newly developed RS-CMOS sensor to provide a sampling rate of 392 kHz – eight times faster than previous models. With ±0.02% Full Scale Linearity and 0.01µm repeatability, the sensor also has several additional capabilities. ABLE (Active Balanced Laser Control Engine) II balances laser emission time, laser power and gain for optimum performance. The sensor has three selectable built-in algorithms:

1-Real Peak Detect (RPD) algorithm avoids pattern distortion of translucent object

2-Multi-Able Control optimizes the laser intensity for transparent targets

3-Center and Peak Composition (CPC) algorithm attains more stable high-definition measurements for high luster resins

 The LK-G5000 can also measure speed and acceleration while measuring displacement. 

 For more information about KEYENCE LK-G5000 Laser Displacement Sensor, click here.

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