Intelligent, cutting-edge sensors are becoming increasingly important in key future strategic industries.
The role of sensor hubs that control sensors and collect data is also becoming important.

As future strategic industries such as future automobiles, healthcare, smart factories, robots, and drones emerge as hot topics, the importance of so-called "smart sensors" is growing day by day.

Smart sensors are intelligent, cutting-edge sensors in the IT convergence era, and as the types of sensors and their users increase, the role of sensor hubs that can control sensors and collect data with low power is also becoming more important.

The sensor industry is divided into a materials industry for sensor manufacturing, a component industry where unique functions are implemented using materials, a module industry where multiple parts are assembled to form a small device with a specific function, and a system industry where multiple sensors, input/output devices, and control devices are organically combined and operated.

In other words, if the acceleration, pressure, and temperature sensors are in the form of small units, there are pressure sensor modules, humidity sensor modules, and human body detection sensor modules made in the form of modules, and the system type includes tire pressure monitoring, radar sensors, and capsule endoscopes.

▲Motion sensor touch signage recognizes user movements through 3D sensors without electrical contact and provides the information users need. (Samsung Electronics Gear S2)

The important thing is that as sensors become smaller and more MEMS-based, single sensor modules are becoming composite sensors, which are then becoming more intelligent as one-chip composite sensors. Bosch, a leading company in the sensor field, offers a variety of complex sensors, including 3-axis sensors that support acceleration, gyro, and geomagnetic sensors, 9-axis sensors that incorporate eCompass, IMU, and application-specific sensors, as well as environmental sensors that integrate barometric and pressure sensors, and analog-digital integrated microphones.

First, the smart sensors used in smartphones are becoming increasingly diverse. Representative smart sensors include RGB sensors, light sensors, temperature and humidity sensors, barometric pressure sensors, camera sensors, proximity sensors, Hall sensors, gesture sensors, capacitive touch sensors, geomagnetic sensors, GPS sensors, gyroscopes, acceleration sensors, and gravity sensors, totaling approximately 14 types. In particular, environmental sensors, such as temperature and humidity sensors, which measure the temperature and humidity of the surrounding environment, and barometric pressure sensors, which measure the current atmospheric pressure, are expected to see a wide range of applications.

Lee Soon-hak, a researcher at Hanwha Investment & Securities, said, "The integration of touch sensors and fingerprint sensors is expected to bring about significant design changes. The fingerprint sensor, if placed under the glass, eliminates buttons and allows the entire screen to be used as a display."

High-precision 3D touch sensors and haptic feedback sensors applied to realistic touch sensors

Let's look at examples of smart sensors applied to smart devices. Realistic touch sensors for emotional user interfaces are installed in smart devices like smartphones and smartwatches to realistically detect and provide feedback on the user's intentions. These sensors utilize high-speed, high-precision 3D touch sensor technology capable of simultaneous position and pressure detection, ultra-small, low-power haptic actuators and haptic feedback engines, and haptic feedback 3D touch sensor solution technology.

Sensors are also a core technology of unmanned aerial vehicles (Drones). Drones incorporate geomagnetic sensors, barometric pressure sensors, gyroscopes, accelerometers, ultrasonic sensors, tilt sensors, inertial measurement units (IMUs), and engine intake flow sensors. If drones outsell smartwatches, which have currently shown limited market expansion, demand for these sensors is expected to surge.

Flight situation awareness sensor technology for autonomous drone flight includes AI-powered image sensors for collision avoidance, omnidirectional collision detection ultrasonic sensors, and lidar sensors for SLAM (localized navigation and mapping) for indoor flight. This is because autonomous drone flight requires sensor technology capable of recognizing flight conditions and collision avoidance/automatic takeoff and landing rate flight control technology.


▲The sensor on the front radiator grille of the vehicle plays a bigger role than it appears (Ioniq Hybrid Smart Cruise Control)

As the IoT market expands, smart applications in healthcare, smart homes, and automobiles are also increasing. Ultra-small smart sensors for attachable healthcare devices are being developed, and ultra-small olfactory and motion recognition sensors are being applied to home lighting and security systems. In particular, automobiles, driven by growing demands for reliability, convenience, and safety, are adopting numerous sensors for engines, transmissions, eco-friendliness, steering, indoor environments, and telematics.

Personalized wearable healthcare sensors incorporate novel measurement technologies that are improved over existing biosignal measurement technologies, enabling them to acquire, store, and transmit all data related to an individual's daily activities. Because it requires semiconductor convergence technology that applies UI/UX interfaces that emphasize user convenience and flexible circuit board and display technology, the sensors applied include: △ IoT biosensors for health monitoring using urine or saliva, △ flexible wearable sensors for CDSS based on artificial intelligence, and △ blood sugar monitoring sensors using non-invasive methods.

The body integrated control sensor system recognizes the internal and external situations of the vehicle.

'Body-integrated control sensor system technology for ADAS' is a technology that recognizes the internal and external situations of a vehicle by utilizing various environmental recognition sensors installed in the vehicle or terminals capable of transmitting and receiving with the outside world. Since the design technology for detection technology (detection sensors, signal processing algorithms, systems) that recognize the environment in all directions of the vehicle and the communication technology for exchanging them are key, the following are required: △IR-UWB radar sensor technology △Intersection-responsive wide-angle MRR sensor technology △Pedestrian-detecting MEMS-based uncooled far-infrared sensor technology △Closed Velocity sensor technology for proximity vehicle detection.

Lee Gyu-taek, embedded SW PD (Korea Institute of Industrial Technology Evaluation and Planning), said, “If we compare AI technology to humans, the head corresponds to cloud computing, the spine corresponds to a networking hub like a gateway, and the peripheral nervous system, which corresponds to lightweight OS/middleware and processors in data collection/filtering, is a smart sensor.” He added, “In order to become one of the four major advanced sensor powerhouses, we plan to focus on developing promising fields such as bio, drones, ADAS, factory equipment diagnosis, realistic touch sensors, and robot sensors.”