Rambus scientists Patrick Gill and Thomas Vogelsang recently presented a paper titled “Lensless Smart Sensors: Optical and Thermal Sensing for the Internet of Things” at the 2016 VLSI Symposia. As Julien Happich of the EE Times explains, Rambus lensless smart sensors (LSS) are based on a phase anti-symmetric diffraction grating (either tuned for optical or IR thermal sensing) mounted directly on top of a conventional imaging array and co-designed with computational algorithms that extract relevant information from an imaged scene.
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Optimizing memory bandwidth
Frank Ferro, a senior director of product management at Rambus, recently sat down with Ed Sperling of Semiconductor Engineeringand other industry participants to discuss the slew of new memory initiatives and entrants.
Contactless cards go mainstream in the UK
A new report from the UK Cards Association confirms a significant increase in the use of contactless cards. To be sure, £7.75bn was spent using contactless cards in 2015 – representing a massive jump from £2.32bn in 2014. According to the report, the increase in contactless card popularity can be attributed to a number of factors, including the growth of contactless transport ticketing and an increase in the payment limit to £30.
Designing the smart office of the future
A recent white paper authored by U.S. furniture giant Haworth describes how sophisticated sensors deployed in the workplace of the future could help contribute to employee well being and increased productivity. According to Dezeen Magazine, smart sensors would be tasked with constantly monitoring environmental conditions as well as the way employee spaces are used. More specifically, sensors will enable workspaces to “shape-shift” for maximum efficiency, automatically altering temperature and lighting levels, all while making adjustments when workers grow bored or frustrated.
Securing connected vehicles with Rambus CryptoManager
Anna Steffora Mutschler of Semiconductor Engineering recently observed that self-driving cars have prompted the semiconductor industry to consider a number of complex legal and regulatory issues. “[Self-driving vehicles] open up a whole new field for legal interpretation, case law, and regulation,” she explained. “While most liability cases in the past never crossed below the system vendor/supplier level, [this] could change with autonomous vehicles. [In terms of security], self-driving cars pose a huge concern given the amount of silicon and software and the size and mass of vehicles.”
Tyne and Wear Metro see major passenger increase
Ridership on the UK-based Tyne and Wear Metro has hit a six-year high, with the Department for Transport confirming an extra two million journeys on the Tyne Wear Metro for 2015/16. According to Katie Dickinson of the Chronicle Live, the above-mentioned increase represents a 5.7% jump from the previous year, with the number of passengers exceeding approximately 40 million. In addition, the average Metro carriage was occupied by 62 people in 2015-16, up from 58 the year before.
