Page 32 - EE Times Europe Magazine | February 2020

30 EE|Times EUROPE
New Sensor Capabilities Enable Faster Adoption of IoT Technologies

Integrated solutions from ams substantially reduce development
and production time and risk compared with assemblies of discrete
components, and they occupy a smaller area. These compact 3D sys-
tems for face recognition can therefore be embedded in a wide variety
of smart-building or smart-factory systems.
For example, face recognition could enable a resident’s home to
open the gate or front door when it recognizes the face of any resi-
dent, or other registered users, such as caretakers.
3D face-authentication technology could also be used to make
shopping a quicker and more convenient experience. In a supermar-
ket, for instance, the shopper might select goods from the shelves
and place them in the caddy. Upon exiting the shop, wireless scanners
would automatically log the products that the shopper is buying and
authenticate payment by matching the shopper’s face to a previously
registered D image, then automatically generate a bill in the user’s
bank account.
The capabilities of infrared optical sensing will even stretch beyond
face recognition to support more IoT use cases. IR single-dimension
(1D) time-of-flight (ToF) sensors are used today for accurate ranging
— for instance, to support the auto-focus function in cameras. Just as
in 3D face recognition, advanced VCSEL emitter technology and IR
Figure 3: A 3D infrared depth map enables accurate facial photosensing capability can be integrated into miniature modules to
recognition in a wide variety of operating conditions. be embedded in almost any type of device.
(Image: iStock.com/ams AG) The job of cleaning the interior of a building, for example, has
for decades resisted engineers’ efforts at automation and remains a
largely manual chore. ToF ranging sensors, however, could form a cru-
of the effect of lighting on health and well-being. And now, ams has cial element in future robotic solutions that can autonomously learn
introduced a device, the chip-scale AS7350, which is small enough to the layout of a house and then efficiently program the robot’s route
be embedded into any type of lighting fixture. around each room, avoiding walls, steps, cables, and other obstacles.
In tunable white-lighting fixtures, the spectral information pro-
vided by the AS7350 allows for the dynamic configuration of light NEW INNOVATIONS IN SILICON AND SOFTWARE
output in combination with ambient light to provide a user-spec- Many electronic product manufacturers have plans to introduce new
ified spectral power distribution. Using spectral measurements versions of their products that offer users the benefits of integration
obtained by an AS7350 sensor mounted in a luminaire or control into IoT infrastructure. Quite reasonably, they are often most con-
panel, tunable white lighting can be made to mimic the natural cerned with the difficulties of implementing data communication and
change in the spectrum of sunlight throughout the course of the data analytics and of providing end users with valuable applications
day, in a range from a strong skew toward blue hues in the hours hosted in the cloud.
before and after midday to rich, golden yellow with reduced blue New solutions to these problems are continually being brought
content toward dusk (Figure 2). to market. But of equal significance to IoT device manufacturers are
Likewise, elderly people have less visual acuity in the blue end of the developments in sensor technology that are going to support a
the visible light spectrum when compared with the young. To properly new generation of smart, personalized systems in applications such
see objects with strong blue content, the elderly need lighting that as home and building automation and lighting. These new sensor
emphasizes blue wavelengths. In a home shared by adults and one or types are characterized by their use of semiconductor technology to
more elderly parents, for example, the lighting controls could produce achieve high measurement performance in a small footprint and by
a personalized spectral output tuned to their different needs. their integration of peripheral components and of software to provide
complete solutions for sophisticated applications such as spectral
KNOWING WHO THE USER IS sensing and facial recognition.
IoT systems such as smart lighting can also benefit from another Advanced sensor technology and solutions are thus at the leading
advanced sensor technology to heighten the sense of automatic edge of technology developments for the IoT — and it is a field in
operation: 3D optical face recognition. This optical technology, suc- which ams continues to play a leading role. ■
cessfully used in smartphones today, could register the identity of a
user and set operating parameters unique to them — for instance, by Félix Marchal is vice president of
adjusting the spectral content of the lighting to reflect the prefer- global application marketing and
ences of the occupant(s). business development for the Home
The operation of 3D sensing has already been proven to be reliable and Building Automation/IoT market
in phones, achieving very low false-acceptance and false-recognition at ams. He is a leading expert in IoT/
rates. Increasingly, integrated chip-scale or modular solutions for 3D M2M, with 28 years of experience in
face recognition are coming onto the market for use in any electronics the semiconductor and telecommuni-
system, not only the mobile phone. cations industries. Before joining ams,
For example, the various infrared vertical-cavity surface-emitting he worked for 12 years as executive vice
laser (VCSEL) emitters and IR photodetectors from ams are offered as president for global sales and market-
complete solutions, including the optical stack, and with software for in as e as c ie prod ct o cer or
depth-mapping and face recognition configured to run on the Android Telit Communications, and led both direct and indirect sales teams for
mobile operating platform (Figure 3). n neon and e as nstr ents.

NOVEMBER 2019 | www.eetimes.euY 2020 | www.eetimes.eu
FEBRUAR www.eetimes.eu | NOVEMBER 2019