Emerging Solutions

Equipped with forelimbs that form webbed wings, bats are the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. Although most microbat species have evolved small and poorly developed eyes, their navigational capabilities are bolstered by echolocation and a unique array of sensory receptors embedded in the wings.

On Monday, April 13, the Defense Advanced Research Program Administration (DARPA) held a one-day Neural Engineering and System Design BootCamp outside Washington DC. Phillip Alvelda, Program Manager in the Biological Technologies Office of DARPA and organizer of the event, reminded the roughly 130 invited participants that DARPA had a history of conceiving and catalyzing such industry changing technologies as the ARPAnet (the foundation for the Internet), global positioning system (GPS), self-driving cars, and others; he said that DARPA had recently concluded that machine-brain interfaces are poised to become another such industry changing technology. The Boot Camp brought leaders to present the latest progress in component technologies, explore collaborations, and help strategize the way forward for this promising field, ultimately to commercialization. I was privileged to be one of just 13 participants invited to present and I spoke on the potential applications of Rambus’ lensless smart sensor technology in this emerging field.

Writing for M2MNow, Matt Hatton notes that Rambus lensless smart sensors (LSS) use diffraction gratings – rather than traditional camera lenses – to partially focus inbound light. “[LSS leverages] processing power and smart algorithms to turn this light into information,” he explains.

Named after Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore, Moore’s Law observes that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years. According to Intel, the continuation of Moore’s Law means the rate of progress in the semiconductor space will far surpass that of nearly all other industries. In fact, the future of Moore’s Law could deliver a magnitude of exponential capability increases – driving a fundamental shift in computing, networking, storage and communication devices.

Tom’s Hardware has announced that Rambus lensless smart sensors (LSS) won the publication’s “Best Of” (hardware) award for Mobile World Congress 2015. It should be noted that Rambus LSS technology clinched the “Best of MWC” award from Tom’s Guide in 2014.

A number of prominent journalists covered Rambus’ lensless smart sensors (LSS) demo during Mobile World Congress 2015, including CNET’s Stephen Shankland. “With chip-based camera technology from Rambus, your next smartphone may understand a new range of commands issued by moving your hands and wiggling your fingers in front of the screen instead of by touching it,” Shankland reported.