Emerging Solutions

On February 24, Rambus will participate in the 4YFN Innovators Breakfast with IXDS and Bosch at the MWC MLove Lounge (Fira Montjuic, Hall 8) from 11AM to 12PM. During the event, Rambus CMO Jerome Nadel is slated to discuss design thinking, with a focus on lensless smart sensors (LSS) and related partners-in-open-development (POD) initiatives.

Alexander Hellemans of IEEE Spectrum recently reported that a number of drone designers are currently exploring a technique known as optical flow, which is based on the speed of objects passing a subject’s field of vision.

“[We] use optical flow to give us a sense of how fast we’re going when we’re driving,” Hellemans explained. “But unlike humans in cars, drones have a third dimension to worry about. They also have to keep track of their height in order to land successfully.”

Tom Kevan of Desktop Engineering recently observed that the Internet of Things (IoT) is pushing measurement analytics to the edge of the network – essentially redefining the sensor’s place in the electromechanical ecosystem.

“No longer a discrete component working in isolation, the sensor interacts with computing and communications components to provide intelligence via two-way communications,” he explained. “[Companies] must adopt a systems engineering perspective, looking beyond individual components and viewing the sensor as part of a larger whole. Using this perspective, engineers must determine how the sensor fits and interacts with the other components in the node.”

Dave Gershgorn of the New York Times recently noted that the optics of the camera obscura have faithfully served photographers for ages. Indeed, the recipe has been kept fairly simple throughout the years: a lens, aperture, dark box and something to record the light.

“But the camera as we know it is changing,” Gershgorn confirmed. “A revolution in digital imaging research could surpass the camera obscura in almost every technical way: resolution, size and energy efficiency. It’s called computational photography, and it stems from the idea that if you can capture visual data instead of a true image, then the picture can be reconstructed with software.”

Terry Relph-Knight of ZDNet recently noted that the successful design of very low-cost imaging sensors might perhaps be achieved by “doing away” with the conventional lens altogether.