Sensors

The electronics industry is currently an $800 billion industry which influences and drives devices and systems worth an estimated $5 trillion worldwide. As it looks to its 21st century future, especially for those elusive ‘killer applications’ which were the market drivers of the late 20th century, the focus has started to converge on Quality of Life benefits using the power of ubiquitous computing, ubiquitous communication and intelligent, user friendly interfaces and context aware diagnostics. This convergence is termed Ambient Intelligence or Visible Invisibility!

In total, there is a compelling need which manifests itself both socially and technologically in such a way that it will lead to massively significant adjacent applications and opportunities. It can be summarised as follows:

Compelling needs:

Quality of Life - making life healthier, simpler and easier for all.
Smart ICT and Interactive diagnostics.

Ambient Intelligence through:

Sensors
Detectors
Actuators

Visible Invisibility through:

Miniaturisation
MEMS
NEMS
RFID
WiFi

The virtual limitless opportunities afforded by the interaction and device/systems development based on:

Polymers – Electronics – Biology

The car – safety
The house – convenience
The phone – mobility
The body – healthcare

Sense – Detect – Analyse – Actuate – Deliver

In this context, the ability to bring about intelligent sensing and diagnostics will drive a new industry strand into the foreseeable future based on processable intelligence, that is the ability to fabricate sensor, detection and actuator systems rapidly, reproducibly at a very low cost. This has potential through continuous, polymer based printable ‘P-E-B’ devices using the printing, deposition and coating techniques currently being pursued at PETeC.