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Sensors and FHE need each other: a look inside a key relationship

by Wilfried Bair
VP of Engineering, NextFlex

Flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) and sensor technologies are a perfect match for each other. Nearly every current application of FHE technology that either NextFlex or our partners are working on involve sensors, so it’s beneficial for both platforms to grow and thrive alongside each other. Of course, these benefits ultimately carry down to the applications that use both FHE and sensors, such as chemical sensing systems and human health/fitness monitoring devices. When we drill down into this topic, it shows a unique symbiotic relationship that’s critical to the development of next-generation manufacturing.

Biometric sensing in wearables: technology and application trends

Despite lower than expected sales, wearables continue to be a growing market segment.  Consumers spent over $2 billion on wearables in 2015 and are increasingly demanding better performance.  One emerging application area for wearables, accurate biometric sensing, is highly complex and requires sophisticated solutions to provide accurate measurements during regular use, as well as during high-intensity workouts.  The best performing solutions on the market are designed using a systems approach where both hardware and software are tightly integrated.  Valencell is one of the developers of biometric sensing module technology for wearable devices.  The company has raised a total of $24.5 million in venture funding to date, including $11 million in March of last year.  We spoke with Ryan Kraudel, VP of Marketing at Valencell, to get the latest trends for biometric sensing in wearables including emerging applications and competitive dynamics.

Wearable sensor market to expand sevenfold in five years

Driven by rising demand for fitness and health monitoring features as well as by improved user interfaces, shipments of sensors used in wearable electronic devices will rise by a factor of seven from 2013 through 2019, according to IHS Technology.  The worldwide market for sensors in wearables will expand to 466 million units in 2019, up from 67 million in 2013.  Shipments of sensors will climb much more quickly than the market for the wearable devices themselves.  Wearable devices will increase to 135 million units in 2019, less than three times the total of 50 million in 2013.  According to IHS, the average wearable device shipped in 2019 will incorporate 4.1 sensor elements, up from 1.4 in 2013.