APPLICATIONS
INTERNET OF THINGS
The Internet of Things represents one of the largest new markets in recent tech history, promising to revolutionize the efficiency and optimization of a wide variety of industries by bringing real-world data and analytics to operations.
The nature of IoT applications is limited only by one’s imagination. A list of overall applications for IoT includes segments such as: environments, wearable and smart devices, infrastructure management, industrial control and automation, energy management, medical systems, home automation, transportation, mining, smart cities, agriculture.
The dramatic market growth for sensors and actuators, fueled by the Internet of Things (IoT), means that new technologies must be developed to produce billions of small, integrated sensor and controller modules at low cost. Current manufacturing technologies cannot produce the kinds of devices to meet the needs of future IoT.
IoT smart sensors consist of transducers, microprocessor/microcontroller, transceiver and power source. Many, if not most, of these edge devices will require wireless operation, enabling deployment in locations where electrical infrastructure does not exist or is difficult/too costly to install. The use of wireless devices offers several advantages over existing, wired methodologies, including flexibility, ease of implementation, and the ability to facilitate the placement of sensors in previously inaccessible locations.
5G TELECOMMUNICATIONS
The Internet of Things will be connecting over 50 billion devices to the internet, enabling a more efficient society. Applications such as smart factories, cities, hospitals, and homes would deliver very promising value. In order to support this paramount increase in device connection, the current telecommunication infrastructure needs to be upgraded to establish faster connection speeds, shorter latency, and increased bandwidth.
5G, the next generation of telecomm, aims to satisfy the connection requirements of IoT applications through the usage of mm-wave frequencies. Wireless carriers and vendors have already embarked on R&D initiatives to develop so-called "5G" technology, with a vision of commercialization by 2020. 5G Wireless Market analysts expects 5G R&D and trial investments will account for nearly $5 Billion by 2020, following a CAGR of nearly 40% over the next 5 years.
Currently, telecom operates at roughly 2.4 GHz. 5G’s initial push is at 6 GHz, with the final bandwidths being at 28 GHz and above (mm-wave). Mm-wave frequencies can transmit larger amounts of data, however, also come with limitations:
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LIMITED RANGE
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REQUIRES LINE OF SIGHT
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LARGE, BULKY, COSTLY MM-WAVE COMPONENTS
Due to limited range and required line of sight, higher frequencies will have smaller coverage areas per cell site, thus the mobile grid must become far denser than it is today. This is solved through the incorporation of additional macro-cells as well as small-cells, on poles, towers, rooftops, but also mass-deployment at the street level, utilizing street furniture and light poles as physical infrastructure. However, current mm-wave components make it difficult for small-cell modules to be scalable, cost-effective, and practical. Integra Device’s manufacturing technology resolves this challenge, through the batch-production of miniature, low-cost mm-wave components and substrates:
AEROSPACE & DEFENSE
Radar, EW, and military communication systems operate at many different frequencies, bandwidths, and power levels. The Navy, Army and Air Force demand high performance in small form factors for their applications such as phased arrays and unmanned airborne systems. SWAPc (reducing size, weight, power, cost) continues to be a huge priority in the research and development of next-gen RF microelectronics.
Integra’s microwave/mm-wave micro-components are considerably smaller, lighter, and lower in cost compared to the current large, machined solutions:
TEST & MEASUREMENT
In test & measurement applications, whether it is for in-circuit, functional, certification or R&D, the requirement to switch instruments to/from the products under test is tremendous. Many applications require hundreds, if not thousand of relays, and the continuous need for miniature, yet high-performance relays is an obvious industry drive.
Integra Devices patented Amalga™ manufacturing process, allows us to provide true miniature electromechanical relays. The microrelays, unlike their MEMs or solid state counterparts offer similar RF perfomance characteristics like their much larger electroemchanical counterparts - providing the test and measurement community with another solution to downsize their solutions.
Working with Integra devices, high-density application specific daughter-boards with frequency ranges to satisfy all IoT and 5G test applications can be leveraged by ATE switching system manufacturers to increase the capability of their products.
MEDICAL
The majority of medical sensors in today's market are wearables; sensors worn to record physical data produced by our bodies. Collecting and analyzing human data enables huge medical applications such as predictive medicine (big data analytics to predict the probability of disease and instituting preventive measures). However, a large portion of the human body has remained untouched: inside. Implantable sensors are extremely difficult and expensive to produce because they require a minuscule size, be composed of biocompatible materials, and ideally have no battery/electronics.
Integra Device’s highly-experienced team consisting of biomedical, materials, electrical and micro-mechanical engineers (many with PhD’s) and 15 years of research in integrating a wide variety of materials, including polymers, gives us a unique capability to build zero-power, implantable sensors
ZERO-POWER PRESSURE SENSOR
