The company’s range of products includes motion MEMS, environmental sensors, MEMS mics, touch sensors, etc to low power and secure processors for connectivity, interfaces and power management.
In conversation with Express Computer, STMicroelectronics’s Vishal Goyal told about how the company is establishing itself as a one stop MEMS shop. Goyal is Senior Manager – Technical Marketing, Analog MEMS and Sensors [AMG], India, Asean and ANZ, STMicroelectronics.
STMicroelectronics, the global semiconductor player and is establishing itself itself, as a one-stop Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems, or MEMS shop in a big way – with all of the products, IP, sensor-fusion software, manufacturing expertise and other skills and capabilities that the market needs and wants. The company’s range of products includes motion MEMS, environmental sensors, MEMS mics, touch sensors, etc to low power and secure processors for connectivity, interfaces and power management. ST’s consumer motion MEMS roadmap includes ultra-low-power devices which enables always-on sensor systems.
ST’s Finger Tip technology is well positioned to address wearables, security and active pen applications. STMicroelectronics supports the Intel RealSense depth camera, with eight products already in the market. Smart homes are estimated to be the biggest market for Bluetooth Smart devices.
The company has also developed the voice over BLE. This allows voice commands to be transferred from wearable device to Smart. Typically it can be used to control the devices, SOS signal, replacing push buttons etc. STM32 Open Development Environment provides easy access to portfolio for developers. The developers can develop prototype on ST products without the need of even developing custom PCB.
Sensors are now bringing exciting ways of interacting with the world and is core to connected applications and a key building block of the Internet of Things (Smart Things, Smart Cities, Smart Industry, and Smart Home) and Smart Driving (Connected Car). According to Gartner, MEMS-based smart sensors are set to gain maximum traction in the worldwide smart sensor market that is forecast to grow to $57.77 billion by 2022; at 18.1% CAGR. Market is primarily driven by factors such as growing concern toward security & surveillance, rising need for energy-efficient devices, growing consumer electronics sector, surge in automotive industry on a global basis, favorable government initiatives, and growing trend of miniaturization in sensors.
The market for MEMS-based smart sensor is expected to hold the largest share of the studied market during the forecast period. MEMS help smart sensor to work in a smarter way by allowing it to handle huge amounts of data in a fraction of seconds. The APAC market is expected to grow at the highest CAGR between 2016 and 2022.
Top tap this market, ST has designed a range of products keeping energy efficiency and size considerations in mind, which ensure the optimum performance for wearable device with ultra-low-power processing and connectivity, power and energy management, and sensors. The wide range of products are on the lines of new age tech users such as Wesu Smart Watch platform, which provides a complete framework to build wearable applications, using inertial and environmental sensor drivers, battery profile measurements, and Bluetooth low energy for data communication; or Lechal, a haptic footwear that offers hands-free navigation. Their products contain ST microcontrollers, MEMS sensors, Bluetooth connectivity and power management devices.