By Karen Lightman, Managing Director, MEMS Industry Group
Originally posted on Design News
MEMS has been present at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) for over a decade, but nobody knew it was there except for a handful of plugged-in engineers. Finally this year, MEMS received the respect and accolades it deserves. I am pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that MEMS Industry Group (MIG) hosted the first MEMS TechZone and MEMS conference track, “Connecting the Real World with the Digital World: Harnessing the Power of MEMS.”
It also had a lot to with the prevalence of MEMS in today’s consumer electronics. These have enabled enhancements consumers expect in the next generation of consumer devices. This new trend was a big part of the discussion at the CES conference track featuring Bosch Sensortec’s Frank Melzer, Freescale’s Seyed Paransun, VTI’s Sten Stockmann, WiSpry’s Jeff Hilbert, and myself as the moderator. I told the audience that if you want to be part of consumer electronics, you’re going to need to have MEMS inside your device.
According to Hilbert: “We’re at a tipping point for MEMS where it’s becoming more generally available and usable. Companies are not just selling technology; they are providing total solutions. A decade ago MEMS companies began with sensors collecting data about the real world. Then they added processing; followed by the ability to act and then interact, which gave us the possibility of learning.”
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