Evaluation Engineering - 32

SENSORS
HAVE
FEELINGS,
TOO
By Ken Cormier, Managing Editor

metamorworks / iStock / Getty Images Plus

TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTS

Sensors are allowing electromechanical devices to analyze and interact
with environmental conditions, as they
detect, touch, smell, and taste with quantifiable results. Here are some recent news
items within the industry:

the intervening time period. There are an
estimated 1.8 million industrial robots in
production globally, making up a market
near $35 billion.2

Sensor is gout watchdog

New flexible and transparent wearables
combine graphene and semiconducting
quantum dots that are able to noninvasively scan health vitals, such as heart
rate, arterial oxygen saturation, and respiratory rate, using heterogeneous integration of a flexible UV photodetector with a
near-field communication, according to
an article in Science Advances. The optical
vital sign monitoring is done with conformable sensors which are transparent
and flexible. Benefits include broadband
wavelength sensitivity (300 to 2,000 nm)
and high responsivity resulting from a
built-in photoconductive gain, which
"allows a design freedom that the nontransparent and bulky readout electronics
can be placed away from the sensor, and
therefore, transparency and form factor of
the active sensing area can be preserved,"
according to the article. 3

Researchers at the California Institute of
Technology, led by Wei Gao, assistant professor of medical engineering, have created
a highly sensitive wearable human sweat
sensor that they say is able to detect low
concentrations of metabolites and nutrients that herald a possible oncoming gout
attack. Gout results from high levels of uric
acid crystallizing in human joints, which
causes inflammation and pain.
The sensor was engineered to measure
respiratory rate, heart rate, and levels of
uric acid and tyrosine in test subjects.
Data accuracy was confirmed through
blood tests.
The mass-producible, graphene-based
sensors could be useful in closely monitoring cardiovascular disease, diabetes,
or kidney disease, according to Gao.
"Such wearable sweat sensors have the
potential to rapidly, continuously, and
noninvasively capture changes in health
at molecular levels," Gao says. "They could
enable personalized monitoring, early diagnosis, and timely intervention."1

Robot sensor market expected
to double by 2025
The robot sensor market, valued at $1.98
billion in 2018, is predicted to reach $4.16
billion by 2025, according to a report by
Brandessence Market Research. The market's CAGR is expected to be 10.8% during

EVALUATION ENGINEERING FEBRUARY 2020

Flexible graphene photodetectors
for wearable fitness monitoring

2020 Sensors Expo & Conference
If you want an up-close look at the latest innovations in sensors, mark the Sensors Expo
& Conference on your 2020 calendar. The
event, in its 35th year, will take place June
22-24 at the McEnery Convention Center
in San Jose, CA. There are 350 sensor industry leaders planning to exhibit on the
expo floor, and a comprehensive conference
program will cover today's applications and
future trends. Go to www.sensorsexpo.com
for more information.

MEMS system market to expand
to $122.83 billion by 2026
According to an October 2019 report by
Allied Market Research, the global microelectromechanical system market size,
valued at $48.74 billion in 2018, is predicted to reach $122.83 billion by 2026, with
a CAGR of 11.30% during the intervening time period. The report further states,
"Impending need of device miniaturization in various electronic devices such as
smartphones, wearable devices, medical
instruments, and other electronic devices
fuel the growth of the MEMS market. The
demand for these devices is on a continuous rise with the decline in average selling prices (ASPs) and increase in benefits
of MEMS devices, such as low cost, less
space consumption, and high accuracy."4

3D-printed biosensors
Researchers at Georgia Tech have created
highly flexible biocompatible battery-free
wireless sensors using "aerosol jet" 3D
printing, which uses a mist of droplets that
is blown onto a substrate through a small
nozzle. Two layers of ink are deposited: one
that dries to a polyimide insulator, and one
of silver nanoparticles. "The beauty of our
sensor is that it can be seamlessly integrated onto existing medical stents or flow
diverters that clinicians are already using
to treat aneurysms," said Georgia Tech researcher Woon-Hong Yeo. "We could use it
to measure an incoming blood flow to the
aneurysm sac to determine how well the
aneurysm is healing, and to alert doctors
if blood flow changes."5
REFERENCES

1. California Institute of Technology, "Wearable
Sweat Sensor Detects Gout-Causing
Compounds," November 2019
2. Market Watch, "Robot Sensor Market is
Expected to Reach USD 4.16 Billion by 2025,"
July 2019
3. Science Advances, "Flexible graphene
photodetectors for wearable fitness
monitoring," September 2019
4. Allied Market Research, "Microelectromechanical System (MEMS) Market by Type (Sensors,
& Actuators), and Application (Consumer
Electronics, Automotive, Industrial, Aerospace
& Defense, Healthcare, and Telecommunication,
and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and
Industry Forecast, 2019-2026," October 2019
5. Toon, John, "Stretchable Wireless Sensor
Could Monitor Healing of Cerebral Aneurysms,"
Georgia Tech News Center, August 28, 2019.

http://www.sensorsexpo.com

Evaluation Engineering

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