The latest wearable product of Apple, the Apple Watch Series 6, features a new function that can monitor users’ blood oxygen saturation, which is a critical indicator of people’s overall wellness. The function marks a milestone of wearable devices and is likely to drive demands for sensing components including LEDs and photodiodes. (Image: Apple) According to TrendForce, most wearable devices measure biometric data, such as heart rate, blood oxygen, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels, as well as sweat content, through a type of optical technology known as ...

ams revealed an ultra-thin sensor dedicated sensor for blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) measurement, bringing the capability to remotely monitor this vital sign to small consumer products such as earbuds, smart watches and wristbands, as well as to medical devices such as patches and oximeters. The new AS7038RB SpO2 sensor enables innovative applications in remote diagnostic equipment, such as disposable patches used for SpO2 and electro-cardiogram (ECG) measurement in hospital emergency rooms. In addition, ams also indicated that there are increasing evidence suggesting l...

Osram revealed an in-car air purifier featuring UVA LED technology. The company claimed that the device can eliminate up to 99.9% of viruses and bacteria. (Image: Osram) The product, named Air Zing Mini, is designed to removes germs from the air inside vehicles to improve air quality for drivers and passengers. The UV light of Osram’s Air Zing Mini works at a wavelength of 360 to 370 nm with a disinfection rate of 99.9% for the in-car air. Osram said that the device has already been successfully tested against bird flu viruses. The air purifier also elimina...

Facebook announced its partnership with Ray-Ban glasses EssilorLuxottica, to develop smart glasses. They plan to launch the Ray-Ban branded product by 2021. The glasses will not be an AR device yet, according to the report of The Verge, but are moving one step toward to the goal. (Image: Facebook) Facebook said further details about the smart glasses will be revealed when it gets closer to the launch time in 2021. But since they will not include integrated display with AR or VR function. So the new products may not be the results of its collaboration with Plessey...

Osram raised its business guidance for fiscal year 2020 since the company said it has seen strong recovery in summer, particularly in August. In the past few seasons, the German company has revised its business guidance several times, mostly revised the numbers down. However, this time the company is raising up its expectation. The Managing Board of Osram now expects a comparable revenue decline of approximately -14%, comparing to previous number of -15% to -19%. The adjusted EBITDA margin is now approximately 8%, which the company set at 3% to 6% previously. Osram also...

Energy Focus announced that it has been awarded a new indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (“IDIQ”) contract to supply lighting products to the U.S. Navy. The contract is worth up to US$4.8 million. This five-year IDIQ contract calls for Energy Focus to exclusively supply its LED lighting products designed for demanding exterior shipboard use. These lights use approximately 80% less energy than legacy incandescent counterparts, while meeting the required illumination levels for general illumination, combat, and refueling operations on most surface ...

AquiSense Technologies announced the launch of PearlAqua Deca, the first UV LED disinfection system designed for the point-of-entry residential, commercial and light industrial markets. AquiSense claimed that this product provides a disinfection rate of more than 99.99% with the compact and self-contained unit. The PearlAqua Deca features automatic on/off switching in addition to Dynamic Power Control which reduces overall energy consumption and extends lamp replacement intervals. It offers whole house disinfection with flowrates up-to 12 gpm (45 lpm). (Image: A...

Samsung introduced four new Samsung ISOCELL image sensors for its 0.7 μm-pixel product lineup. With the new 0.7μm ISOCELL technology, Samsung plans to expand the high resolution sensors to mainstream smartphones. “Samsung continues to pioneer innovations, such as ISOCELL Plus and Smart ISO, to deliver more pixels in a smaller package,” said Yongin Park, executive vice president of the sensor business at Samsung Electronics. “Last year, Samsung introduced the industry’s first 0.7μm-pixel image sensor and the first 108Mp...

The DesignLights Consortium (DLC) released the final version of its Technical Requirements for LED-based Horticultural Lighting: Version 2.0, an update that will continue the industry transition from traditional lighting data and metrics to horticultural-specific lighting data and metrics that best represent horticultural lighting performance. The changes have an effective date of March 31, 2021. (Image: Signify) After analysis of stakeholder comments on Draft 1 of the policy released in May and in order to allow continued development of the nascent horticultural ...

French company Aledia who focuses on 3D LED technology announced that it will invest EUR 140 million (US$ 165.82 million) to set up GaN-on-Si Micro LED production line. The production line will be set up in Champagnier, France and the company plans to begin Micro LED production by 2022 with the new site. By the end of 2019, Aledia began to collaborate with TowerJazz to accelerate Micro LED production based on Aledia’s nanowire-LED display technology and TowerJazz’ Transfer Optimization and Development Process Services (TOPS). Al...

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a patent won by Apple describing displays based on Micro LED technology for its future products, reported Patently Apple. Apple’s plan of adopting advanced display technologies including Micro LED and Mini LED for its new products is no news for the market. The company has been dedicating to drive the progress of these cutting-edge display fabrication methods and has won several related patents. The latest one published elaborates displays that incorporate timing controller to deliver different display areas over...

Stanley announced that it has confirmed high effectiveness of virus inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 by using its 265nm UVC LED, following a testing result in collaboration with Yamaguchi University. The company also reported its establishment of an integrated production system for UVC LED. Stanley and professors at Laboratory of Veterinary Microbiology, Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Yamaguchi University, jointly tested the UVC LED of Stanley on deactivating SARS-CoV-2 virus. They put 10 ml of virus solution (5 x 10⁵ PFU/mL) in dishes a...

Cornell researchers have developed microsensors that are tiny enough to fit 30,000 on one side of a penny. These microscopic sensors are equipped with an integrated circuit, solar cells and Micro LEDs that enable them to harness light for power and communication. The research was published in PNAS in April, titled “Microscopic Sensors Using Optical Wireless Integrated Circuits.” The research team devised a platform for parallel production of their optical wireless integrated circuits (OWICs), microsensors the size of 100 µm. Researchers in the st...

Nixon Peabody announced a major expansion of its groundbreaking patent enforcement campaign on behalf of the Regents of UCSB with new litigation against six leading retailers and suppliers of filament LED lighting products. Building on a successful first phase of the campaign, which was launched in 2019, Nixon Peabody filed a new complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) seeking an investigation into the unauthorized importation and sale after importation of UC’s patented filament LED lighting technology by General Electric, Savant Sy...

Amphenol LTW provides connectors for industrial automation and machine vision, horticultural lighting, LED lighting and display, fishing light and other markets. Under the influence of COVID-19, the industrial automation and machine vision markets are still making remarkable progress. LEDinside had the honor to interview Charles Wu, the Global BD of Amphenol LTW, to share with us Amphenol LTW solutions for machine vision applications in industrial automation. (image: Amphenol LTW) Charles Indicated that, due to the impact of COVID-19, the growth ...

Featuring high resolution, high contrast and high brightness, Micro LED is regarded as the “ultimate display technology.” However, due to production difficulties, the technology has not yet entered the commercial market despite that the first prototypes were revealed back in 2012. Recently, driven by leading brands including Apple and Samsung, we have seen more and more Micro LED displays presented. But industry experts forecasted that it would take at least three years for the technology to truly enter the consumer market. Mass transfer is a notorious challenge...

Lumileds introduced the first LED engineered for architectural applications that require uniform light output through the entire dimming range and operating conditions. The new LUXEON 3030 HE Plus Deep Dimming mid-power LED is designed for LED to LED flux uniformity across the entire dimming curve, down to 1%, that is required to achieve consistent visual performance. From full intensity above nominal current of 65mA to 1% intensity at 0.65mA, every LED will provide the same flux performance in the application. Key to the performance is forward voltage vari...

Signify has dedicated to sustainability with several different approaches and now the company proudly announced that it has achieved carbon neutrality for all its operations across the world as well as using 100% renewable electricity. Signify has reduced its operational emissions by more than 70% since 2010, having shifted to more energy-efficient technologies at its sites, to more sustainable modes of transport and optimized logistics planning, and to less travel in a more sustainable way. It also uses 100% renewable electricity, supported through two power purchase agreements, one...

South Korea based LiDAR company SOS LAB will launch 2D and 3D LiDAR sensors starting this October for factory automation and autonomous vehicles, reported TheElec. The company is going to launch its 2D LiDAR sensor SL-2 in October and a 3D fully solid-state LiDAR ML-1 next year. SOS LAB adopts VCSEL and solid-state technology for its LiDAR sensors. (Image: SOS LAB) SOS LAB has collaborated with On Semiconductor, using the SPAD Array for sensing single photons for solid-state LiDAR ToF applications. The co...

LG officially launched its Micro LED signage solution, named “LG MAGNIT,” on September 10, which is the first Micro LED display product debuted by the company. LG is releasing the Micro LED display to the markets of the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. (Image: LG) LG has already included the Micro LED category including a few product details to its Business Solution webpage earlier this year as LEDinside covered in July. With the official launch, LG further updated several features of its Micro LED display. L...

Oreon, a Netherlands-based horticulture LED grow light supplier, recently announced its partnerships with two Russian companies and a Danish cannabis grower. They are going to implement LED grow lights supplied by Oreon to enhance the cultivation. Oreon has entered the Russian market and will supply LED fixtures to the Agrokultura Group and Yelets Vegetables, two major players in the Russian market. The Agrokultura Group has a growing facility close to Moscow. The company is building an additional 20 hectares of new greenhouses to its existing 80 hectares greenh...

Lucid Motors unveiled production details of its electric vehicle, Lucid Air. This new electric-powered automobile features cutting-edge technologies including its LiDAR embedded ADAS and advanced headlamp lighting. (Image: Lucid Motors) The Lucid Air's ADAS is called Lucid DreamDrive, which is a platform combining comprehensive sensor suite with a Driver Monitoring System (DMS). According to Lucid Motors, it is the first system of its kind to offer 32 sensors, covering vision, radar and ultrasonics, plus high-resolution LIDAR in an E...

The world sweeping COVID-19 pandemic have impacted our lives in every aspect. Several movies and films have been delayed due to the pandemic since people can hardly gather together or travel to different places. In a tough situation like this, LED display technology provides an alternative solution for the industry. A report of CNBC covered that Disney is filming a new series, “The Mandalorian,” by using large size LED screens as background looking just like a real location. With advanced display performance delivered by LED screen, the crew did not n...

Even without a physical presence, Display Week 2020 still functioned as a major arena for competing technology providers to showcase their offerings. Noteworthy participants that unveiled their latest Micro LED products included LGD, AUO, Tianma, and BOE. In demonstrating their cutting-edge solutions, exhibitors used videos, images, and other media resources to overcome the limitations of the virtual venue. The lack of physical exhibitions and conferences did not diminish the excitement over Micro LED displays during Display Week 2020. Many prominent developers ...

LiDAR sensor producer Ouster reported that it has raised US$42 million of new investment to fund product development and further accelerate worldwide sales. After launching its second generation of high-resolution LiDAR sensors in January, Ouster’s 12-month revenue has grown by 62%, with third quarter bookings up 209% YoY. The company unveiled two new LiDAR sensors earlier this year. By adopting its semiconductor-based technology, Ouster replaces complex legacy analog architecture and enables cost-effective sensing solution. (Image: Ouster) Ouster now...

Aeva and ZF will collaborate to bring Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) LiDAR to the automotive market. The two parties are going to leverage their expertise, combining Aeva's FMCW LiDAR technology and ZF's experience in industrialization of automotive grade sensors to accelerate mass production of 4D LiDAR technology for autonomous driving applications. (Image: Aeva) Aeva and ZF aim to bring the first automotive grade 4D LiDAR to market for autonomous driving applications. The final system is targeted as a key solution for au...

Researchers continue to focus on the current technology bottlenecks of Micro LED display manufacture. Recently, a team consisting of researchers from Guangdong Institute of Semiconductor Industrial Technology (GISIT), University of Tokyo, and Foshan Debao Display Technology reported their new transfer technique that integrates adhesive tape and laser lift-off (LLO) technology. The study was published in Advanced Materials Technologies, titled “Wafer-Scale Micro-LEDs Transferred onto an Adhesive Film for Planar and Flexible Displays.” I...

A Korean company announced that it has developed “12-inch sapphire wafer” with required quality which can help to support local demands of semiconductor materials, reported ETNEWS, a Korean media. Japan imposed restriction on exportation of three semiconductor materials that are critical for display manufacture to South Korea due to disputes between the two countries. The Korea government and companies have thus been pushing the development of materials, components and equipment so that they will be less reliable on imposed products. (Image: Samsung) The...

Samsung announced that it will shut down its TV production facility in Tianjin, China, by the end of November. The Korean giant has closed the other two smartphone facilities and sold the LCD factory to COST, shifting the production away from China step by step. (Image: Samsung) Samsung’s Tianjin TV factory is the only TV production site in China which supplies products to meet local demands. The company said that closure of the factory is part of the “ongoing efforts to enhance efficiency.” Since Samsung’s TV market share dropped i...

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is using UV light for surface disinfection on trains and stations to maintain a hygienic environment for passengers. Metro system in Delhi had been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic since March and resumed operation on September 7. (Image: The Pennsylvania State University) As the pandemic in India is still severe, DMRC is taking several methods aiming to ensure safety for commuters. One of the approach is to deploy UV disinfection technology for sanitizing common area touch points. It is likely that the disin...