Consumer electronic devices present a significant market opportunity for Virtus. The 3 largest of these markets are next-generation cell phones, hard disk drives, and game consoles/ game players.
Next-Generation Cell Phones
With over 800 million cell phones projected to be sold this year alone, any chip used within a cell phone instantly has a large market. As more functionality is built into cell phones, there is a growing demand for an easy-to-use yet comprehensive user interface.
Though no standard is set, inertial sensors essentially detect motion. With some signal processing behind it, inertial sensors can recognize a number of “phone gestures” (hand gestures with the phone) and static phone positions. Acting as a supplemental input tool to the keypad, inertial sensors could greatly improve the user’s experience with the cell phone.
Have you ever been in a movie theatre when someone else’s cell phone rings? These moments probably happen far too much than they should. However, researchers are working on what they call a smart phone. This is a phone that senses its environment. Imagine if you could have a phone that could figure out whether you are in a important meeting or just riding on the train. With a number of embedded sensors including a microphone, light sensor, and inertial sensors, phones may be able to decide just when it is appropriate to ring and when it is not.
GPS stands for global positioning system and uses a set of satellites to figure out its position anywhere on Earth. While GPS is the de-facto position reckoning system, it does not necessarily work in places where satellite signals cannot reach. For example, in tunnels or inside buildings, the satellite signal might not be able to be detected. As a supplementary to GPS, high-sensitivity inertial sensors could be employed. Movement can be tracked based on these position sensors, and when combined with GPS can determine positions (at least for a short time) in places where GPS satellite signals are undetectable.
As cell phones become more sophisticated, so too does their means of communication. Today’s cell phones have just a single antenna, but farther in the future, antenna arrays might prove more efficient and more effective. Antenna arrays allow reception from a particular direction and can block reception from other directions. In essence, it is a way to increase bandwidth over the airwaves (i.e. spatial bandwidth). In order to implement antenna arrays effectively, however, the cell phone’s orientation needs to be known. Again, inertial sensors can be used to determine the cell phone’s orientation, and in turn, play a vital role in antenna arrays for cell phone transmission and reception.
As a last possible application for inertial sensors in cell phones is protection from rough handling. As most people have handled a cell phone, you can imagine how easy it is to accidentally drop, joggle, or bang the cell phone onto the floor or into a wall. Cell phones are designed to withstand certain “shocks”, one means of doing so is using inertial sensors. For more information, please refer to the next section on hard disk drives.
Hard Disk Drives (HDDs)
Especially for anyone who has had their hard drive die on them, one never over-emphasize the importance of data protection. Inadvertent damage to the hard disk can occur through shocks and vibrations. The hard disk drive operates by reading data from a spinning disk (called the hard disk platter) with a reader/writer head which has to be very close to the platter. If the hard disk falls and hits the ground, the resulting shock can crash the hard disk head into the platter. Laptops, PDA’s, or even cell phones can have HDDs embedded inside. To prevent damage from dropping a hard drive, inertial sensors can be employed. For example, if a laptop is dropped, a small amount of time exists from when the laptop starts to drop to when it hits the ground. In that time, 3D accelerometers can be used to detect the “free fall” of the laptop. To prevent damage to the hard drive, the hard disk head can be removed from the platter in preparation for impact.
With the onset of MP3 players, there seems to be an ever increasing demand for larger memory storage in a smaller volume. Compared with competing technologies, hard disk drives have more storage capacity than any other medium. With this idea in mind, some manufacturers have started integrating small disk drives into cell phones. Consequently, with the everyday jostling of a cell phone, inertial sensors could play a vital role in shock detection to prevent damage and protect data.
Game Consoles/Game Players
Maybe not the first thing you might think of, but integrating inertial sensors into game controllers has the potential to greatly enhance the user’s experience while playing a game. Already a few manufactures have started to integrate these sensors into traditional game controllers. Some have even come up with entirely new alternative game controllers based on this technology alone. Traditional game controllers relied mostly on buttons and joysticks to interact with the game. However, by being able to detect the user’s movement, the controller could interact with the game in an entirely new way, much enhanced from the traditional game controller. By being able sense motion, these devices could potentially detect a punch, a kick, a slide, a tumble, or any other “natural” movements of the user.
Integration of sensors is probably a key next step into immersive gaming. Of course, it probably will not stop there. The ability to immerse the user in the environment in a natural way is most likely key. Taking advantage of a sensor that can detect natural movement is just the start. However, do not be surprised if in the next 10 years, you’ll see the integration of more sensors into the controller or even outside it. For example, using a camera to recognize body movement of the user, a microphone for voice interaction, or a light sensor, temperature sensors, etc. No doubt from an abstract view, having more sensors helps the game understand the user better and helps the user interact more naturally with the game.