Sensors

INSIDE Secure announced that its family of NFC solutions can now be used to interact with the Kovio RF Barcode™ wireless tag, an affordable NFC tag solution based on Kovio's printed silicon technology platform.

Entrepreneur Karen Bender could have "hatched" her latest venture anywhere in the world but she chose Wellington's business incubator Creative HQ over them all.

The trend is already clear: capacitive buttons and controls with attractive graphic designs integrated into surfaces. Transparent, conductive PolyTC® films from PolyIC make this possible in combination with IMD (in mold decoration) decorative films from Leonhard KURZ. Attractive graphic surfaces are becoming increasingly important for equipment and controls particularly in the electronics, mobile communication and automotive sectors.

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a prototype wireless sensor capable of detecting trace amounts of a key ingredient found in many explosives.

Stanford researchers build transparent, super-stretchy skin-like sensor.

The WELT Group is the first one to use Printechnologics' Touchcode technology by linking the sixth edition of its iPad magazine The ICONIST with the style magazine ICON.

The development of low power electronics and devices for integration into the type of active lifestyles that are characteristic of modern humans is a vibrant area of research. Whether the electronics are wearable, epidermal, edible or even implantable, developments are taking place worldwide with new concepts, designs and prototypes that could change everyday life with minimal intrusiveness.

PragmatIC Printing Ltd, the pioneer in imprinted logic circuits, and De La Rue plc, the world's largest integrated commercial security printer and papermaker, announced that they are working together on prototypes for printed electronic security products.

The industrial collaboration is led by Swansea University's Welsh Centre of Printing and Coating which is teaming up with the Institute of Life Science and industry.

An ultrathin, electronic patch with the mechanics of skin, applied to the wrist for EMG and other measurements.

Siemens exclusively licenses imaging technology to Nikkoia SAS

Electronics that can be bent and stretched might sound like science fiction. But Uppsala researcher Zhigang Wu, working with collaborators, has devised a wireless sensor that can stand to be stretched.

Sensors printed onto the sleeves of wetsuits could alert the wearer to contaminated water. Navy divers could also use the sensors to locate underwater explosives, such as mines.

RUSNANO co-invests in the development of electronic components for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for use in sensors, computing and telecommunications equipment.

Smart shop shelves may soon be helping with inventory management, stock control and even pest control using pressure sensor foils with integrated components.

Researchers at MIT have succeeded in making a fine thread that could enable creation of a variety of fiber-based electronic and photonic devices.

According to scientists from Oregon State University (OSU), the use of such particles in chemical detection systems could make those systems much smaller, faster, cheaper to produce, and more accurate than they are presently.

Scientists including an MIT physics professor have found a way to make wonder material graphene magnetic, opening up a new range of opportunities for the world's thinnest material in the area of spintronics.

The Fraunhofer IPMS works on the integration of sensors and microdisplays on CMOS backplane for several years now. For example the researchers have developed a bidirectional microdisplay, which could be used in Head-Mounted Displays (HMD) for gaze triggered augmented-reality (AR) aplications.

TI offers the world's lowest power capacitive touch solutions with new easy-to-use software, silicon and tools for all MSP430™ microcontrollers. New capacitive touch portfolio enables ultra-low-power touch sense capabilities such as buttons, sliders, wheels and proximity sensors on 16-bit microcontroller platform.

Soligie, a market leader in the design and manufacture of printed electronics, have announced that is has been awarded several contracts in the preceding quarters for the development of printed sensors. Prototypes are currently under evaluation by multiple customers and will be considered for volume production in 2011 and 2012.

Stretchable balloon electronics get to the heart of cardiac medicine

Nitto Denko Asia Technical Centre (NAT) will be expanding its Singapore base to include a prototyping centre in Singapore.

Stanford researcher's new stretchable solar cells will power artificial electronic 'super skin'. Ultrasensitive electronic skin developed by Stanford researcher Zhenan Bao is getting even better. Now she's demonstrated that it can detect chemicals and biological molecules, in addition to sensing an incredibly light touch. And it can now be powered by a new, stretchable solar cell she's developed in her lab, opening up more applications in clothing, robots, prosthetic limbs and more.

Telemetry technology is being used to monitor the health status of a team of explorers and scientists involved in a record-breaking expedition across the Antarctic.

Massachusetts companies partner to develop conformal electronics-enabled apparel and equipment for athlete monitoring and performance enhancement

JP Labs introduces Nano-Indis, novel and revolutionary self-reading indicators that monitor shelf life, sterilization and toxic Agents

Printechnologics "AirCode touch" now available - the first technology allowing advertisers to bridge the gap of print and digital world in a intuitive way, by using the touch screens of electronic devices to read digital data invisibly hidden in paper.

PST Sensors (pty) Ltd is a spin-out of the University of Cape Town, initially headed up by Margit Harting and David Britton, to commercialise their printed silicon technology.

Flextech Alliance awards grant to Corning Incorporated to develop commercially viable methods for continuous printed electronic manufacturing on flexible glass substrates.

Research team develops ultra high-power energy storage devices

ECS researchers are developing intelligent medical sensors which can be worn by patients to monitor their symptoms and which will alert GPs if medical intervention is needed.

Replicating nanostructures from the wings of Morpho butterflies, GE's sensors would enable highly selective, near-instantaneous detection of chemical threats GE's sensing platform could create other industrial and healthcare applications, including emissions monitoring at power plants, water purification and food safety testing and breath analysis for disease detection

The Biomedical Diagnostics Institute is developing a cholesterol test using printed electronics.

Applied Nanodetectors Ltd and Kelvin Nanotechnology Ltd to work on next generation healthcare applications.

Submarines could use new technology to scan the depths and elude detection.

A team of U.S. scientists has designed some new men's briefs that may be comfortable, durable and even stylish but, unlike most underpants, may be able to save lives.

Japan's NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories (STRL) is developing a small color camera with a single-chip color image sensor that uses stacked organic films. STRL fabricated a high-definition sensor by increasing the number of pixels and reducing the pixel size.

Printed electronics company T-Ink has a range of applications, some already commercialized for Point of Sale (POS) integration. The current applications include floor and shelf T-Ink printed Floortalkers and Shelftalkers activated by touch or proximity.

The cellphone is switched off but immediately springs into action at the point of a finger. It is not necessary to touch the display. This touchless control is made possible by a polymer sensor affixed to the cellphone which, like human skin, reacts to the tiniest fluctuations in temperature and differences in pressure and recognizes the finger as it approaches.

What if a bandage could do more than just cover up a wound? What if it could help you to heal by dispensing medicine and scrubbing away bacteria? What if this technology were so cheap you could throw it away when you were done? These are questions doctoral student Dylan Farnam grapples with as he attempts to design a better bandage.

Holst Centre and others are working on body area networking to monitor vital signs, control drug delivery according to need and otherwise progress towards bionic man and woman and care of the disabled and elderly. Unfortunately cutting into your body to change batteries brings with it a significant percentage of mortalities, not just pain and infection. Energy harvesting within the body is potentially helpful but biobatteries and thermoelectric generators provide only weak amounts of electricity in such applications.

In the European PriMeBits project, a printable electric low-voltage non-volatile memory is being developed for printed sensor, media and wireless ID applications. The main strategy is to utilize printed technology where it has a competitive advantage compared to silicon technology. The project builds on basic research of new materials and components and takes the results into prototyping of new applications. To reduce the research risk, two different technologies for the memory functionality are considered with partially overlapping application areas.

With its 135 members all over the world, the OE-A has become a highly dynamic and constantly growing network of leading international companies and institutes in the past five years", said Wolfgang Mildner, Chairman of the OE-A and Managing Director, PolyIC GmbH & Co. KG, Germany, on the occasion of the 5th anniversary celebration of the OE-A - the industry association for organic and printed electronics - in late February at the Holst Centre in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. In December 2004, 35 members founded this working group within VDMA. "One of the founding principles of the OE-A five years ago was the goal to build an international industry association to jointly develop this future multi-billion Euro market", emphasized the Chairman of the OE-A. "Cooperation all along the value chain is essential in this phase; no company can achieve it alone."

The demands placed on new, high-tech materials are continually increasing, and existing material systems are reaching their limits. Due to their exceptional electrical and mechanical properties, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene and their composite materials offer high potential for use in diverse applications such as photovoltaics, sensors, semiconductor devices, displays, conductors, smart textiles and energy conversion devices (e.g., fuel cells, harvesters and batteries).

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) - self organising, self healing networks of small "nodes" - have huge potential across industrial, military and other many other sectors. While appreciable sales have now been established, major progress depends on standards and achieving twenty year life.

SmartKem Ltd, the developer of novel materials and processes that create high resolution microelectronic components directly onto thin flexible materials, today announces the launch of its new website - www.smartkem.com. The easy-to-navigate website offers quick access to information about the innovative SmartKem technique, which is set to revolutionise the rapidly growing printed electronics industry and overcome challenges associated with other printed electronics techniques.

Scientists at Michigan University may soon be able to detect harmful toxins in drinking water, quickly and cheaply with the development of a new biosensor, using a strip of paper infused with carbon nanotubes.

Trials have started on patients at St Mary's Hospital London on a wireless digital plaster that tracks vital signs without being hooked up to expensive bedside monitoring equipment.

Sensor Products Inc. announces Pressurex Extreme Low®, the newest addition to its tactile pressure-indicating sensor films.