The market
The market value of sensors exceeded $70 billion in 2010. This market is expected to grow at a rate of over 10% in the coming years. Automotive sensors will reach $15.8 billion by 2012, making it one of the fastest-growing markets. Chemical sensors are projected to reach $17.3 billion by 2015. The global market for sensors for consumer electronics is expected to reach $22.1 billion in 2015, with an annual growth rate of 12%. Entertainment sensor applications are outperforming all other segments with strong growth of over 16% per year over the next five years. Image sensors represent the largest market share. The US sensor market is valued at $10 billion, while Europe exceeds $15 billion, excluding military applications. In this period of impending recession, the sensor market remains one of the few high-growth niches dominated by European and American companies. This is because military applications were the original driving force behind this industry and funded its research and development. This explains the presence of companies like Northrop Grumman and Honeywell among the world's leading suppliers. However, the sensor market has also seen the innovative strength of medium-sized, family-controlled German companies such as Robert Bosch (airbag shock sensors), First Sensor AG (a Berlin-based designer of custom sensors), Pepperl+Fuchs (a leader in electronic sensors), and nearly 100 other specialized sensor suppliers based in Germany. One of the major new areas of development concerns sensors based on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), also known in Japan as micromachines. MEMS can measure between 20 micrometers (20 million times smaller than a meter) and one millimeter. These tiny systems can detect speed, acceleration, vibration, and shock, triggering the release of air into a bag to protect passengers in cars or trains. MEMS-based applications are now penetrating every sector of the economy, from earthquake and volcanic eruption forecasting to noise, vibration, and harshness indicators that identify discomfort, to speed measurements in sports watches, step and distance counters for strollers for those who want to monitor calorie expenditure, pumps, fans, compressors, and cooling towers, or even brake performance assessments. Thanks primarily to breakthroughs in the automotive sector, MEMS-based sensors can be as inexpensive as a dollar, while still offering safety and performance over long periods of time at a very competitive cost.
Innovation
The world of sensors is still in its infancy. Soon, these devices will be ready to replace many products and systems considered part of modernity. The battery-powered remote control, for example, will be replaced by gestures without the need for any device. The product that achieves precisely this goal is already on the market from Gesture Studios (USA), the brainchild of John Underkoffler (MIT), who helped design the hardware for GoodPoint. This presentation tool captures movement and translates it into electronically controlled actions. PowerPoint presentations will no longer suffer from remote control incompatibility, even though remote controls will no longer be necessary. This innovation will change the way consumers interact with home electronics. Intel is developing an advanced form of motion capture that will allow users to sway on a television to increase or decrease the volume, or change the channel. This will allow us, within five years, to begin phasing out remote controls for home audiovisual systems and replacing these devices with gesture recognition, eliminating the need for special glasses or gloves. Intel is developing nothing less than a body-tracking system. Their aim is to stimulate demand for a new generation of semiconductors and superprocessors. However, motion capture is complex, and this area of innovation requires a new way of detecting acceleration and movement to be more efficient and accurate than the current standard. Santosh Kumar had a fast-track career at Siemens in India, where he developed code for telecommunications switches. He decided to leave his well-paid job and pursue a PhD in computer science and engineering at Ohio State University, graduating in 2006. He realized that many sensors require the integration of miniaturization (MEMS) and low-power wireless communication technology to solve real-world problems. Because most tracking devices currently in use remain tethered to a satellite, they consume a lot of battery power and are prone to signal loss. Kumar's team decided to develop a small circuit board (led by Professor Prabal Dutta of the University of Michigan), a one-dollar wireless sensor, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a connection to a GSM phone or radio, and supporting software. The core sensing equipment (accelerometer and gyroscope) operates according to simple physics principles by monitoring six degrees of freedom. A magnetic compass could even be added to achieve nine degrees of freedom for complete accuracy. These units could one day operate without batteries, making them an innovation aligned with the principles of the Blue Economy. This is a platform technology with hundreds of potential applications, essentially replacing "something with nothing.".
The first cash flow
Kumar then created commercial products. The first was called "AutoWitness," a device for locating burglars. When this tracker is attached to a computer or whiteboard, it detects movement and distinguishes between theft, cleaning, and home maintenance. If the stolen item ends up in a car, the sensor reports all movement over widely available public cellular networks, along with the vehicle's geographic coordinates. The system sends a text message to the police with the car's exact location. The ease of use and low cost prompted the police departments of Memphis and Jackson, Tennessee, to test the devices. This invention earned Kumar recognition from Popular Science Magazine as one of the top ten brilliant scientists in the United States under the age of 38. Meanwhile, he was appointed Faudree Professor at the University of Memphis, where he directs the Wireless Sensors and Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (WiSe MaNet) laboratory. He is dedicated to theoretical research and practical applications for commercial purposes. Kumar is one of the few scientists to bridge the gap between basic science and the pragmatic implementation of projects.
The opportunity
Using similar technology, Santosh Kumar's team designed a second application called "AutoSense." This tiny device is worn under clothing and monitors stress levels by simultaneously measuring respiration, heart rate, and physical activity. Smartphone software applications allow doctors to individually track each patient in treatment, noting whether they are indoors, outdoors, talking, or smoking. This information is processed to identify stress so doctors can anticipate susceptibility to and relapse into addictive behaviors. The first application focuses on monitoring people with substance use disorders. This project, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), detects stress, cravings, and panic attacks without requiring constant, personal monitoring. One of the unique features of this research is that it fosters collaboration between diverse disciplines such as computer science, electronic engineering, mathematics, psychology, behavioral science, physiology, anthropology, biochemistry, and physics. The integration of science will change how airplanes work, how video games function, and how advertising influences our interest in the latest product releases. Adidas, the sportswear group, demonstrated this with interactive advertisements featuring snowflakes in New York City subway stations. Falling snowflakes transform into a cityscape by swiping a hand in the air, and the snowflakes are sent spiraling by waving both hands. The gyroscope-driven MEMS technology provided by Japan's Asahi Kasei Microsystems (AKM) for the iPhone 4 so impressed Steve Jobs with its ability to detect changes in orientation that it is now a standard feature for Apple. A microscopic version of a vibrating gyroscope, combined with a MEMS and a chip reportedly designed specifically for this purpose by STMicroelectronics, gives the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 unique features for which there are few current applications. The gyroscope, originally invented by Johann Bohnenberger in 1817 and made famous by Léon Foucault, who used it to observe the Earth's rotation, is now being transformed into a central component that will fuel the imaginations of thousands of entrepreneurs for decades to come. It's no surprise that a visionary like Steve Jobs saw this coming and made it a standard feature in his latest product releases.
