I fear I’m starting to sound like an old fuddy-duddy because I keep on comparing the technologies of today to those of yesteryear. I can’t help myself.
When I first started to dip my toes into the electronic waters in the early 1970s, I thought the height of sensor sophistication was something like an infrared (IR) light-emitting diode (LED) used in conjunction with a phototransistor, photodiode, or photoresistor (a.k.a. light-dependent resistor, or LDR).
The sensor technologies of today would have been the stuff of science fiction back then. A pair of prime examples appear in this issue of DENA. On P18, we discover how certain microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensors from STMicro are equipped with artificial intelligence in the form of a machine learning core (MLC). These cores can process data from the sensors and make predictions and trigger actions using pre-trained decision tree models.
On P34, we learn how Voyant has created a fundamentally new sensor implementation in the form of a LIDAR-on-a-chip that is smaller, faster, cheaper, and consumes less power than anything else out there. This silicon chip, which is ~1cm2, can image the world out to 100+ meters with millimeter-scale range precision. Each of the sensor’s pixel simultaneously measures x-y-z position, velocity, and reflectance.
Do you ever say to yourself, “There’s so much happening that I’m struggling to keep up”? If so, you can rest assured that the team here at DENA is dedicated to bringing you curated information and making your life easier—and how often does someone say that?