Sensors

With the high inflation, increasing labor costs, labor shortage, energy crisis, and hybrid working, the manufacturing industry experienced significant turmoil in 2022. Although some of these have started to get eased, 2023 is still expected to be a challenging year for the manufacturing industry.

The RFID industry is expected to maintain its growth trajectory, with IDTechEx forecasting a market value of US$14 billion in 2023, up from US$12.8 billion in 2022. This market value encompasses various RFID form factors, including labels, cards, fobs, and tags, as well as scanners, software, and services for both active and passive RFID technologies. Among these, the "Passive RFID Tags" segment stands out as the largest, comprising more than half of the total RFID market.

Smooth, functional surfaces that provide touch sensing, often with backlighting, are becoming increasingly common. Applications range from vehicle interiors and domestic appliances to medical devices and aircraft seating. Rather than relying on a mechanical or membrane switch, these surfaces utilize capacitive touch sensing - the same principle used in smartphone displays.

Consumer technology available today is impressive but still not as cool as promised by many classic sci-fi movies. Our dreams of hoverboards and holograms have been replaced by stagnating smartphone designs and doom-scrolling. Yet things look set to change.

Thursday 27 April 2023 - What is the status and outlook for the wearables industry as a whole? How do the opportunities and challenges vary between wearable sensors and actuators? How is the role of wearables in healthcare evolving? Why wearables for drug-free health management and which technologies have the most commercial potential?

6G is the next generation of wireless technology that promises to go beyond mobile communication and revolutionize how people interact with the world around them. According to IDTechEx's latest 6G research, 6G could be with us in 2028 at the earliest.

Asked whether electronics is a 'digital technology', almost everyone would reply in the affirmative. However, while printed circuit boards (PCBs) enable digital technologies, the manufacturing processes used to produce them are still largely analog.

Wearable technology is threatening to disrupt aspects of the pharmaceutical industry, with the latest technology offering a drug-free alternative to health management. But which of these competing wearable technologies are the promising candidates to lead the healthcare revolution?

Autonomous mobility is the key value proposition for many robots. Thanks to the successes of self-driving systems in commercial vehicles from companies like Tesla and John Deere. Autonomous driving has gained significant momentum across the robotics industry.